May 5, 2019. Berlin, Germany.
We walked a lot. The first stop was the Reichstag where the German government is and saw the memorial for the politicians who opposed Hitler.

Around the corner was a small memorial of white crosses for those who died trying to escape East Germany.

Along the street are bricks showing where the Wall used to be.

Our next stop was the Brandenburg Gate. I was there in 1976 and took a train from West Germany to East Germany and so was able to be on both sides of the Gate back then. I remember the East side being very gray and depressing.

Our next stop was the Memorial for Murdered Jews of Europe. It’s just a city block with a lot of cement slabs. The museum under ground there was very sad.

We then walked to Hitler’s Bunker. It is now a very small park and small parking lot surrounded by apartment buildings.

On to Checkpoint Charlie. Here it was in 1976.

And here it was in 2019.

May 6, 2019. Berlin, Germany.

We took a private tour of Berlin and saw a lot of what we saw the previous day. We went to the Berlin History Museum and then to the Berliner Dom, the oldest Protestant Church in Berlin. Most of the museum was before WWI. There was a small section of the Wall there, but they really seemed to downplay WWII, Hitler, and the Wall. The Berliner Dom was a beautiful church and we climbed 181 stairs to walk around the top of it outside.

Right next to the church is where Hitler gave a lot of his speeches. Kind of an ugly building.

When I was in Berlin in 1976, we were told about the television tower that always has a cross shining on it. No matter what they tried to do, that cross was always shining. I don’t know how much of that was true, but the cross was very visible back then and still is today. Back then though, we could only see it from a distance, but we could walk right up to it this time.

Stay tuned for the rest of our Baltic Cruise.