This week we purchased our tickets to fly to Berlin and fly out of Frankfurt in June. Because of COVID and more recently the war in Ukraine, we weren't sure we should go. Fortunately, Lisa recognized just how important this anniversary is to me, and Anna has grown more excited about the trip as the months have passed.
In preparation I have made a list of things I hope to do in Berlin:
- Visit the Reichstag. This has become very popular with the renovation and the change that has reverted Berlin to the national capital.
- Templehof tour. As mentioned in the last post, Templehof is no longer a working airport. It's now a park and it has an interesting sounding tour. The new Berlin international airport's opening has been delayed for several years.
- Brandenburg Gate: Couldn't get near it in 1982.
- Siegesaule: The Victory Tower that is among the most powerful symbols of Berlin. It wasn't something we could visit on my last trip. Since then, the 1987 film Wings of Desire made that famous in cinema.
- The East Side Gallery: Another very popular spot, the is an outdoor installation that uses a section of the Berlin Wall as a canvas.
- Berlin by Boat. Lisa got really excited about this one. She like boats a lot, I guess.
- Checkpoint Charlie Museum. The younger among us should like this especially.
- The Holocaust Memorial
Many of these weren't a thing 40 years ago. What remains the same about Berlin is that it is always changing. It's seems metamorphosis is part of its identity.
I do hope I can convey some of the history to Anna, Ava, and Lisa with minimum eye rolling. I know even from my time as a 16 year old visitor: when we have more context for what we experience as a tourist makes it far more interesting and substantially more meaningful. I certainly don't want to bore them, but I do want them to have some appreciation for where they are and why we are taking the trouble to go there.
This is where visitors who wished to travel between the Allied Sectors of Berlin and East Berlin stopped for document checks in 1982.
Anyway, let's hope it can open their eyes to what travel can teach us.
