At the Berlin Hauptbahnhof, we exited the train and were led outside by Sylvia, who would be our guide here in Berlin. Our tour is called Berlin Top 10. This tour takes you to see remnants of the Berlin Wall, the Holocaust Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie, and many other sites.
Sylvia was fantastic. Not only was she friendly and knowledgeable about the places we would be visiting, as well as the history of Berlin, she, herself, is from the former East Berlin. On occasion she shared with us her perspective on Berlin and Germany.
Once our group was assembled, Sylvia led us to our tour bus. We drove off and quickly crossed the river Spree, which we learned from Sylvia is pronounced “Shpree”. The Spree runs through the center of Berlin.
After a very short drive, walking distance really, we arrived at the Reichstag Building. This is where the Bundestag or German Parliament or Federal Diet meets. We disembarked here and spent a few minutes walking around the grounds. Engraved into the façade of the Reichstag Building are the words Dem Deutschen Volke ([To] the German people).
One of the building’s notable features is the glass dome on top of the building. It provides natural light to the interior. From the dome, you have a 360-degree view of Berlin. When Germany was reunited, the official reunification ceremony was held here in 1990.
I later learned that this building caught fire in 1933, an incident that led to the issuance of what was called the Decree for the Protection of People and the Reich, commonly known as the Reichstag Fire Decree. The decree allowed the Nazis to suspend rights and state and local laws, and to begin arresting opponents of the regime. You can see where this would lead. You know the story.
Our tour moved along Unter den Linden, aka die Linden. Unter den Linden is a famous boulevard and is one of the most important in Berlin. It is named for the lime trees that used to line it. Some of the beginnings of this road go all the way back the late 16th century. The road runs from the Stadtschloss (City Palace) to the Brandenburg Gate, passing many important historic buildings along the way. We would see a couple of these buildings on our tour. Sylvia explained the significance of this thoroughfare but unfortunately, I didn’t hear most of it. I would have to learn more about it later on.
Unter den Linden took us to the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin’s most famous landmark. We disembarked here for an opportunity to explore on our own.
According to Britannica, the gate was commissioned by Friedrich Wilhelm II. It was designed after a model of the Propylea in the Acropolis in Athens. It served as an entrance to Unter den Linden, which led to the Prussian palace. There are five portals in the gate, with the middle portal originally reserved only for royalty to pass through. A quadriga statue, which represents the Goddess of Victory, was added a couple of years after construction of the gate was completed.
A parade was held here for Adolf Hitler in 1933. The gate figured heavily in Nazi propaganda. It was damaged during war but was pretty much the only building in the Pariser Platz square left standing. All the other buildings were reduced to rubble by bombs and artillery. It eventually became one of the symbols of a divided Berlin because the wall prevented access to the gate for both sides. It was here that Ronald Reagan gave his famous Berlin Wall speech in 1987 where he said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
In December of 1989, a year before Germany reunited, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl walked through the gate to meet East German Prime Minister Hans Mudrow, signifying the reopening of the border crossing at the gate.
I stood looking around the entire square, trying to see what all was here, trying to absorb all of the history represented by the gate. The Pariser Platz, as the square is named, includes buildings such as the U.S and French embassies, the Academy of Arts (Akademie der Künste), and in the north wing, the Room of Silence (Raum der Stille).
Also located here is the Hotel Adlon, supposedly the finest hotel in Berlin. This is where the Hollywood stars stay when they come to Berlin. Strangely enough, quite a number of the visitors seemed to be more interested in something else the hotel is known for: it is the hotel where Michael Jackson famously dangled his son Prince Michael Jackson II, better known as Blanket, over the railing.
I took a short walk out to the edge of the square and could see part of the Berlin Television Tower with its famous Sphere Restaurant over 200m above Berlin. On top of the tower is a revolving restaurant and observation deck.
Today the square was full. A number of Volkswagens were lined up offering tours of Berlin. Have you ever seen an egg-shaped trike? Drivers were offering visitors rides in these strange-looking human-powered vehicles called Velotaxis. Several vendors were out selling their wares. One of the vendors was selling those large Bavarian pretzels. No way I was going to pass that up. A Bavarian pretzel? With mustard? In Germany? When we lined up to board the bus, I found out I was the only one who got a pretzel. I could not understand why no one else in our group got one.
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