Berlin

I was really looking forward to our Berlin visit. For the obvious reasons of it being an interesting city in its own right, but also because I had my very own historian/tour guide who lived there for several years. Upon arrival, we started with a long walk through the city where Alex pointed out several monuments, statues, and buildings, and I got my first glimpse into the differences of East vs West Berlin. I recall being especially hungover this day as we went a little too hard celebrating (mourning?) our last night in Madrid, so I was glad to take it easy and save the real tour for the following days. We capped off our first day with a beautiful salad at a Turkish restaurant – much appreciated after all the cheeses, breads, and meats in Spain!

Bike Tour

We were greeted with beautiful weather the next day, so we decided to do a day on bikes to explore a couple of museums and landmarks. First stop – Bridge of Spies! Admittedly, I only know this bridge from seeing the Tom Hanks movie but it was a great start to our tour. Our next stop was the House of the Wannsee Conference – the meeting place of the Nazi leaders when they finalized the plans for the mass extermination of the Jews. It was a heavy museum and I didn’t take any photos. It was here that I realized how little I actually knew about WW2. That none of the extermination camps were actually in Germany, for example. Or that the very large majority of Nazis war criminals just reintegrated into the general population after the war. And several, several other things. A very informative museum and I would recommend it to anyone who visits Berlin.

Our last stop on the WW2 biking tour was Cecilienhof, the meeting place of the Potsdam Conference in 1945 where the leaders from the US, UK, and the Soviet Union met to hash things out after Germany was defeated. They had the whole house set up as it was for the conference, including the meeting room and offices of Truman, Churchill, and Stalin. I, again, was reminded of how little I actually knew and was really fascinated by the story told here. One fact that stood out is that Churchill was actually voted out of office in the middle of the meetings. He was invited to continue at the conference with his successor, but he refused because…well I guess his feelings were hurt.

Along with being a fabulously informational day, it was also a lovely bike ride along the surprisingly large network of Berlin lakes.

Berlin Wall

The next day we walked through the must-see Berlin Wall museum which was an outdoor exhibition setup along the previous location of part of the wall. It was, again, information overload but I had to read it all! I learned about the build up to the actual wall being built after the war, the splitting up of families, the several escape attempts (including tunnels and jumping out of windows), and the GDR’s reaction to fortify the wall and surrounding area to keep people in. And finally, the ultimate demise of the GDR and tearing down of the wall. What a wild time!

Stasi Museum

The Berlin Wall exhibition was the perfect setup for our next museum the following day – the Stasi Museum. The Stasi, the secret police of the GDR, had headquarters in East Berlin which have now been turned into a museum to aid in exposing their shockingly invasive and inhumane surveillance tactics. We read first hand stories about how the Stasi employed tens of thousands of people as spies, neighbors spying on neighbors, so they had eyes and ears at every corner. There was zero tolerance for anyone that had a novel thought. They used terrifying psychological harassment tactics to quell any signs of oppression. It had to feel like you could trust absolutely no one. It sounded like an absolutely terrifying place to live.

The offices and meeting rooms were left largely as they were with the original furniture – a very interesting glimpse into that era. We did get a kick out of one thing displayed at the museum. In the desk drawer of Erich Mielke’s secretary was an index card that outlined in very great detail exactly how the head of the Stasi liked his breakfast every morning. Alex and I decided if we ever opened a restaurant, we would offer the “Erich Mielke Breakfast.”

Exploring the City

By the last day of our time in Berlin, I just did not have the mental energy to walk through another museum and take in more information. So we instead walked through East Berlin marvelling at the clock at Alexanderplatz and the massive block style of the GDR buildings.

And, of course, we wandered through plenty of West Berlin streets for contrast.

Aside from the massive history lesson, I really enjoyed the city. Every neighborhood (kiez) had it’s own personality and it was fun to experience different bars and restaurants. And, of course, we managed to eat a few döner along the way.