May 15, 2012 Berlin

It was an early start today as we had to be off the ship by 6:45 for our train ride into Berlin.  The trains in Europe are so nice.  They run on time, they are comfortable and the ride is smooth.  The weather really welcomed us.  The sun was shining and very little wind.  I did not even wear a jacket. 

The county side was very interesting.  We passed small villages, beautiful lakes and woods.  Even saw a deer lying in the sun on the edge of a woods.  Judi said that now she knows why so many Germans settled in Minnesota, because the land looks pretty much the same.

The train stopped to let us off at the Oust Berlin Bahnhoff.  That translates into the East Berlin Train Station.  We spent most of the morning touring around what was the GDR, or East Berlin.  The guide poured out a lot of information and my sponge was not big enough to grasp everything she said.  We visited the Berlin Wall, and checkpoint Charley.  This is where the diplomats crossed and prisoner exchanges took place.  It was in the American sector of Berlin.  There were four sectors, Russian, American, British and French.  Berlin was actually in Russian territory, but Berlin was divided into the four sectors.  Being surrounded by Communist territory is what caused the Berlin airlift, when Russia closed the access roads into Berlin.  The American Air Force came to the rescue and flew in thousands of tons of supplies to take care of the Berliners.  Russia wanted to drive the west out of Berlin.

We visited and walked through the Brandenburg Gate and drove pass many of the government building.  We learned that the Reichstag is a building and Bundstad is the government inside.  They have two houses just as we do.  The Prime Minister runs the country and the President is head of state and takes care of official functions.

We had lunch at a nice restaurant with more German food than we could possibly eat.  Potato soup, pork slices, sausages, a pork patty, sour kraut, two kinds of potatoes, vegetables, bread, wine or beer and apple strudel.  I tried, but could not eat it all.  It was however very good.

Leaving the restaurant we went for a boat ride on the Spree River.  It was very good and it kind of brought everything into perspective.  We had been driving around looking at the buildings from the front and then sometimes from the back.  We were in and out of East Berlin and West Berlin to the point that I never knew for sure which side of the wall we were on.  Speaking of the wall it is still standing in a couple of places.  The governments  commishioned artists from all over the world to paint scenes on the wall. Where the wall no longer exist the side walks show where it stood.  There is a row of cobble stones on one side a sidewalk, then the sidewalk and then another row of cobble stones.  This signifies the two walls and the killing zone in between.  East Berliners thought if they got over the wall they were safe; however there was a road with patrols, dog and other devices waiting for them as well as another wall.  Others thought if they got over the walls they could swim the river Spree, but the river was in the Russian sector.

We saw where JFK made is “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech and where Regan told Khrushchev to tear down the wall.

We returned by train to the Emerald, where it was now raining.  The train furnished us with snacks and drinks on both trips, so we did not eat when we got back.  Besides it was eight o’clock and we were tired.  The tour had lasted over 13 hours.

As we sailed out of Warnemunde, which is the port we used for our Berlin trip, a band was playing, fireworks were going off, pleasure boats, tour boats and lots of people lining the banks.  Quite a send off.

The sea was good to us last night and is suppose to be the same tonight.  That makes sailing a lot more fun.

 Pictures