Day #196 - Berlin, Germany

Portion of the Berlin Wall

Brick marker indicating where the Berlin Walll once stood

40,000 runners in the Berlin Marathon

Hotel in background is the place Michael Jackson dangled his baby from balcony

Brandenburg Gate - runners on homestretch

Sunday, September 26th

Today was an extremely educational and inspiring day.

I started out by taking the 30 minute train into the central part of Berlin. I knew the marathon started at 9am - so I arrived into town just about that time. Only bummer today - it was wet and rainy. I was dressed the part, but by days end, it was wearing me down.

It took me a little while to figure out the logistics of the city. I finally found an information booth and bought a map. I didn't have the luxury of just roaming around - I had some specific places to be at certain times. I saw the marathon runners pass in a couple spots, but I wanted to make it to the finish to watch the winners come through.

Now, I've only watched 1 marathon in my life - the New York City Marathon when my brother ran. It was his first one post diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes. My sister-in-law and I covered the entire city. It was an amazing day. We were able to see Kurt at about 5 different places, all the while seeing the city at the same time. I remember being so inspired and cheering my guts out for Kurt as he ran the last half mile to the finish.

Today was very inspiring as well. The runners ran through the Brandenburg Gate 1/2 mile before the finish (symbolic gate of the Berlin Wall. And the spot where Reagan famously stated: 'If you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall'). There were huge screens to watch the runners on the homestretch.

I made it to the finish line 3 minutes after the first place runner had come through - in just over 2:05. That's fast - the world record is 2:03:59. Today's winner was just a minute over the world record, which was also set in Berlin. I sat at the finish line mesmerized by these athletes. How can these guys run this fast? They're running 4:45 miles on average. Are you kidding me? I can't begin to run 1 mile at that pace. I think we'll see the world record fall below 2 hours in my lifetime - I think it's just a matter of time. I saw the awards ceremony for both the women and men. I was 15 feet away from the platform. They had their picture taken with this 2 foot tall beer. Awesome!

OK - watching the elites come through was fantastic; however, my real inspiration was watching the age groupers battle the elements. If you've never seen a marathon - I don't care if you absolutely hate sports - go and witness the spectacle at least once. If I can spend an afternoon at an art museum - you can watch a marathon. It's not about sports on Hour #5 of a marathon - it's about raw passion and desire. Go to the largest one you can find. (Top 5 - New York, London, Berlin, Paris, Chicago) There were 40,000 runners today - constant people coming through for hours. The atmosphere was electric. Cheering, music, dancing - it's a big party for the fans. Get a spot about 1/2 mile from the finish, and just watch the faces. I found myself clapping and yelling inspirational words for hours. (Just don't go to Mile 20 and yell: "You're almost there" - that will just make people upset - because they are not 'almost there'). I am so glad I got to experience this today. I've been kind of going through the motions lately on my personal runs - not that motivated - maybe today gave me the edge needed to make it to Athens.

In between 9 and 2:30pm - I watched the race at a couple spots, taking a break for mass at 12noon. An cool catholic church right in the main museum area of the city. Keeping it going.

Around 2pm I left the runners, although I wish I could have stayed longer. I made my way to the spot where my walking tour would begin. I took a 4-1/2 hour tour called 'The Famous Walk'. Wow - I learned more on this tour than any other in my life.

We started out on Museum Island. We saw all the amazing buildings, supposedly Berlin has over 100 different museums. We walked over to the monument honoring all those who have fallen in war. It was a statue of a women holding a child, their was a hole in the ceiling - completely exposing the statue to the outside elements. Neat.

The tour was predominantly in what was once East Germany. I learned the ways you can tell the difference between East & West: (1) Most all the buildings on the East side are new (this area was completely wiped out by the Russians at the End of WWII) (2) The stop lights on the East side have this unique figure in the lights (Supposedly this was a design by a famous person who died in a car accident due to a mishap with the street lights) (3) There is a brick line on the ground throughout the city (The former location of the Berlin Wall).

So many things on the tour - I'll just talk about the 2 most interesting to me. We stood over the bunker where Adolf Hitler committed suicide. Our guide told us all about the final days of his life. There were 16 different assassination attempts on his life - all unsuccessful. The last one; however (a bomb); ended up damaging his eardrum. Supposedly the last year of his life, Hitler was losing his mind. He was taking cocaine for the pain and talking in irrational thoughts. On April 30, 1945, a day after he married his 12-year mistress, he killed himself and his wife in the bunker we stood over.

We got to see one of the last remaining portions of the Berlin Wall. We learned about the 8 checkpoints between the East & West. We saw 'Checkpoint Charlie' - 1 of the 8 and used extensively by the Western guards. We learned about the beginining of the wall in 1961 until the day it came down - November 9th, 1989. We learned of the 'death strip' that existed between the 2 sides - mostly filled with white sand so guards could clearly identify human forms trying to escape into West Germany.

The tour was really informative. Our guide pointed out things I never would have noticed without doing extensive reading. There are small plaques on the ground all over the city representing areas where former Jews lived who were imprisoned by the Nazis. We learned that there are 3.3 million people in Berlin - 500,000 of these being Turkish immigrants. Berlin currently has a 16% unemployment rate. Supposedly the city has spent crazy dollars rebuilding some of the buildings destroyed from the war. They've also spent money on monuments honoring the fallen Jews.

Things continue to change in Berlin. If you've been to the city (even in the past 5 years), it has certainly changed. Buildings have been erected while others have been torn down. Bullet holes were still visible in many parts of East Germany up until 10 years ago. So much has happened in the 20 years since the wall has fallen. It sounds like Berlin is still trying to figure out its true identity.

Tomorrow I'll see what else I can uncover about this city.