Today’s schedule changed after we returned to our room last night and found a message from Mom’s Berlin college friend Manfred. She had been corresponding with him before she left home, but had no definitive response that he was going to be able to come to Berlin to see us, let alone any sort of definitive day/place/time to meet. We got a message on Thurs. night that came in Wed. night and we neglected to ask the front desk if we had any messages that night. He had said to meet him on Thurs. at 3 pm at a specific spot. We got the message after 8 pm on Thurs. night. We called his hotel and were told his room didn’t have a phone and no, the front desk person couldn’t take a message because Manfred wouldn’t know to stop and ask. We momentarily looked into how to get to his hotel, to see if we could find him Thurs. night. We decided against it as we didn’t want to be traveling while it getting to be dusk and dark.
We decided to postpone our plans to start at the Nationale Deutsche Museum at 10 am and to go to his hotel and write a note ourselves and ask that it be slipped under his door. After breakfast we did exactly that. We had breakfast at has now become “our frühstuck spot”. I had the yogurt müseli parfait and a slice of zucchini quiche, while Mom had the couscous again. We both had lattes. We walked to the U-barn and after we got off a the station closest to his hotel, I used my Google Maps app and was given walking directions. We were at his hotel in less than 10 mins. Mom wrote a note in German and we asked the front desk rep if he’d make sure it was slipped under his door. We gave a 1 euro tip. He said yes, and gave the tip back, saying it wasn’t necessary. I should mention Manfred doesn’t have a cell phone.
We left and formatted a plan for the rest of the day. We’d go to the museum then head over KaDeWe (more on that later) and perhaps have lunch there before heading back to the appointed meeting spot at 3 pm. We arrived at the museum, paid our fee, stashed our backpacks and entered. The exhibition was not at all what Mom had been expecting. It was talking about “What is a citizen” and what the word has meant through the history of Germany and how it has been given to some and taken away from others. While interesting, it was not what we had been anticipating. Mom asked one of the employees and was told that indeed, the building we thought we’d be in is under renovation, that this is the supplemental exhibition. Ah-so. Okee dokee. We finished on that floor and then went upstairs to see a photo exhibit of former Chancellor Angela Merkel. It started in 1991 when she started her political career and went through 2021 when she stopped being Chancellor. There were only 2 pictures from each year and they were all formatted the same. One bust shot and one 3/4 shot. These were each accompanied by a quote from her at the time, sometimes about her political life, some about what was going on in the country and some were simply about her life as herself at home not related to being Chancellor. The photos were all in black and white. It was quite interesting and a nice departure from the heavy museum stuff we did yesterday. We also took a bit of time viewing the exhibition about Richard Wagner (Vog-ner) the composer. Some of the exhibition focused on the fact that he had anti-Semitic views and was a favorite of Hitler’s.
When we decided we were museum’d out, we began a trek toward KaDeWe (short for Kaufhaus Des Westens, meaning Department Store of the West). It’s 7 floors high and boasts one floor dedicated to food! We took an U-bahn to the Hauptbahnhof with the intention of transferring to another U-bahn that stops near KaDeWe. When we got to the Hauptbahnhof we couldn’t find the other U-bahn so we asked at the Visitor’s Center how best to get there. We were given instructions about taking a bus. We made our way out and to the bus stop. I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet that Berlin is a city where a LOT of people ride bikes. There are dedicated bike paths in the street and on the sidewalk. The bikes have the right of way in the bike path. Woe be the pedestrian who doesn’t get out of their way. Mom didn’t get out of the way fast enough today and almost, key word being almost, got taken out by a bike. I hollered and she turned around and didn’t collide with him, thankfully.
At the bus stop the digital sign said the one we wanted would be there in 9 mins. 3 mins later it still said 9 mins. Then it changed to 8 and said that for a few more mins. This went on and what should’ve been 9 finally turned into Delayed. *sigh* I suggested we abandon this plan and go to KaDeWe tomorrow, as we want to spend a majority of the day exploring it. Let’s go find lunch near the place where we’re to meet Manfred, then we won’t have any transportation issues and we’ll be there on time. Mom agreed to that.
After braving the Hauptbahnhof again to get the U-bahn, Mom stated she doesn’t want to go through there again if we can help it. It’s so super crazy and confusing with U-bahns, S-bahns and regular trains all going through there and all of them using numbers for their tracks, it can be difficult to know where to go at times. Ok, we’ll try not to change there from now on.
We found a Donner (gyro) type place for lunch and ordered a chicken Donner and a small fries. Mom finished her couscous from breakfast and only had a couple of bites of the Donner and a couple of fries. It was so yummy! We then found a public toilet, paid our 50 cents each then were off to the appointed meeting spot, where we proceeded to wait for an hour, as we said we’d do. Each older man who was alone drew our scrutiny. Was it he? Was there someone looking around like they were looking at us, trying to decide if we were the right people? All of the answers came back No. We were very sad. We enjoyed the outdoor cello concert that was given by a woman who had her case open for donations while we waited and we dropped a donation in as we left.
Ok, now what? I suggested we go to the Brandenburg Gate as we hadn’t been there yet, so off we went. We spent a little bit of time approaching it and then just standing admiring it’s size and history. Surrounding the plaza in front of the Gate are several Embassies, USA, France, Britain and Russia, the Axis Powers. Mom had read that there is a Silent Room on one side under the arches and she wanted to find it, so we did. We entered and were silent. It was a simple room with basic plastic chairs, cloth ceiling to floor blinds and a non-descript weaving on the wall. We sat a few mins. and left, walking under the Gate and out the other side. There is a Memorial to the Murdered Jews a block away and we went there next. We walked along the length of the US Embassy to get to the Memorial. It is 1 square block in size and has 2,711 cement rectangles of various heights that allow for contemplative walking in amongst them. The paths are straight but head down, some look like a roller coaster, up and down, allowing for a person to get completely lost in and among the maze. It was a sobering time walking and thinking about the millions of Jews murdered in WWII. How awful that we’ll never know how much better this world could be now if they had lived.
We sat at one end and spoke about our time there before moving on. I mentioned a memorial I remember from when we were here 40 years ago, on a river bank, several white crosses stuck in the dirt to commemorate the people who had tried to escape East Berlin by swimming across the river and were shot. Mom said she thinks we passed that the other day on our boat ride and it’s up by the Reichstag (Capitol building). As we got near we found some white crosses with pictures of people who were killed trying to escape. We spent some time there reading their stories. Walking across the street we saw some folks queueing to get into the Reichstag. Mom thought it odd as it was now 5:30 pm. We walked up and found they were indeed still letting people in. Our reservation is for Sunday afternoon. We inquired and were told our Driver’s Licenses would be sufficient photo proof and they don’t require our passports to enter. Yay! We also saw the Memorial to 96 Legislators who opposed Hitler and they subsequently killed. We never found the exact spot of the white crosses on the rover bank that matches the picture in my head, but this area has been developed extensively since 1981. I’m sure it’s been updated and moved.
We walked and walked and walked after that and I said I was really quite done and tired, could we go back to the room now? Mom agreed and asked where we should stop for dinner. Honestly, I’m still full from lunch, I told her. She was happy not to eat more, so we went right back to the hotel, stopping only at our local Berliner Weisse dealer’s establishment. I perused their chip section, looking for something unusual and interesting. Finding nothing unusual, I settled for a bag of “Student Chow” which was just mixed nuts. We found 2 different flavors of Berliner Weisse tonight! We got 1 of each.
Back in the room we relaxed, watched some news in English and tiring of that found a football (soccer) match to watch with the volume all the way down, while we blogged. I’m hoping for an early night tonight. I didn’t sleep well or much last night.
My journey today has been one of disappointment and recovery.
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