Day 4 - Tear this wall down

Well the streak of bad luck finally ended today.  We spent the day touring both the city of Berlin and the city of Potsdam.  As a way to make up for yesterday's train debacle and late arrival to Berlin, we were given our tour of Potsdam and the visit to the Allied Museum free.  We began the day doing the sightseeing tour that we were supposed to do when we arrived yesterday.  The sun was shining brightly so we were able to take many stops without sweating too much.  The temperature has finally gone back to normal here as it had been in the upper 80s and 90s for several days here.  Today it was 75 and very pleasant with an occasional breeze just when you needed it.

Glienicke Bridge -
connecting Berlin to Potsdam

We saw so many pieces of architectural history today it is hard to remember them all.  I think the ones that stand out in my head the most are the Brandenburg Gate, the memorial for those lost in the holocaust outside the US Embassy near the Brandenburg Gate and the ornate palaces of Frederick William I for his son Frederick II (better known as Frederick the Great), King of Prussia.  One of the palaces was called Sanssouci, meaning "no worries" as this was where the King would go to hide from the pomp and circumstance of the royal court.  It was designed to look much like Versailles.  The strange thing was that when King Frederick William had it built for his son Freddie the Great, he also had erected in direct view of the palace but across a vast garden, up on a hill, another building that looked like ruins.  This was to remind Freddie of his father's complete and utter disregard for his son (or something like that).  Either way it was Freddie the Great who made a name for himself as one of the first famous modern kings - around the same time as Louis XV.

The Brandenburg Gate is one of those things that you see in magazines, books, etc and never really know where it is (well at least I didn't).  Now that I know, it seems so obvious.  The Gate is what was in the background when the Berlin Wall, on November 9, 1989, "fell" .  You've seen those pictures and video of all the people climbing over the Berlin Wall 2 days after President Reagan made his "Mr. Gorbachov, tear down this wall" speech, right?  With a big old gate behind it?  Well there the gate was in all it's glory.  Well close to it anyway - the world cup starts this weekend on the Berliners watch the games in the square by the Brandenburg Gate.  So it was surrounded by workers today getting the area ready for MILLIONS of Germans to watch the cup. Can you say crazy?  Heck, even we don't do that for the Super Bowl, NCAA basketball finals, or any other sporting event in the States.  Nonetheless, it was gorgeous and quite impressive.  Oh yeah, we also saw what's left of the Berlin Wall.  Not much to be sure and in a twist of irony, it is know protected by a fence to keep people from chipping pieces off of it.

On the way back from the Gate on the way to the bus, I stopped by a memorial that had been built no too far from the gate.  It was actually across from the US Embassy.  Called "Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe", this memorial is meant to memorialize the millions of Jews that were killed during Hitler's Reign.  Made from 2,711 concrete slabs, the slabs lay in rows across a city block in berlin.  It is in stark contrast to the buildings around it and are not laid at even depths within the ground.

Lots of history today from King Frederick William of Prussia to Adolf Hitler and to the falling of the Berlin Wall.  It's a good thing I like my history.  The two sisters in our group that appear to be 14 and 16 years old were definitely bored today.  I could completely see it in their faces.  Maybe they will come back in 30 years and it will finally sink in for them......maybe.

We are off to Lipzieg, Nuremburg and Munich tomorrow.  Maybe I will finally get to do some shopping.