Day #197 - Berlin, Germany

Brandenburg Gate - at night

Plaques honoring Jewish families

Reichstag - German Parliament

Picture at Checkpoint Charlie - showing new and old Brandenburg Gate

Sans Souci Palace

Monday, September 27th

Today I had another chance to walk around and experience the sites of Berlin. I did, however, need to take care of some business to start the day. Yesterday I did not mention that I wrote out the blog on the computer at the hotel. (The people may not have been pleased about my lengthy performance). The reason for this - my computer had some issues. It would not boot up for me on Sunday. Not sure why. Things were working OK on Saturday night.

I was more than a little nervous about this issue - as my computer is my lifeline at the present moment. I got up this morning and headed out for a computer store to see if they had a service department to take a look at my netbook. I was referenced to an area of town called Alexanderplatz. Very cool spot -many stores and restaurants. This is just off the main drag on the East Berlin side. Pretty much all the action happens on the former East Berlin side of town.

I got to the place. Found the service area. Tried to power my computer up - and - it started just fine. I still don't know what had happened. I tried to power it on/off 4-5 times on Sunday and it would not work. Anyway - the service guy let me hook up to their hard-line internet and run a comprehension scan. It came up with a few files at risk - but nothing substantial. I'm using this baby right now - living on a prayer.

Once I left the computer shop, I walked toward Tiergarten. This is a huge park that sits on the former West Berlin side of the Brandenburg Gate. This was the ending point of the marathon yesterday. The park is enormous. Paths are angled in all different directions. I'd imagine some of the finishers yesterday have spent some time here.

I walked back over to 'Checkpoint Charlie'. We were here yesterday - but I wanted to spend some more time. They have all these huge posters placed around the fence that give an in-depth time-line leading up to the construction of the wall - until its eventual fall in 1989. Really interesting stuff. Our guide had told us this - but the Cuban Missile Crisis was just about the end of the US. Also, it talked about JFK and some of his meetings around the time the wall was constructed.

I walked over to the building which houses the Berlin Philharmonic. This was pointed out in my book. Supposedly, the 2,400 seated auditorium is home to one of the world's most premier orchestras. I then found my way to the Reichstag. This is the place of the German parliament. In 1933, a fire was set to this building. This act helped the Nazis eventually rise to power. Our guide told us this lengthy story. But, I believe the skinny is - Nazis were far right and Communists were far left. Nazis were getting more and more votes. This fire was supposedly set by some radical Communist. This must not have set well with many Germans and the Nazis received the votes necessary to give Hitler full power over Germany in 1933.

Another interesting thing our guide said - the last time there was a great depression (1929) - a radical party took rule 4 years later (the Nazis). He told us about different countries in Europe that are now seeing a larger percentage of some new parties taking shape since the economic downturn in 2008. I don't begin to know much about world politics - but this guy didn't paint a pretty picture on the subject.

A couple other things I'm remembering from yeserday's tour. After Hitler's suicide, his appointed replacement (Goebbel I believe) also committed suicide 1 day later. In addition to himself, he took out his wife and all his kids. Humboldt University - a bigtime university just off the Unter den Linden Street (main street through the former East Berlin) was home to a number (25?) of nobel Prize winners. Albert Einstein taught here.

Late afternoon, I took a 30 minute train ride to the town of Potsdam. This is the place where between July 17 and August 2, 1945, Winston Churchill, Harry Truman, and Joseph Stalin hammered out the division of postwar Germany. This is now known as the Potsdam Conference. The city of Postdam is also famous for a large park in town called Sans Souci. In 1745, Prussian ruler King Friedrich II (known as Frederick the Great) constructed a royal palace here. Very impressive.

I'm back at the hotel. Tomorrow I'm going to try a long run and then I'm not sure. I have a couple options - we'll see how things turn out.