Emotional day in Berlin

I'm back out on my veranda of our little hotel...it's late again and hotter than yesterday, but there's a bit of a breeze. Germany just won their World Cup game tonight, so alot of honking and vuvuzela's. It was an interesting day today. We got up early so we could try to get as much in before the real heat of the day, but today didn't matter, it was just super hot from morning until night. Scorching sun all day. We ventured out with our water bottles in hand and made a good day of it despite the heat.

We started out at the Reichstag, the seat of government for Germany. Outside of the building is the old facade, but because it was bombed extensively during the war, the inside is all modern. Berlin is a hard city to describe. There's kind of an unsettling feeling here. There's no real centre and there is construction everywhere. There is also history everywhere and some of it not so pleasant. Whereas the first night we wandered around in wonderment to get our bearings, we really didn't know what we were looking at. Today, we got more of a history lesson which started at the Reichstag and kept going from there. We were at the top of the Reichstag where you can see all of Berlin and the various monuments. They describe them for you and it was very eye opening. From there we went to the Brandonberg Gate, the Jewish Memorial and then made our way to "Checkpoint Charlie." To be honest, I wasn't really sure what it was, I just knew it was recommended as one of the things you HAD to do when in Berlin. I'm glad we went, even tho it was very emotional. At first, when you arrive, you're not really sure what you're looking at. Is it a street? a building? a monument you're looking for? I didn't know. Then, you just stop and take it all in. There are historical photos and write ups along the walls up and down the street. Reading it you begin to realize where you're standing. It was the main crossing point for people from East and West Berlin and where many people died trying to escape or secretly cross. Many many were successful and we learned more about their stories when we went to the Checkpoint Charlie museum. It was there that you saw story after story about the wall going up and families being separated and then specific stories about people who fled using ingenious methods. They included hiding in suitcases, in cars, building hot air balloons, flying contraptions, underwater breathing devices, cantalevered ladders...all from scraps of stuff they were able to cobble together. It was the stories of the Stasi seperating mothers and fathers from their children that got to me the most. Maybe it was because it was very hot and I was tired, but I almost started to weep when reading some of the accounts of forced adoptions. They would take kids away from parents and adopt them out. They would do this as punishment if any of their family members had escaped and to set an example. It was heartbreaking and there were so many other stories like that. It was very sobering and made you realize the broken history that is Berlin. Whereas we were blissfully unaware of what we were looking at earlier in the day, it all became very real after the Checkpoint Charlie museum. Aidan was looking at the pictures of people being stopped or shot at when crossing the wall and asking me why the pictures looked so recent. It was only 1989/90 that freedom really came to those people. He couldn't believe that this kind of thing happened only a few years before he was born. Not that long ago at all.

The day ended at the Aquarium (Aidan wants to see the various Aquariums and we're ok with that given how patient he is with all these museums and history lessons!) The evening was spent having dinner in the square outside watching World Cup soccer and Germany winning 3rd place! Lots of excitement and merry making (still going on below!)

We head to Prague tomorrow. Travelling tip # whatever....you loose track of the date and days when you're on the road and it's probably not a good idea. When we arrived in Berlin, I didn't really think that it was later on Friday so the banks wouldn't be open. Never dawned on me there wouldn't be a bank or money exchange place open on a Saturday...well there WASN'T. With the new Visa PIN's, our stupid VISA doesn't seem to work at interact machines, so we need a teller in order to get cash. We used our last Swedish Kronor's on the ferry and I figured I would get Euro's when I got to Berlin. Not so. Now, we're heading into Sunday and Prague and we have no real cash on us. This is a bit troubling, but I'm hoping the toll road will take Visa!! What's even more troubling is there were many places in Sweden where our PIN number didn't work, so we had to bypass it by giving them our passport as ID with the Visa. Anyhow, that is a bit worrisome. Here we saved up all this money for a year for our trip and we can't ACCESS any of it!! More than a bit annoying. Better planning on my part was needed, but it never occurred to me the Visa wouldn't work properly. Oh well, lesson learned. As soon as I can get access to a bank I'm withdrawing ALOT of money so we don't end up in this situation again.

I'll be glad to leave Germany. It's been a real learning experience, but there's been many German servers that just aren't that friendly or welcoming. They almost seem to resent you and certainly don't go out of their way if they see you don't understand what they're saying to you. It's been our first experience with this. A few have really stood out and were helpful, but several were not. I wonder what it will be like in our other places? You really realize you're far from home when you come face to face with that kind of thing. Well, that's about all for tonight. Going to try to get a bit more rest tonight!