First Day in Berlin

On the Saturday following our arrival in Berlin by train, our group took a tour of the city and its many historical sights with our guide, Conrad. We began at the Brandenburg gate, the location of many of Germany’s major political protests. From there he took us to a metal monument laid in the sidewalk commemorating Ronald Reagan's speech at the Brandenburg Gate West Berlin, Germany, June 12, 1987.

He then showed us a huge memorial that signified many of the Jews that were murdered during WWII. This memorial consisted of hundreds of large stones, each signifying around 2500 deaths. These stones towered above our heads and were set up so that you could walk through them like a maze. Seeing how many stones there were and what they signified was incredibly sobering and distressing. Every time I think about such horrific events I’m struck with the same horrified shock. 

After that we visited “Hitler’s Bunker” which had ironically been developed into a parking lot. We walked along an ornate bridge that crossed over the Rhine River, the river where composer Robert Schumann threw himself into in an unsuccessful attempt at suicide.

From there we traveled by the Berliner Dome and then our guide eventually led us to the “Topographies of Horrors” museum, or as we kept calling it, “the Nazi museum.” Outside there was a stone line in the ground as well as  a small remnant of the wall that stood between east and west Germany during WWII. The wall itself had metal rods sticking out and holes which showed where the people had hacked away at the wall in their anger and rage when it was finally decreed that the wall could come down. 

On the side of the wall where the museum was located you could walk below street level and see the lower portions of the wall where there were passageways and places where lights were installed. Inside the museum there was a short movie that gave us a brief overview of the location in English. There were no real artifacts in the exhibits but plenty of heavy reading about the political events leading up to and during the war. It was jaw-dropping reading things from the perspective of the people who committed such horrendous crimes. They really believed that what they were doing was for the overall benefit of mankind.  

That evening we took the underground line U2 directly to the Deutsche Oper Berlin. There we saw a spectacular production of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. I have been to several various ballet performances in my life, including the New York City Ballet, and this was by far the best performance I have ever seen. Everything from the set design to the costumes, the incredible grace and synchronization of the ballerinas, the supreme performance of the orchestra, and the beautiful venue itself. Every element of this production came together quite beautifully and was incredible to hear and see.