Tag: germany

Revelations

On By paulmackeyIn TravelLeave a comment

Aug 23 2025

During our research for the trip we discovered that the majority of the Berlin Wall was in the process of being transformed into a bike path. While we felt the full 100 miles was a bit beyond us, we nevertheless signed up for a bike tour along a segment. 

The line of the wall
It was about the t shirt
I was not allowed to buy a t shirt
One of the few “preserved” buildings that survived the war.
Nature will out
Another “section” of the wall
The guard post

We both commented to the very informative guide that our meagre recollection of the events of 1989 was that the wall sort of just suddenly came down. The full story was even more bizarre. Our first stop was at the Platz des 9 November (it turns out this was a significant day recurrently throughout German history). This was also where there was a major border crossing between East and West which was the site of where the fall of the wall ‘started’. The short version is that it was bureaucratic bungling from a minor functionary, Gunter Schabowski, who didn’t pre-read what he was supposed to present at the news conference. So when an Italian journalist asked about the proposed changes Schabowski hastily read out a part that had been underline for him “Effective immediately”. And the rest is history.

The various parts of the wall have been thoughtfully and artfully preserved or marked. One was a guard tower that one man squatted in (and then paid someone to squat in) for several years to prevent it being knocked down as a memorial to his brother who was killed trying to cross there. So much more we could write about what we learned and how the memory is being preserved. 

Upon completing the tour we continued the history of East German communism theme with a visit to the DDR museum before making our way to our hotel for a pre-dinner and show rest.

Dinner at the restaurant attached to the hotel was a revelation. Pizza scissors!. Why had we never seen this before? The _only_ way to cut pizza slices!

Pizza Scissors!
Check Point Charlie

For the evening we had booked one of the typical “for the tourists, classical greatest hits” performances at the French Church. We made our way there vie Checkpoint Charlie as I wanted to visit it on behalf of my Dad who has this rather bizarre story about crossing there back in the day on what sounded liked the flimsiest pretence of visiting the East German Law society office to complain about some machine that didn’t work.

At the concert
The light show recording the history of Berlin since the 1930s

The venue and the concert was as lovely as expected. With a Canadian soprano no less! And the lateness of the hour meant this time we got to see the light show on the river…and enjoy seeing the riverside dancing on the way back. 

What is the definition of “dusk”?

On By paulmackeyIn TravelLeave a comment

Aug 22 2025

Memorial for the murdered German parliamentarians

A lovely morning to walk down along the river to the Reichstag for our walking tour. Apparently it is the most visited parliament building in the world. And apparently the German Bundestag has the third largest number of “parliamentarians” (after China and the UK). Brilliant architectural design, melding modern glass and light with the original 1880s building. The glass addition presented its own problems: heat. Thus the addition of a large louver that has to rotate around during the day the child the direct heat of the sun. The Riechstag was originally placed where it was because, allegedly, the Kaiser said, “Yeah sure you can have your parliament, but outside the city walls because I’m still the boss” There was also a simple yet poignant memorial to the 96 German parliamentarians murdered by the Nazi’s. A powerful reminder that the Nazi’s first incarcerated and executed Germans who were opposed to them.

Continuing with the memorials, we passed one to the Romany that were murdered by the Nazi’s before reaching the Brandenburg Gate. Just beyond was the very stark Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Very sombre. Yet sadly not somber enough to stop some climbing up on the blocks. Then past a remnant of the Berlin Wall to Potsdamer Platz where we were able to find some Currywurst to tick off some more German cuisine.

Over lunch we then decided we would make use of our “free” hop on and hop off tickets to do just that, our eventual target being the Charlottenberg Palace. It was nice to retreat from the bustle of the city for a bit and enjoy the quiet of the gardens.

Making our way back (after dinner of some much needed vegetables/salad!) our target was again the Spree as we had seen the sign sating that there would be a light show “at dusk”. It was already 7pm by the time we were wandering back and so we thought we were pretty close to on time. And when the “wine ladies” arrived with their chairs, table (and wine) we understandably thought, “Any moment now”. 

Killing time until dusk
More killing time until dusk
Still killing time until dusk

To fill in time we kept doing small circuits from the viewing point thus we chanced upon the groups down in the lee of the Paul-Lobe-Haus by the river having dancing lessons. What a wonderful way to gather in the evening. However, when at 9pm (!) we just felt we couldn’t last, we walked back along the river towards the station passing even more groups out dancing in the summer evening.