Road Trip - Day 2 (Berlin)

Road Trip – Day 2 (Berlin)

We finished today with soggy pants, sore feet and no shortage of adventures. Thankfully, we are all still smiling.

The day began well enough. Jason and I woke to an alarm (we really need to plan vacations that do not involve the use of alarms…) and managed to get ready without waking the kids. Once we woke the kids and got them ready it was off to breakfast. I never realized how slow we are at eating until this morning when we finally headed out the hotel door a half hour later than we had planned. Even though we booked it to the Potsdam train station as quickly as we could, there was nothing we could do except admit the fact that we would miss the morning walking tour that we had booked. Oh well.

We arrived in Berlin, bought a map and started off on our own walking tour. With me as the tour guide I cannot vouch for how accurate a lot of the historical details were but after leaving the train station, admiring the fall colors on the trees and checking out the Reichstag we journeyed across our very first marking of where the Berlin Wall formerly stood.

While there are still some parts of the wall that remain (more on that later), the majority of the former east/west Berlin border is marked by brick, stone or white lines throughout the city, through streets, over bridges and across sidewalks. As I stood on top of our first connection with this line I marveled at how connected I felt with history. I wondered if those who put up the wall knew the controversy, heartache and deaths that it would cause, if those who struggled and fought for a reunified Germany knew that they were not only making history but changing the face of the future too and I wondered what ideals we would see change, expand or alter in my lifetime. Jason and the kids waited quite patiently while I drank deeply of this little piece of history, they even faned interest when I spouted off information I learned in various documentaries trying to pretend to know what I am talking about when it comes to lessons that can be learned through learning history. Then Jason interrupted my little philosophical moment with a request to get moving as Milayla was beginning to fall asleep and Atticus was antsy to see some other things.

Milayla was so tired she fell asleep with her hands hanging onto the strap in front of her

So we were off, following the line of the Berlin Wall, we journeyed through an area that would have formerly been what was known as the ‘death strip’ and is now (fittingly) a cemetery with a few standing wall segments.

From there, we stumbled upon an old guard tour fitted with a mannequin dressed in the guard uniform keeping watch out the window.

Then we veered back towards the center of the city to visit the DDR Museum. The DDR museum is a small museum that hilights what life was like in East Germany, most specifically East Berlin. Though small, it certainly had some interesting items and they were displayed very interactively. Both the kids, Jason and myself quite enjoyed it. The only downside is that it was very, very, very busy. We did not get to look at quite everything before a sense of claustrophobia began to set in and we headed off. In the time we did spend there, however, we certainly felt a broadened sense of understanding of exactly what life was like in East Germany. Though, in truth, we never will truly know just exactly how it was.

They had some really neat ways to display the items in the museum. Here is Atticus playing with the desk that had a large touch screen computer inlayed on it. When you placed one of the office items onto the desk it opened up an information window for you to explore and learn. Very cool.

shelves of "free thinking" books that were not allowed and "west jeans" which were also not allowed (but that didn't stop people from finding ways to sneak both in.

The percentage of people that had showers, toilets, heating and phones in 1971 vs 1989. And a Trabbi; you needed to place your order for this car early as it could take up to 16 years to get one. Also, you better keep good track of how many kilometres you have traveled since your last fill up since this car has no gas gauge.

We were interestingly surprised when we walked into a life size version of an apartment from East Germany to see OUR living room from our first apartment in Germany. It was kind of eery, though we laughed when we noticed that it even had the exact same sofa (only ours was a three seater). We used to remark about how outdated that couch was (and not to mention, uncomfortable) and now we know where the roots are...

From there we embarked on a journey down Unter den Linden; the Champs d’Elysee of Berlin. Not quite as charming as Paris, particularly when it was covered in various stages of construction but the enormous Brandenburger Tor that stood fixed at the end of the strasse certainly provided a nice goal for us to reach.

Milayla and I in front of the Berlin Cathedral

Upon reaching the Brandenburger Tor we grabbed a seat at a nearby café and enjoyed some fresh brotchen sandwiches, rested our feet and prepared to catch the afternoon walking tour (the same tour that we had missed earlier in the day) and even snapped a photo in front of the Brandenburger Tor.

See that statue on top? That was originally intended to be the Goddess of Peace riding her four horse chariot. Well, Napoleon decided to take this statue back to Paris for the collection in the Louvre and when the Prussians got it back they renamed the Goddess - The Goddess of Victory. But the victorious return does not end there, the head of the goddess was also turned so that she looks down on the French Consulate; keeping an eye on them. Quite the sense of humor.

Here is where we could have ended the day, headed to the train station and back to the hotel in Potsdam, but we didn’t, we pushed through (may not have been the brightest idea...we try to put our family enjoyment level over how many things we get to see...).

Once the tour started lack of sleep was beginning to catch up with both children. Atticus responded by small acts of misbehavior – perhaps more appropriate to be titled 'minor irritants  than misbehavior. Milayla responded by a little fussing and then drifting off to sleep.

As Atticus’ minor outbursts grew in intensity, we did at least manage to learn a lot of things we had not previously known, as well as caught some sights that we had not yet seen.


Anyone recognize the hotel below? It was the hotel where Micheal Jackson infamously displayed his baby out the window. Nothing like a little strange pop culture trivia amidst all the other heavy history things.

The Jewish War Memorial was a very interesting stop. Our guide did a great job explaining the history behind it, why it is there, possible symbolism and the intrigue of the optical illusions. It is a very touching monument. 

to further fuel interpretations, the artist who won the competition of designing this monument has left his intended meaning and source of inspiration unknown so that everyone can find their own meaning in how it makes them feel. The most popular theory, however, is that his inspiration was a jewish cemetery located near his home. If you look at the picture on the above left you will see the view of the monument as you approach it; the different heights of the large concrete blocks and the vastness of their number. As you walk along side of the monument, you soon notice that what originally looked like level ground that the blocks were sitting on actually deepens into the ground for quite a distance. Not only that, but some of the very first blocks are right under your feet and you did not even notice as they are level with the path. 

Jason heading into the monument.

Once into the centre of the monument, the blocks tower well over your head and the enormity of the monument begins to sink in. Despite the fact that there are crowds of people milling about in the monument, there is an eery calm that surrounds you as other people only briefly cross your view before being consumed behind other blocks. The rain trickling down the blocks seemed to mimic tears.

From there it was on to a large parking lot. I won't go a lot into this stop as there is certainly no gentleness in its' history. This is the former site of Hitler's bunker were he spent the last weeks of his life. 

Then we were on to the building of finance with quite the history. 

This building was originally designed and built for Hitler's use and was designed to be strong and imposing. During the time of East Germany communism, this building was used for political offices. It was during that time that the mural was painted on the wall to show everyone how happy everyone is in East Germany. Apparently, they really liked to play the accordion, too. 

Jason putting on his best "happy face" to match the happy people behind him

From there it was on to another section of the Berlin Wall. We needed to pass some more Trabbis first though, and the curry stall. 

The section of wall that we journeyed to is quite decayed and while it would be easy to assume that it is primarily due to weather you could not be entirely accurate. You see, some entrepreneurial folks decided to start chipping off chunks of the Berlin wall and selling them. It probably seemed like a bright idea at the time until it was discovered that this section of wall is loaded in Asbestos which led to the city putting that fence up in front of the wall so that no one else could take their own chunk of Asbestos laden wall home with them.   

I really liked this picture that we passed that I had to take a photo of it (yes, I took a picture of a picture). It is a photo of a display that was put in front of Brandenburger Tor. You will notice that it is a picture of the Tor after the city had been severely bombed. It's amazing the contrast. 

From there it was a short stop at the tourist packed Checkpoint Charlie which has a very lovely finishing touch of locals dressed in American uniforms posing for photos with tourists. Nice...

Then it was time for a much needed break at a little cafe. Milayla was wide awake from her little nap and both kids were ready to stretch out their legs. 

We happened to sit down at a cafe table right next to a grate in the sidewalk for the subway. Milayla was insanely intrigued by the sounds and breeze that came from down below and just wanted to hang out on it. This picture is easily one of my favorites from our whole trip...

And just in case one photo isn't enough, here's another! I love her hair!

After our needed little break it was off to see some churches that look an awful lot alike...

The boys in front of church one

the boys in front of church two. I wish I got a better angle of this one.

The near identicalness of the churches is no coincidence, it is, in fact, another display of competition between France and Germany at the time. 

In between the two churches is the classical concert hall. A very beautiful building. 

It was here that a huge downpour of rain caused us to seek shelter in what easily became one of my favorite stops. We had watched some documentaries on Berlin before our trip and this statue was one of the things that really stood out to me. Despite the pounding rain outside, and the swarms of drenched people inside, there was an interesting stillness inside this room. Everyone was intrigued by the statue in the middle of the room that was being rained on due to a large, intentional hole in the sealing overhead. As people rushed to the statue for their chance to pose in a picture while holding their umbrella over top of the statue I mused over the possible symbolism in their actions.

The statue is simple and beautiful as it captures a mother cradling her son that she lost at war. And though the elements pour down on her, she is completely enveloped in the moment of mourning for her son, in pouring out every ounce of love and courage that she has into his soul that has left this earth so soon. My heart ached in a way that I cannot put into words. The sacrifices we all make. The love we all give. The complexity of our emotions all simplified into service and compassion. The love of our Savior ever present in our words and our actions. A million thoughts ran through my head, making connections between my mind and my heart and broadening my understanding of motherhood, of my unique contribution to my family and my personal connection to my Father in Heaven. It was a good moment.

When the rain let up, there was not much of the tour left, and thankfully, the break seemed to help substantially as we were all in much better spirits.

We trekked onto Bebelplatz which has the opera house, a church,

And the Royal Library of Humboldt University which is now the law school of Humboldt. 

This building has quite a bit of history seeping out of it's walls. Not only has it been home to quite a few notable scholars (Einstein taught here before emigrating to the United States and the Grimm Brothers studied here) but it was also the tragic site of the dramatic book burning in 1933 when some 20,000 volumes of books were torn from the library shelves and burned on the square outside. That terrible occasion is now remembered by a monument in the middle of the square.

This monument is quite a bit different from many of the others that we have seen though. This monument is underground.

Because the picture is not the best, I will explain what the monument is. It is a white room with empty white book shelves (with room enough to hold 20,000 volumes) and a plaque that indicates that the book burning was only a prelude. A very sad, but truthful thought.

From there is was on to Musuem Island for some more facts and figures and our tour was complete.

The TV tower that was erected in East Germany

Following the tour we trekked to find dinner and after finding a couple places that were completely full it was decided that the timing was not right so we would eat following our return to Potsdam. That’s when things got interesting again.

We waited for our train on the assigned platform. It never came. We waited until we had missed the arrival time twice before we decided to hop the next train that came in hopes of getting to the main station and having better options for our train out of town. No such luck, we were dropped at the end-of-the-line only to be stuck on the platform and to find out the no trains were heading out due to a tree that had fallen on the tracks during the storm. The elevators were out of service and we were not allowed to take the escalator with our stroller. When we finally tracked down a transportation employee and asked how we could get to Potsdam she said it was not possible today. Great. Being completely unsatisfied with that answer we took the stroller down the escalator and headed for the ticket/information office to find an alternative method to getting back to Potsdam. Seeing that the situation had gotten a little complicated and stressful we decided that we better ask the lady at the desk if she spoke any English as we don’t always speak/understand German all that well. Her response? A very shrill; “No going to Potsdam and no English!”. I guess she was having a bad day too…

Thankfully, shortly following that response we stumbled upon two train conductors who looked to be giving someone directions to get to Potsdam. Hallelujah! They didn’t speak English, but between their incredible patience and the assistance of a map we were able to understand all the transfers, platforms and funky maneuvers to make it back to Potsdam. We headed for the first platform in our newly designed journey to run into stairs, lots and lots of stairs. No elevator. Seriously, what do people in wheelchairs do? Milayla was in the wrap which made the stroller a bit lighter with only Atticus in it. I was just heading around to the front of the stroller to help Jason carry it down the stairs when a complete stranger beat me to it, lifted the front of the stroller and carried it down the stairs with Jason. As we finally reached the bottoms of the stairs we thanked the anonymous helper and when he turned to walk away Jason and I remarked, nearly in unison, there are still good people in the world. Looking back, the whole series of events seems so trivial, but in the moment when we were all tired, hungry and still sopping wet, the kindness of complete strangers shone as brightly as the north star on a clear night. Thank you!

Our journey back from that point was, thankfully, uneventful. There was certainly plenty of patience required though as the entire journey back to our hotel took nearly 3 hours from the time we started heading home (in perfect circumstances it would have been about 40 minutes). Food tasted wonderful. Warm showers were incredible. And cuddling up as a family on the big leather couch in our hotel room to watch some General Conference warmed us all right to the core. The day certainly was not a dull one.