Guten tag!

11.3: GERMANY

While discussing where Julia and I should jet off to after Switzerland, we settled on Germany because 1) neither of us had been there; 2) Julia had already been to Milan which was my first choice of city to visit; and 3) I was in a "let's go for it regardless of how much it costs" mindset when we finally made the decision. Berlin ended up being an awesome choice. While I had of course studied some of Germany's history in middle/high school, it was incredible to be in some of the places where so much has happened in just the last 100 years.

We got to Berlin on Thursday morning around 6am and were semi-dumped on the train platform from the sleeper train (that's a little dramatic--we had 2 minutes to get off the train and it was a hustle!). After finding the luggage lockers and storing away our suitcases and backpacks, we set off on the Rick Steves Self Guided Tour of Best of Berlin. First, we saw the Reichstag, or German Parliament.

Close to this were two monuments: one to the parliament members who opposed Hitler, and one to those who were killed while trying to cross the Berlin Wall.

The walk continued on to a memorial of the Roma killed by the Nazis, the Brandenburg Gate (my favorite!), the Memorial of the Murdered Jews of Europe, the VW shop, Humboldt University, the Berlin State Opera House, St. Hedwig's Church, the park outside the Berlin Cathedral, a quick organ concert at St. Marion's Church, the TV tower, and finally Alexanderplatz. 

In this square, Nazi students and professors burned books in 1933. There sits a plaque with the quote:
"That was but a prelude; where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people as well."
-Heinrich Heine, 1820

The State Opera House, under construction

We were treated to a lovely organ concert in this beautiful church!

After these, we took our own little tour to the Berlin Philharmonie Hall and the Memorial of the German Resistance. 

At around 4pm, we decided we had done enough sightseeing for one day (we were exhausted, our feet hurt, and we needed to check into our Airbnb) and hopped onto the train to pick up our luggage. From the train station, we got into a taxi, checked into our Airbnb, and then explored our neighborhood to find dinner. We settled on an Indonesian place, where we both had delightful dinners and drinks! 

Day 2 found us first at the Berlin Wall Memorial, which was just a 15 minute walk from where we were staying. Here we found an entire outdoor museum on the Wall, which was really helpful for me to understand the history behind it, though it did start to get somewhat redundant after a while. 

After a quick bite, we hopped on the train and went to the DDR Museum, and then checked out the largest chocolate shop in Berlin. YUM! We ended with a trip up the French Cathedral spire to get a look at the city from above, and currywurst for dinner--this food definitely lived up to its expectations and did not disappoint! 

Berlin was an amazing city with such deeply profound history and incredible sights. Given the current political climate in the US, it was all the more sobering to see Germany's history so closely. Seeing exactly how the ideas of white supremacy and creating a "perfect race" and building a wall were so detrimental to the country and destroyed millions of lives filled me with a new energy to fight what this American political administration is trying to do. One only needs to see the raised brass plates on the sidewalk all around the city indicating the homes of Jews who were taken from their homes and murdered in concentration camps, or the brass circles around the Wall indicating where those who tried to flee oppression were shot to realize that such a dark time in history should be condemned and never, ever be repeated. 

Walls don't work.

Never, ever again.