Exploring Berlin, Part 1

Saturday night we got to our VRBO apartment pretty late, and we stayed up even later to watch the end of the Germany-Italy EuroCup game.  Germany won in a shoot out, and from the car horns and firecrackers we heard, Berliners were quite happy with this.  So Sunday morning, we all slept in a bit before we eventually made our way to the Brandenburg Gate.

From there, we hopped on city bus #100, which passes some of the city’s landmarks.  We figured a bus ride could serve double duty as both sightseeing and a bit of a rest.  The boys were very excited to sit on the top level, which gave them a bird’s eye view of the Berlin streets.

After sitting for a while at one particular stop, the driver announced over the loudspeaker “bus finished”.  All the other passengers had already gotten off, but we’d been so interested in the scenery (and we don’t speak German) that we hadn’t noticed.  Oops.

From there, we decided to make our way to one of Berlin’s parks.  Last month we read a NYT article about Berlin’s many playgrounds, and checking one out seemed like a perfect Sunday afternoon activity.  The boys opted for one with a high ropes course, so we made our way to WaldhochseilgartenJungfernheide. 

The boys loved this place!  There were 3 separate children’s routes that included all sorts of different crossings and challenges.  Colin’s favorites were the zip lines, and Emmett really liked a spiderman-like obstacle that involved swinging Tarzan-style on a rope and then climbing up and along a net.  **Please excuse my snicker in the video below….shame on me for laughing at my son’s expense. J**

This high ropes course was a little unique to us, since the kids clip themselves in and out at every stage at along every platform in the trees.  Emmett and Colin had done a high ropes course before, but on that one they never touched the hardware and were never unclipped while up high.  The boys quickly got the hang of it, though, and I felt better when Bob showed me how 1 clip had to be closed in order to open the other one.  That way, they could never be completely unattached to something.  Whew.

The boys were on the high ropes course for almost 3 hours—by the end, they were tired but also proud because each boy conquered a challenge that scared them at the beginning.  After some much-needed dinner, we made our way back to our apartment to get a good night’s rest!

Today (Monday) we took a bike tour that was centered on the history of the Berlin Wall.  We enjoy bike tours because we get to be active while learning, which is a nice combination of physical plus mental.  Emmett rode his own bike while Colin rode on a tag-along attached to Bob’s bike.  It was a good arrangement for Colin, since the tour lasted 3.5 hours and involved some biking on busy streets.  The weather was perfect for a bike tour—sunny and not too hot, not too cold!

The tour took us to many interesting sites related to the Berlin Wall.  We passed buildings on the East Berlin side, right next to where the wall used to stand.  The façade of this building is typical of what East German buildings looked like at that time….just to the left of the graffiti there are quite a few bullet holes that had been left as a reminder for passers-by.

We also biked to the border crossing that was the first to fall on the night of November 9, 1989.  After the announcement that travel between East and West would be easier, East Berlin citizens flooded this crossing to make their way to the West.  The picture on the right shows what this crossing looked like that historic night.  I got goosebumps looking at those pictures and thinking about how those people must have felt when they realized freedom was finally within their reach.

Another interesting stop was near the Berlin Wall Memorial, where we could see pictures of the evolution of the border closing and building of the wall.  Also, we could see a photo of what the exact spot used to look like.  The photograph on the left is of the yellowish building in the background back when the wall stood.

We also stopped at a recreation of the former walls and border zone (and to eat a snack).  In addition to a double wall there was a “death strip” with guard towers, a signal fence, razor wire, dogs, patrols, and guards.  All with the intention to keep people in the East.

One of our final stops was into a former “ghost station”.  These were S-Bahn stations that were closed by the East Germans because the lines that went through them started in West Berlin, passed through East Berlin, and then traveled back into West Berlin.  The stations were boarded up and everything inside was left pretty much untouched until the wall fell in 1989.  The exhibit inside showed how the trains would pass through these stations, deserted except for East German police who kept a watchful eye to ensure that no East Germans snuck onto a West-bound train.

After we finished our bike tour, we headed to Checkpoint Charlie.  This was the border crossing checkpoint from West Berlin to East Berlin that was controlled by the Americans.  It’s quite the tourist destination, and we got our required touristy photos.

From there, we headed back to our apartment to relax and cook dinner.  During our travels we plan to combine eating out with cooking our own meals, both to help our budget and because we can only take so many meals out before we start to crave simple homecooked meals with lots of veggies.

Tomorrow we have a tour of the German Reichstag planned, and probably an afternoon in a museum as it’s forecasted to thunderstorm.  Tschuss!