Fortunately I was able to get back to sleep at 7 am after initially waking up at 5:30. I slept about another hour before hearing Mom in the shower. I showered when she was done, we dressed and headed out to frühstuck (breakfast). She ordered a shakshuka style dish but the eggs were scrambled into the sauce. I had a piece of toast with 2 eggs and arugula that came with a small jar of yogurt and Museli. There were a few pieces of fruit on the plate and the whole meal came with a small glass of orange juice. Mom had an iced latte and I had an iced mocha.
After eating we headed right out to finish our walk of Prinzlauer Berg. We were guided down a street we’ve now been down several times but places were mentioned in the guidebook that we had seen but not known what their story was until now. On one side of the street there are 2 spots where buildings should be, in the style of the block, but there are no buildings. We learned in these spots 2 of the rare bombs that fell in Prinzlauer Berg during WWII destroyed the buildings and the structures were not rebuilt. We passed a store that carries GDR memorabilia.
As we turned the corner we were instructed to look at the side of a building where a large image had been installed of people who came to this spot on Nov. 11, 1989 when the part of the Berlin Wall here came down and people flooded out of Prinzlauer Berg in East Germany into the other side into West Berlin. There were metal columns showing where the Wall had been that had information on them about the construction and demolition of the Wall in this spot. We continued across the street and up to the Stadium the Soviets built for the citizens in the East, but from inside the view was blocked by a separate Wall so when they were in the stadium they’d be unable to see into the West. There were several artists painting over what we could see was decades and layers of paint beneath. There were large pieces of old paint on the ground that had been peeled off to allow for new layers of paint. I took a picture of one of the artists and he turned and said something in German to me in a sharp tone. Mom caught a little bit of it and I got the gist that he said I needed to have asked his permission before taking a picture. I put my hands together and bent slightly and said “I’m sorry.” and he seemed satisfied, but it was a weird interaction that’s stayed with me awhile.
We walked back down to the street and took a tram to the Berlin Wall Visitor’s Center where we viewed an animated depiction of how the area of the Wall and “No Man’s Land” in the middle was enforced by barbed wires, dogs, soldiers with guns, trip wire guns that shot like 10 rounds and buried bombs. It led into a film in German with English subtitles that showed how the Wall was constructed, how the division of land started with painting a line in the street between East and West Berlin and how soldiers were guarding the areas and that was soon covered with barbed wire across the ground until the building of the Wall began in earnest. We saw people trying to cross in the early days, including a woman who ran right into and through the barbed wire. It was terrifying and horrific. The film showed the final days leading up to and included the demolition of the Wall. It mentioned and showed Gorbachev but not Reagan.
After debriefing what we’d seen, we decided to move on to our next activity, a boat ride on the River Spree. We took a tram to the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) and then transferred to the U-bahn (subway) and took it to Museum Island, which is surrounded by the River Spree. We found a spot that we thought Rick Steves had described in his tour book as the place to meet his favorite tour boat company, but we didn’t see the name he mentioned. We looked around and didn’t see any others, so we decided to take this boat. What looked like a husband and wife team (she was the pilot!) were kind and welcoming. It was a fairly small boat and the 33 passengers were all offered something to drink (for a price). Mom and I each got a bottle of still water.
The 1 hour tour was extensive, going by ALL the sights in Berlin visible from the River Spree, Museum Island, the Reichstag (the capital building, where Congress meets), the Chancellor’s building, the financial district, the House of Culture (nicknamed the Pregnant Oyster) that was built by the Americans after the war as part of the rebuilding effort. The day was cool and overcast with a slight breeze until about 3/4 of the way through. Then we sailed into a part of the River where there was no cloud cover and it got hot! It really started to feel the 86 degrees it was forecasted to be today.
After the River tour we walked across the park to St. Hedwig’s, the church Mom wants to attend on Sunday, to see if they will be offering any special concerts this week. Indeed, there will be a visiting choral group on Sat. at 8 pm. I think that’s in our future. We took the U-bahn back to the Hauptbahnhof and found a WC. Now for one of the times Mom has said all along that is one of the things she was least looking forward to about being in Europe, paying to go pee. With that task accomplished I expressed a desire for a small snack, as it was now about 3:30 pm and we hadn’t had lunch. She chose a veggie pita sandwich and I had a slice of cheese pizza. We ate in the food court and enjoyed the air conditioning before heading back to the U-barn (down, down, down into the land of stale air) and took it back to the place where we had found the River Boat, but went around the corner and boarded Bus #100 and took it to its terminus at the Zoo before getting on the same bus going all the way to its terminus at the other end. Along the way each direction we passed some of the major tourist sites in Berlin, the Reichstag, the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church that was bombed during the war and has been left as a reminder of the war. We also passed Schloss Bellevue (castle once inhabited by royalty that no longer exists), the Brandenburg Gate and the Victory Column that was commissioned for the Prussians prevailing in the Second Schleswig War and served to commemorate victories in the following wars. I hope to go back on foot to the Brandenburg Gate and the Kaiser Wilhelm Church. The area around both seems so much more built up than when I was here in 1994. I’ll have to compare pictures when I get home.
We got back on the U-barn and got off a short distance from our hotel and walked back. It was time to do my one task for work that absolutely needed doing while I’m away, run payroll. Since I am able to access Wi-Fi and the internet, I tested being able to access our company’s software first arrived in Berlin and today was the day to pull the switch and get ‘er done! I did it in relatively little time and we were off again in search of dinner. We found a small hole in the wall Chinese style restaurant and between our 2 entrees (beef/broccoli with rice and noodles with chicken & veggies) plus 3 bottles of drinks, it was less than 15 euro! And the euro is equal to the dollar now so that was a bargain! On our way back to the hotel was meandered slowly, scoping out a spot for dinner tomorrow, then wandering through a local grocery store in search of fun flavored potato chips to take home.
We stopped at the small drinks/smoke shop next to our hotel and bought a couple of ice creams on a stick and a bottle of cherry flavored Berliner Weisse, all to serve as our dessert.
We both wrote in our blogs and as it’s 10:45 pm and finally dark outside, I think I’ll go to bed.
My journey today was one of familiar sights and relaxed time spent with my Mommy.
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