Wernemunde to Berlin..
Guten Tag. Yesterday started off a bright and early 6am as I traveled via train for 3 hours to Berlin, Germany. We boarded the train in the port city of Wernemunde and left the train in Lichtenburg in Berlin. Our first stop was the Brandenburg Gate. It was the largest of the customs gates built during the Soviet reign to regulate the comings and goings from East Berlin. The square has been built up tremendously over the past 6 or so years and we saw the pictures to prove it. Much of the city was still being renovated from the damage caused by World War II. 
The World Cup Soccer games are also happening here in Germany and Germany is doing well. As we were walking around the square everyone was getting ready for the game that was going to be shown on a big screen in the park on the other side of the gate. They all donned their face paint in the German colors, the colored hair, jerseys, or the many splotches of the German flag in various forms. They were blowing these little horns that blared in our ears and they called to each other with them as if it were a ritual. It was crazy, and as the day approached 5pm (World Cup time) it'd only get crazier. We had our history lesson on the Reichstag although we never went into it. That must be a different tour. At the time of the Berlin wall the Soviet Flag was flown on this building high above the city. We drove around town and saw the infamous (or according to our tour guide "well known" since he was trying to stay away from the word famous) TV tower that stood over the city with a huge globe at the top. Evidently this was to show West Berliners that the East Berliners were up to date on the latest communications during that time frame. It was decorated today as a soccer ball. We drove past a piece of the wall that still stood. The wall came down in 1989 just 2 years after Reagan spoke at the Brandenburg Gate saying it should come down. While the wall was being constructed, it was built as a double construction. 
There are the inner and outer walls. The place in between the 2 walls was known as the death strip. This was because over 80,000 guards patrolled this patch between the walls to prevent any escapes from East Berlin. Any attempts would be shot down by automatic fire. The same thing happened at the Iron Curtain separating east and West Germany only the wall there wasn't a double construction. Because of the reign of the Soviet Union inside the wall, the architecture reflects the horrible designs of the GDR (or German Democratic Republic). Although our guide says it was anything but a DEMOCRATIC republic. 
The wall was an interesting drive by and I do wish I got to stop there and actually look at both sides of the wall. Our guide was telling us that the West Berliners used the wall as a canvas for their graffiti. However on the east side it was kept clean because of the strict enforcement. When the wall came down, graffiti artists (the younger generations) had no canvas so they started using private property. Because of this there's graffiti all over the city and Germany is still coming up with ways to deal with it. After our drive by of the wall we had a stop at Checkpoint Charlie. 
This well known spot is where U.S. and Russian tanks had a stand off while the wall was being built. It was uncertain what would happen while these tanks stood face to face and caused great tension at that locale. Evidently when passing the wall at this point there were 3 checkpoints (Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie). This was probably due to the fact that leaving East Berlin at this point went into West Berlin, which was a part of the union of the French, British, and American allies. A sign was erected saying that as you approached East Berlin you where leaving United States territory. All the remains of the customs gates and the wall have been removed. The only thing that still remains is the American guardhouse that stands in the middle of the street. It was lunchtime and we enjoyed an exquisite German buffet meal at Maximilian's. I had potato soup, sauerkraut, pork loin, spaetzel, crepes, and some other delicacies. After leaving this place we drove by the holocaust war memorial. It was a huge space of land dedicated to the many people who lost their lives during this terrible time. No names were on the stones, just various stones arranged in a strange fashion with many levels all over the land. It's hard to describe and it gave me an eerie feeling as we passed. We were on our way to a riverboat that would take us into Potsdam where we'd see the sights of the Potsdam conference between the big 3 (Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin). We passed through Potsdam square which is entirely commercial and built up since the wall came down. We drove through parts of West Berlin in which the main boulevards were lines with the many famous chic stores that you'd find in London, Paris, Italy, or NYC. Once again World Cup fever was in the décor lining the center strip of the main boulevard as bushes were carved into orbs decorated like soccer balls. We arrived at our relaxing riverboat and cruised for a good hour down the Wannsee Lake. This lake is actually a river that was expanded. We saw the many homes lining this lake and as we drove to the riverboat we drove through some residential areas around this lake. I can say that these homes are GORGEOUS!! Also comes with the beauty factor is the price tag. I didn't get a quote, but judging from the reaction of the guides, they're only meant for the elite. We ended our riverboat cruise at the Meierei Brauhaus. It was a festive little Biergarten on the water and I could smell the familiar scent of hops being cooked in the air. I lived with that smell for 2 years while working in Virginia near the Anheiser Busch brewery. Ahh the memories. We walked down a shady path and beautiful gardens to the site of the Potsdam conference, Cecilienhof Palace. A gorgeous palace in the German style of architecture. All we needed was polka music. It's now a hotel on the lake and would make a lovely stay. We hiked over to the next palace, which was the home of Frederick, the Great (or in some circles Frederick II) known as the Sanssouci Palace or from its French translation "without worry" (Sans Souci). This palace had huge grounds and was ornately decorated. I also learned that the great Frederick was a little spoiled and flamboyantly gay. Evidently he wanted the entire palace to himself, so he constructed the main palace with a small guest room that he knew his guests would complain would be too small for their comfort. He did this on purpose so he could have the main palace to himself knowing the guests would stay elsewhere. Also his architect friend suggested that since the palace was on a hillside that he should have it raised to be seen from the beautiful gardens below as guests arrived. Instead he ordered construction to hide the palace so that as you approached it from the lake, the palace would appear hidden until you started climbing the stairs. It would appear that there was no palace to anyone just entering the grounds. The unfortunate part was that he had the illusion constructed to his short height of 4 foot and some inches. I also learned that he had a lover. A boyfriend that he paraded around Germany for several years before his father beheaded his lover and forced him to marry. Of course no children came from this marriage, so his nephew ended up taking reign upon his death. His nephew didn't even follow his wishes to be buried beside the palace with his 11 dogs (yes he was a dog lover). His nephew buried him next to his father in Berlin (how ironic) and 200 years later the family excavated his grave and carried out his wishes. We had little time to visit the vast grounds and beautiful gardens. There was even an old fashioned windmill right next to this palace. It was definitely a sight to see and the guide said you could easily spend a day here. Next vacation then I propose to stay at the Cecilienhof Palace and stroll around the grounds of the Sans Souci Palace. We traveled through Potsdam, which had been mostly restored after the war since it was much smaller than the huge city of east Berlin. Now it was time to board the train and leave Berlin, which was a good thing because just driving through Potsdam the crowds were getting large due to the approaching kick off time. In the 3-hour span it took to train home we found that Germany won their game today as the guides were all screaming and cheering in the rail cars. It was a long day (13 hours), but a very informative, enriching, and entertaining one.
The World Cup Soccer games are also happening here in Germany and Germany is doing well. As we were walking around the square everyone was getting ready for the game that was going to be shown on a big screen in the park on the other side of the gate. They all donned their face paint in the German colors, the colored hair, jerseys, or the many splotches of the German flag in various forms. They were blowing these little horns that blared in our ears and they called to each other with them as if it were a ritual. It was crazy, and as the day approached 5pm (World Cup time) it'd only get crazier. We had our history lesson on the Reichstag although we never went into it. That must be a different tour. At the time of the Berlin wall the Soviet Flag was flown on this building high above the city. We drove around town and saw the infamous (or according to our tour guide "well known" since he was trying to stay away from the word famous) TV tower that stood over the city with a huge globe at the top. Evidently this was to show West Berliners that the East Berliners were up to date on the latest communications during that time frame. It was decorated today as a soccer ball. We drove past a piece of the wall that still stood. The wall came down in 1989 just 2 years after Reagan spoke at the Brandenburg Gate saying it should come down. While the wall was being constructed, it was built as a double construction. 
There are the inner and outer walls. The place in between the 2 walls was known as the death strip. This was because over 80,000 guards patrolled this patch between the walls to prevent any escapes from East Berlin. Any attempts would be shot down by automatic fire. The same thing happened at the Iron Curtain separating east and West Germany only the wall there wasn't a double construction. Because of the reign of the Soviet Union inside the wall, the architecture reflects the horrible designs of the GDR (or German Democratic Republic). Although our guide says it was anything but a DEMOCRATIC republic. 
The wall was an interesting drive by and I do wish I got to stop there and actually look at both sides of the wall. Our guide was telling us that the West Berliners used the wall as a canvas for their graffiti. However on the east side it was kept clean because of the strict enforcement. When the wall came down, graffiti artists (the younger generations) had no canvas so they started using private property. Because of this there's graffiti all over the city and Germany is still coming up with ways to deal with it. After our drive by of the wall we had a stop at Checkpoint Charlie. 
This well known spot is where U.S. and Russian tanks had a stand off while the wall was being built. It was uncertain what would happen while these tanks stood face to face and caused great tension at that locale. Evidently when passing the wall at this point there were 3 checkpoints (Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie). This was probably due to the fact that leaving East Berlin at this point went into West Berlin, which was a part of the union of the French, British, and American allies. A sign was erected saying that as you approached East Berlin you where leaving United States territory. All the remains of the customs gates and the wall have been removed. The only thing that still remains is the American guardhouse that stands in the middle of the street. It was lunchtime and we enjoyed an exquisite German buffet meal at Maximilian's. I had potato soup, sauerkraut, pork loin, spaetzel, crepes, and some other delicacies. After leaving this place we drove by the holocaust war memorial. It was a huge space of land dedicated to the many people who lost their lives during this terrible time. No names were on the stones, just various stones arranged in a strange fashion with many levels all over the land. It's hard to describe and it gave me an eerie feeling as we passed. We were on our way to a riverboat that would take us into Potsdam where we'd see the sights of the Potsdam conference between the big 3 (Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin). We passed through Potsdam square which is entirely commercial and built up since the wall came down. We drove through parts of West Berlin in which the main boulevards were lines with the many famous chic stores that you'd find in London, Paris, Italy, or NYC. Once again World Cup fever was in the décor lining the center strip of the main boulevard as bushes were carved into orbs decorated like soccer balls. We arrived at our relaxing riverboat and cruised for a good hour down the Wannsee Lake. This lake is actually a river that was expanded. We saw the many homes lining this lake and as we drove to the riverboat we drove through some residential areas around this lake. I can say that these homes are GORGEOUS!! Also comes with the beauty factor is the price tag. I didn't get a quote, but judging from the reaction of the guides, they're only meant for the elite. We ended our riverboat cruise at the Meierei Brauhaus. It was a festive little Biergarten on the water and I could smell the familiar scent of hops being cooked in the air. I lived with that smell for 2 years while working in Virginia near the Anheiser Busch brewery. Ahh the memories. We walked down a shady path and beautiful gardens to the site of the Potsdam conference, Cecilienhof Palace. A gorgeous palace in the German style of architecture. All we needed was polka music. It's now a hotel on the lake and would make a lovely stay. We hiked over to the next palace, which was the home of Frederick, the Great (or in some circles Frederick II) known as the Sanssouci Palace or from its French translation "without worry" (Sans Souci). This palace had huge grounds and was ornately decorated. I also learned that the great Frederick was a little spoiled and flamboyantly gay. Evidently he wanted the entire palace to himself, so he constructed the main palace with a small guest room that he knew his guests would complain would be too small for their comfort. He did this on purpose so he could have the main palace to himself knowing the guests would stay elsewhere. Also his architect friend suggested that since the palace was on a hillside that he should have it raised to be seen from the beautiful gardens below as guests arrived. Instead he ordered construction to hide the palace so that as you approached it from the lake, the palace would appear hidden until you started climbing the stairs. It would appear that there was no palace to anyone just entering the grounds. The unfortunate part was that he had the illusion constructed to his short height of 4 foot and some inches. I also learned that he had a lover. A boyfriend that he paraded around Germany for several years before his father beheaded his lover and forced him to marry. Of course no children came from this marriage, so his nephew ended up taking reign upon his death. His nephew didn't even follow his wishes to be buried beside the palace with his 11 dogs (yes he was a dog lover). His nephew buried him next to his father in Berlin (how ironic) and 200 years later the family excavated his grave and carried out his wishes. We had little time to visit the vast grounds and beautiful gardens. There was even an old fashioned windmill right next to this palace. It was definitely a sight to see and the guide said you could easily spend a day here. Next vacation then I propose to stay at the Cecilienhof Palace and stroll around the grounds of the Sans Souci Palace. We traveled through Potsdam, which had been mostly restored after the war since it was much smaller than the huge city of east Berlin. Now it was time to board the train and leave Berlin, which was a good thing because just driving through Potsdam the crowds were getting large due to the approaching kick off time. In the 3-hour span it took to train home we found that Germany won their game today as the guides were all screaming and cheering in the rail cars. It was a long day (13 hours), but a very informative, enriching, and entertaining one.
posted by Chris | 5:45 AM
1 Comments:
Chris, the way you write so beautiful you never know you should beable to get one of those travel networks to pick you up, since you have seen so much of the world. MUST BE NICE TO GET A LITTLE RE IMBURSTMENT FOR YOUR EDUCATION HUH!!!!!
love ya Dad
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