What Matters: Happy Travels Again

Jim and I made our first trip to Germany in 1976 when the Berlin Wall stood and the Cold War raged. As young travel novices I remember that we considered a visit to Berlin, but only briefly. I wanted to go but I remember the uncertainty about being so close to an area than I knew was communist when I still harbored very real fears about communism from my 1950s upbringing. Instead from Vienna we opted for a night train trip across Germany to the Netherlands where we joined hordes of tourists at the Alkmaar cheese festival. (But that's a story for another time!)

I never forgot my desire to visit Berlin and ever since the Wall came down in 1989 I have been curious about how this city survived and now thrives despite all it endured. I was further intrigued to visit by a book I recently read "My Berlin Kitchen" in which the author recounts her Berlin childhood and her days as a young married woman after the wall came down. When we decided to take the Rick Steves tour of Eastern European countries this provided the perfect opportunity to start in Berlin. We arrived via Paris on Wednesday, May 20 and enjoyed a few days both immersed in history and awed by the sight of a city that has truly risen from ashes.

We started as we usually do, in a big and unfamiliar city by doing a "hop on, hop off circle bus tour" and then we used a very helpful self-guided walking RIck Steves audio tour. We stayed in the Prenzlauer Berg area, formerly in East Berlin but now revitalized by trendy hotels, restaurants and bars with multiple cranes looming over the streets - a testimony to the continual rebuilding. It was conveniently located close to Alexanderplatz and the city's wonderful public transit system. Each evening we found amazing restaurants right in our neighborhood and enjoyed the great foods and beer we remember from our previous trips to Germany in 1976 and 1978.

In our recent trips to Europe we have learned to not try to do it all, but to chose a few places we want to explore more thoroughly and after getting a good overview of the city's historical sites, we chose to spend time in the German History Museum and the Jewish History Museum. The first tells the story of not just Berlin but of all of Germany and helps you to understand the fateful turn this country took in the early part of the 20th century. The second is considered one of Europe's best Jewish sights. With the help of an excellent audio guide the exhibits come alive and you begin to understand the complex relationship the Germans and Jews have had since medieval times. Before experiencing the exhibits you will marvel at the architecture of the museum itself. It was designed by the American architect David Libeskind who is the master planner for the redesigned World Trade Center in New York. It is a zinc walled building with voids which represent the world culture missing as a result of the Holocaust. One of the most haunting experiences of this trip (which included a visit to Auschwitz) was standing alone in the empty concrete tower where only a sliver of light entered the room at the top. The is the Axis of the Holocaust.

In the maze

By far the most moving site of our Berlin visit was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. It consists of 2,711 gravestone like pillars which are made of hollow concrete and are set in a sunken area. You can enter anywhere and you are soon lost among the maze, alone with your own thoughts about what this all means.

Part of any visit to Berlin is seeing the Hitler/Nazi sites and most remaining artifacts are thoughtfully presented in historical context with little sensationalism. Most museums like the German Resistence Museum which we visited rely heavily on text explanations and have few artifacts. Where they are seen, Hitler's portraits are small. The spot of his underground bunker where he committed suicide on April 30, 1945 is barely noted - no one wishes this to be a major tourist site.

In addition to the cranes another thing that struck me was the number of bicyclists everywhere. We quickly learned to watch out for them as they whizzed by, almost more a threat to pedestrians than car traffic. Walking around I also noted something else I haven't seen before - small fleece blankets on the back of outdoor restaurant chairs! Perhaps I don't get out often enough, or maybe because the Twin Cities climate isn't exactly conducive to outdoor eating but I don't remember seeing this at home. It's a nice touch for spring and fall outdoor dining.

And speaking of dining - we weren't disappointed! We were told that Berliners don't go out for German food and that international cuisine (Indian, Italian, Asian) is more popular with the locals. We bypassed this advice and sought out sauerkraut, potatoes, sausages at every meal. Jim tried curry wurst a popular street food invented after WWII and found it quite tasty. Our last evening in Berlin we dined at Prater Restaurant, enjoying their own microbrew and traditional Biergarten cuisine. A perfect ending to 4 great days in Berlin. It was worth the long wait.