Z Growth: Berlin is for Bears

Day 16 - 9/19/07 - Berlin

We started our day at our favorite little deli, Lindner. It's probably not that big of a deal for a German, but we loved the rolls and sandwiches. They do put butter on a lot of their sandwiches, which was kind of weird for us.

Today we did the sights of East Berlin, which is really where most of the things to see are. We started at the German parliament building, the Reichstag and walked to Brandenburg Gate. Most people are familiar with Brandenburg Gate from images of Nazi troops marching through it in WW2 videos. The irony is that it was intended to be a peace gate.

We also saw the awesome "Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe". A group of headstone-like blocks of stone take over a whole part of town. Underneath the exhibit is a museum, which is one of the best we saw in Europe. It's pretty heavy and it's hard to put into words how you feel walking out, but it's something everyone should see.

We also saw about a 50 yard stretch of the actual Berlin Wall that had been left up. Berlin was the center of the Nazi and then Communist governments of Germany. It's a place that every American should see to understand how lucky we are and how great we have always had it.

History aside, the city is a great place to be. Like Vienna, we both think that we could live in Berlin. The people were surprisingly friendly and we ended our stay in Berlin with dinner and beers at a local German restaurant. Lauren had the Currywurst, which is a local dish. Rumor has it that a German POW came back from an American prison and raved about the spare ribs with BBQ sauce. His wife mixed some ketchup and curry powder together, slathered it on a sausage, and invented currywurst.

The symbol of Berlin is a bear and they have a display like the "Cows on Parade" in America. Bears everywhere. Back to Poland tomorrow.