Day 72 - Ich bin ein Berliner...

We decided to head out on our own for the day to see Berlin since our lovely hosts have already seen them plus it gave us the chance to be on our own schedule and be able to wander about and see things on our own pace...but first they took us through Tegel on a regular Saturday morning.
As in Muenster, H and B liked going to the Saturday market in the middle of Tegel. It is basically an indoor version of an outdoor market, with stalls and booths that sell produce, meats, milk, etc. H recalled in former times when the market would have only one stall dedicated on selling dairy, or meats, or produce, but since the wall fell there are now a great variety to choose from (endless wursts and cheeses) plus a few specialties that recently opened up, like a sushi counter. We took a stroll through the main street where we had Italian icees and walked to the pier where we saw the kindergarten my Omi went to, the church where she and her other sister got married in, and to see the Tegel lake. We walked back and saw what in former times was a bridge in which you had to pay 5 cents to cross.

After they walked us to the train station, we headed off to Berlin-Hauptbanhof to purchase our tickets for Prague and decided to walk. Our first stop was right outside the station - a large sand sculpture exhibition was taking place. It was quite impressive considering that it has been raining and the wind has not been that forgiving. Instead of actually going into the beach area to take a closer look, we opted to see them from a distance over a bridge...the price of admission would cost us the Currywurst we were told we had to get, a delicacy invented in Berlin.

We took a walk on the river Spree to go to Museum Island. The Spree had served as a natural barrier between East and West during the cold war, and as we walked on the west side of the river, on the ground was the former footprint of the wall in two rows of bricks. It is completely amazing how much has changed in less than 20 years - where once were walls, barricades, and watchtowers are now a beautiful pedestrian path, with daily riverboat tours on the Spree. H had commented a while back that when Germany reunited, each citizen agreed to a 30 year plan in which each citizen would pay a certain amount each month for the reconstruction of all of Berlin. Seems like Berliners have something to be very proud about.

Part of the renovations took the form of building modern buildings for the new offices of the Reunified Parliament. I. M. Pei was one of these architects and he took great pleasure in using glass and concrete to make these government buildings look gracious by the river Spree. If you look really close, you can see us in the reflection to the left of the big circle...its a blurr but hey.

Next is the view of the Reichtag, one of the seats of German Parliament (Brundestag) where plenery sessions take place (info from G, who is a lawyer and was kind enough to supply us with the correct information) . Part of the renovations for the building took the form of an open dome designed by Norman Foster that could peer into the Parliament floor, as a symbol for the new "open government." We went up into the dome three years ago during our honeymoon and the view is quite spectacular. I wonder how hard it would be to convert the Capitol dome into glass...

This station is now the Friedrichstrasse, but during Cold War times, H referred to it as the "Palace of Tears." This was the last stop before those who lived in the west and visited relatives in the east would come to go back to West Berlin. Those in the West were given permission to go to the East to visit relatives maybe once or twice a year, so any departure from this station would always be a sad one both for those leaving and for those who have to stay behind.

We got to Museum Island after walking through a street fair but quickly realised that the museum we intended on going was closed for renovations, so we decided to walk to the nearest station and ended up getting our Currywurst and Apfelshorle (sparkling apple juice). Currywurst is basically sausage with onions and tomato sauce cooked with yellow curry. Really cheap and really tasty. Definitely well worth the wait.

Our next stop was the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. The church was built in the late 1800's and was damaged in 1943. Local opposition saved it from being demolished and instead a new church was built alongside the old one. Inside the old church is now a museum with the history of the church and pictures from before the bombings. Part of the new church has a freestanding modern hexagonal bell tower where the original nave of the church used to be. Inside the new church is a wall of beautiful blue stain glass that gives this modern church a very peaceful and somber feel. I am completely in awe of the way Berliners have both rebuilt their city and preserved the past and managed to gracefully combine both to have a city that is itself a living, breathing memorial. Truly a city that has risen from the ashes.

We headed back shortly after buying some rope and clips for our laundry line that we lost on the Camino. A full day complete with a hot dinner waiting for us back at H and B.