Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Germany 2013 - Berlin day 2


   On our second day, we walked to Checkpoint Charlie which was one of the three checkpoint stations through which people could travel between West and East Berlin during the Cold War.  Not too much to see here, it's basically a kiosk in the middle of a busy street with a small exhibit on the street corner.  We walked from there to the Topography of Terror which details the role of the SS and Gestapo in the years leading up to and during WWII.  Part of the original Wall is still standing here.  It's a good exhibit, but a lot of reading.  
  Next was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.  Above ground, there is a field of blocks of differing sizes with paths running between them, somewhat similar to a maze, though you can see quite a ways down each row.  I read somewhere that the idea was to recall the disappearance of the Jewish race from Germany as you see people in the monument field appear and disappear between the columns.  Below ground, you first go through a security checkpoint just like an airport scanner with 4-5 security officers, except you go through in small controlled groups. Then you enter the building and there are many, many exhibits with excerpts from letters and smuggled notes that describe the lives and deaths of Jewish families. There are photo collages of entire extended families accompanied by details of where and how they died and also the few who managed to survive.  There is a room where the names and brief biographies of the dead are read - it would take 6years, 7months and 27days to read them all in this way. It was a moving experience though Mike says he thought the Holocaust Memorial in Washington, DC was actually better in some ways (I haven't been there), and our friends have been to the one in Israel which they say is really something to see. 
  By now, we were in need of something other than a somber monument, so we took a short sightseeing trip on a multi-seat bike. These bikes have a seat and handlebars for the guide and seats for 4-6 other people situated around a circular frame.  You all have to pedal but the guide is the one who steers.  We took off through one side of the Brandenburg Gate and out into traffic(!), with car and bikes whizzing by us.  We passed several sites we had already seen, but we saw the former site of Hitler's bunker and the first ever signal light in Europe, and we rode along the line of the Wall in many places. Basically it was just a fun thing to do and helped lighten the mood quite a bit, though we were ready for a cool drink when we finished.  Oh yeah, have I mentioned it's finally warm here? 

  

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