Shameless self-promotion alert: check out my advice for traveling in the Czech Republic on Casey’s blog, True Colours!
Three weeks ago, we spent about 30 hours in Berlin for our visa interviews (you have to leave the country to apply to an embassy…nobody gets this, especially not me, but it is what it is).
I did not expect to like or enjoy Berlin very much. I was looking forward to seeing it, but it wouldn’t have been my first choice to visit for our interview. Since our interview was moved up by two weeks very suddenly (and those who apply to live in other countries know that when this happens, YOU TAKE IT), I didn’t have much chance to do research on what we should do, besides asking for your comments. (Thank you, by the way!).
Instead of finding Berlin a charmless, giant, modern city, I was fascinated. Berlin is a vibrant, fun city full of great restaurants, art galleries, old and new buildings, and especially, history. One reason I came to Europe is the centuries of history you can find around every corner, and the fact that is some places, you can feel the history. While Berlin isn’t full of charming buildings that haven’t changed in 200 years as I am partial to (and this is mostly due to bombing from war), the history here is a living, breathing feeling in the air.
We saw the Brandenburg Gate (bright with images on the Festival of Lights),
Potsdamer Platz during the Festival of Lights with John Lennon playing in the background,
the Holocaust Memorial,
Hitler’s Bunker (which really is just a parking lot…),
and some leftover pieces of the Berlin Wall.
Before moving to Eastern Europe and seeing the Berlin Wall for myself, I never really grasped the significance of this event in history. Partly because I was very small when the Wall fell, and because I feel like it was a part of history barely addressed in my education.
Maybe it was just the area of the world where I grew up? We learned much more about the Louisiana Purchase, the Civil War, and World War II more than anything else. (side-eye Montana–which is celebrating 125 years today–and it’s obsession with Lewis & Clark).
Or maybe it just wasn’t an area of my interest so I didn’t pay much attention.
I found the Holocaust Memorial particularly moving, as I suspected I would, but I didn’t know I would feel the same way about the Wall.
This is one of my favorite things about travel: the exposure to real life and history is something you can’t always gain from books and the classroom. I’m not sure I would have felt so moved by touching the Berlin Wall in person if I hadn’t learned just how communism impacted Eastern Europe by living here in the Czech Republic. While it’s not necessarily a “fun” part of traveling, it is a real part of traveling.
Today is the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Wall. I wish I could be there to see the illuminated installation that is marking the anniversary, but since I can’t, here are nine surprising facts about the Wall, why it is a somber occasion, the guard who opened the barrier, East Germany today, and barriers around the world.
Linking up with Fresh Face Friday and the Sunday Traveler.