Germany 2022 : 2022-09-18 : Berlin with Dietmar and Brigitte

Tip
Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Notes Actions
To Do Brandenburg Gate $0.00 Brandenburg Gate is the first stop for every visitor to Berlin! The city’s iconic landmark offers fascinating insights into the city’s history.

The Brandenburg Gate is one of the most iconic sights in today’s vibrant Berlin. More than just Berlin’s only surviving historical city gate, this site came to symbolise Berlin’s Cold War division into East and West – and, since the fall of the Wall, a reunified Germany. Architecturally, the sandstone Brandenburg Gate also represents one of the earliest and most attractive examples of a neo-classical building in Germany.

1 Hour by train from AirBnB
To Do Unter den Linden $0.00 Unter den Linden is a boulevard in the central Mitte district of Berlin, the capital of Germany. Running from the City Palace to Brandenburg Gate, it is named after the linden trees that line the grassed pedestrian mall on the median and the two broad carriageways.

1 Hour by train from AirBnB. 1 km walk from Brandenburg Gate
Travel
Type Name Service Provider Origin Destination Cost Notes Actions
Train Single-Trip Tickets Berlin Transit $7.40 We rode downtown in the morning on yesterday's 24-hour ticket, so this time we only needed a single ticket back to our AirBnB.
Activity
Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Kms To Date Total Notes Actions
Sight See Palace of tears Meet Dietmar and Brigitte here at 11am $0.00
Sight See Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe $0.00
Sight See Die Mauer Panorama $30.00
Accommodation
Type Name Service Provider Confirmation Location Cost Notes Actions
Bed and Breakfast Cozy hut/ A-frame house Air BnB Brandenburg $390.01 Host: Mario
Cost is for four nights. 219.13 paid 2022/08/03. Balance to be charge on Sept 2
Check-in 15:00, Checkout 10:00
Confirmed no dogs or cats on 2022-08-03


Trip Log

Notes Actions
We headed into Berlin this morning, excited about seeing Dietmar and Brigitte again. They decided to come in for just a few hours to see us!

We met at Trämenpalast (Palace of Tears) which was the border processing station for people entering West Berlin from East Berlin at the Friedrichstrasse train station. It was very poignant to learn of the people’s experienced when Berlin (and Germany) were separated. For the first time I heard that it was announced, mere days before, that ‘there was no intention to build a wall’.

We then walked down Unter den Linden which is a beautiful wide boulevard lined with Linden trees, to the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate) which was an access point to Berlin long before the wall, but that was also incorporated into the wall. We saw the Reichstag, and Brigitte told us that you have to make a reservation at least two days ahead in order to visit it. We walked past the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, although we didn’t have as much time there as we would have liked.

We had ice cream and chai at an Indian restaurant, and then walked back toward the Friedrichstrasse station.

We haven’t expected to see Frank and Bob since we left the Bike and Barge, but they popped in to say hi as we were standing by the river saying our farewells to Dietmar and Brigitte.

Brent and I still had a little ‘going and seeing’ left in us, so after we said goodbye, the two of us moved on to the ‘Die Mauer’ (The Wall) Panorama by Yadegar Asisi. It is an amazing, enormous panoramic mural of Berlin with the wall. I am most definitely a Yadegar Asisi fan now. I’m hoping that we’ll be able to see his other panorama that’s in Berlin, Pergamon, while we’re here. ‘Die Mauer’ also includes a chronological display of photos taken of, and around, the Berlin Wall.

After ‘Die Mauer’, we decided that was enough for the day and started heading back to our Airbnb. But then we stumbled onto TrabiWorld, a museum dedicated to vintage Trabant vehicles, so we had to have a quick look at that too.

We also saw the Memorial to the Murdered Sinti and Roma (gypsies). It is so distressing to learn about the attitudes that people can take towards others who are different. One thing that really stuck with me was a card that talked about the ‘gypsy solution’ and the solution was extermination, but of course, ‘extermination by work’ was the best solution. So… yeah… we’re going to kill them anyway, so let’s work them to death.

I am sad to report that today was the day that I realized that the border between East and West Germany did not bisect Berlin, but, rather, Berlin was an ‘island’ within East Germany that was partly West Germany with one train line out to the rest of West Germany.


Photos