Goodbye Berlin

My last post was about Berlin’s tragic past, and how frightening it is to recognize parallels to what is happening in the world now.

Today’s post is about Berlin’s glorious present and how it is making me optimistic about the future for our entire planet.

First, many thanks to my dear friend Chris and her wonderful sister Claudia for their very helpful suggestions on how to best use our time in Berlin. Thanks to them, we knew we needed to get tickets for the Reichstag tour at least a month in advance. For those of you not lucky enough to know Chris or Claudia, here’s the link for the free tour, in English: https://www.bundestag.de/en/visittheBundestag/dome/tours

The Bundestag building itself is architecturally gorgeous, filled with interesting artwork.

Our guide was a retired lawyer, who explained that although, prior to Hitler’s rise to power, Germany considered itself a democracy, it really wasn’t, because half of the population wasn’t allowed to vote. I wish I could remember her exact words because she said it far more elegantly than my paraphrase, but here’s the gist of her comments regarding women voters: They expected women to be grateful when they “gave” us the right we had been denied for so many years.

Here she is, explaining why the Russian soldiers’ graffiti in the Reichstag was preserved when the building was reconstructed after unification. (Once again, not a direct quote, just what I remembered her saying).

Imagine you are a young Russian soldier who spent the last few months being shot at and bombed. You have survived so far. You reach Berlin, but are still not safe. You want to leave your mark so that others recognize that you once existed.

The Germans left the graffiti so, to me, it has become a symbol of the compassion the Berliners felt for young Russian boys who were drafted and forced to kill young German boys.

She also gave us information about the way the German government currently operates, but because I wasn’t as interested, I promptly forgot everything she said.

I was, however, fascinated by the eagle on the wall behind her. That eagle hung in Bonn, when it was the capital of West Germany. It was installed at the reconstructed Reichstag after reunification.

I was also fascinated by the interior view of the dome from the parliamentary meeting room.

After the 90 minute guided tour, we were able to enter the dome and walk up the spiral ramp to the top.

The mirrors in the center reflect light into the building below.

I found it fascinating that the dome is completely open. What happens when it rains or snows? Inquiring minds want to know, so I asked one of the guards. He told me the top remains completely open, but rain only falls on the very top level, where drains capture it and carry it out of the building. Damn, those Germans are great at engineering!

From the Reichstag dome, we were able to see the TV tower. It was the proud creation of the Soviets in East Berlin, intended to demonstrate the superiority of Soviet construction. After reunification, however, the world had access to Stasi documents that showed most of the materials used to build the tower had to be imported from the west.

During our city tours both guides talked about the symbol of Christianity (a cross) appearing on this godless tower. We were completely mystified, because it was impossible for us to visualize anything that remotely resembled a cross. FINALLY, during our stroll around the dome, the sun was in the right position, so I hope my photo allows YOU to see it too.

If my personal astrophysicist had been by my side, he would have explained the scientific principles behind the phenomenon. Instead, I went with Barb’s explanation: it is magic.

Anyone who has read any of my prior posts knows that I cannot resist a tower, mountain, high point—anything that offers a panoramic view. Berlin has several, and we took advantage of every single one that we could find.

Our OAT trip leader suggested we visit the Humboldt Forum’s rooftop. In addition to the delightful cafe,

we were treated to another vantage point of the city.

Notice the roof of the Humboldt is planted with grasses and flowers.

The city was environmentally aware, which was so very encouraging to me.

None of the median strips were mowed. Instead, grasses and weeds were allowed to grow unhindered to protect and feed the bees.

From our vantage point on the roof, we could see the sustainability display. That’s the reddish tower in the photo below, in which reclaimed materials were used to fashion new structures.

We ended our night with a laser show at the Reichstag, which was created to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Christo’s art project.

With travel, sometimes you hit and sometimes you miss. The laser show was definitely a miss, but the sunset was lovely.

And the walk to the hotel gave us the opportunity to see Berlin buildings illuminated.