Easter in Berlin

For Easter this year Eric and I headed off to Berlin. We took the train to Amsterdam and flew out of the airport there (I realize this seems like an unimportant detail, but just wait). We arrived in Berlin Friday evening and headed out in search of food. We consulted the Berlin section of our Europe book and found what sounded like an interesting old pub to try with very local cuisine. The pub, Zum Nussbaum, was really tiny with just a few tables that were apparently meant to be shared because the server took us to "our table" that was already occupied by another couple! Anyway, the book had mentioned that this pub's specialty was pig knuckle. Yes, that's right, pig KNUCKLE. Any other person might read that, pause, and think, "huh, interesting." And that would be the end of it. But not me. When in Rome, right? Or Paris, or Barcelona, or Berlin....

So of course after ordering the pig knuckle plate, I was all ready to take a picture for you guys. And this time I even remembered to take a picture before I started eating...

And here's Eric with his very big beer, yet boring, non-knuckle-having, unidentifiable (minced) meat meal:

And of course I had to take one after I dismembered the knuckle to reveal the actual joint pieces:

So basically, from what I can figure, knuckle meat is actually very tender and flavorful, but with a thick layer of fat (that I couldnt' bring myself to eat) around it. All in all, a good experience. Moving on....

The next day we checked out the Berliner Dom which is the city's main Lutheran Cathedral. It was severely damaged in WWII and only reopened in 1993. Here are a few pictures from the outside....



And the inside: The altar was all covered up because we went on Holy Saturday.

And a picture of their beautiful organ:

Then we climbed to the observation deck of the dome and took in some great views of Berlin:

After the Berliner Dom, we enjoyed the Greek and Roman Antiquities at the Altes Museum.

Below where this apartment building now stands is where Hitler had his underground headquarters, the Fuhrerbunker. Eric wanted to seek this spot out and we finally found it after searching for the location on the internet. Only a small sign stands on the spot now, but contemplating the history that took place below our feet was sobering. I almost feel sorry for the people that live in this apartment building. It must serve as a constant reminder of the most horrific period in their history to have (this sign and) tourists always present outside their doors. I read somewhere that there wasn't even a sign until recently because the government didn't want to encourage gatherings of NeoNazis here, which apparently has been a problem.

One of the neat things Eric and I found about Berlin is that although most of the city was destroyed in WWII, there are still a few building that survived and have since been repaired. However, there are still very obvious signs of the war since the repairwork was really "patchwork". You can see the evidence by way of the bulletholes that have been "patched". So I took a couple of shots because I think they provide interesting images.


Another cool thing about Berlin is that, scattered throughout the city, are pieces of the Berlin Wall that have been painted and now decorate the city as art. I think that's such a great way to take something that was a part of a not-so-pretty past and use it to beautify the city now. Here are a couple of pieces we stumbled across:


On Sunday we went to Easter mass at St. Hedwig. The church was modeled after the Pantheon in Rome and is rotund with a high, domed ceiling. There was a full choir ensemble for mass - instruments and all, and the music was absolutely beautiful. We showed up 20 minutes early, but there were already no more available seats. So we sat on a ledge at the back of the church. People continued to show up, well into the service, until we couldn't even move - at all. They kept packing themselves in!

After mass we checked out the Alte Nationalgalerie where they have a great collection of 19th century German and French Impressionist Art. Then we strolled to check out the Brandenburg Gate. It was built in 1791, modeled after the Acropolis in Greece. When the Berlin Wall went up in 1961, the gate became a part of the wall separating East and West Berlin.


This is the Quadriga atop the Brandenburg Gate. The goddess of Victory leads the way.


Us outside the Brandendburg Gate:

Down the street from the Brandenburg Gate (on what was the western side when the city was divided) is the Reichstag, the German house of Parliament. We didn't go in b/c the line was incredibly long. You can kind of see it in this picture. Lots of history took place outside this building and in the square in front of it. The building was set on fire in 1933 by the Nazis, but they blamed it on the German Communist Party and used it as an excuse for the Nazis to arrest "dissidents" and enemies of the government. And, thus, democracy in Germany ended. The building has been beautifully restored since the damage it sustained in WWII and is, once again, home to the German Parliament.

For dinner that night we went to the Potsdamer Platz for dinner. This area used to be a bustling, densely populated area of Berlin before the War. However, everything was destroyed when Berlin was bombed in 1945. It remained an empty wasteland while it was within East Berlin. It was only after the wall came down, and in the mid-1990s that it was redeveloped. Now there is a huge shopping complex, office buildings, and the Sony-Center. There was also a really interesting and informative outside exhibit about the construction and destruction of the Berlin Wall:


Monday we went to Checkpoint Charlie, the accompanying museum and the last remaining in tact portion of the Berlin wall. I'm sure you already know this, but Checkpoint Charlie was the very famous border crossing between the Soviet and American sectors of Berlin.

Checkpoint Charlie:

Coming..........

And going.............

I found the Checkpoint Charlie Museum fascinating. Lots of great information, but to me, the most interesting displays were the ones that depicted the methods people came up with in an attempt to escape from East Germany into West Germany. I suppose when your freedom is on the line, people get really creative. Of course, people jumped the Wall, dug tunnels, and even tried to hot air balloon over the border, but here are just two of the more creative ones.

This person hid themselves (with the help of friends) INSIDE a wooded radio player. Obviously the glass pane wasn't there at the time, that just helps illustrate what it was like for them inside:

And someone successfully escaped by hiding between two surfboards. I believe this was a boyfriend helping his girlfriend escape. Why the guards didn't find surfboards suspicious in land-locked Berlin is beyond me:

And here's the portion of the Berlin wall that has been preserved. It's not very long - maybe a couple hundred meters. You can see on the wall where pieces have been chipped away (and are now sold as souveniers):

Here you see Eric and me with the other side of the wall in the background. A memorial has been created below the wall. This is actually where the basement of the Gestapo Headquarters were. You can still see the old foundation.

Here's a view of what the memorial looked like. Lots of pictures of Berlin during the war and highlights of people working with the resistance who were killed by the Nazis. It was very interesting and luckily we finally had good weather to enjoy this outdoor momorial:

I thought this was a neat "memorial" that runs throughout the city. It shows where the Wall was when it was still standing . It allows you to see the division between East and West Berlin.

After a very busy Monday we headed to the airport for an evening flight back to Amsterdam. We had already purchased round trip train tickets to/from Antwerp, so all we had to do was hop on the train back to Antwerp once we landed in Amsterdam. Sounds simple, right? Except that the last train to Antwerp was at 9:15pm and we didn't get back to Amsterdam until 10:30pm....minor detail. With my parents arriving in Brussels the following day, we couldn't stay the night in Amsterdam. So we made our way to the rental car counter and inquired about a one-way rental to Antwerp. No problem - whew. So around 11pm we set out on our two hour journey home. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't on our side and our drive consisted of rain, snow and sleet. This would have been okay had we been given a more substantial car for the drive. But in this I felt like we might blow away! And even funnier was just watching Eric chauffer this Mr. Magoo car.

Lesson learned - when flying into/out of an airport which requires a train ride home, check the time of the last train.

Happy Easter, Everyone (over a month late)!