July 18. Berlin, Germany

We docked at 9:00 this morning and got right off to meet our tour at 9:30.  Berlin is a three hour bus ride from the port of Rostock, so it makes for a very long day but we're glad we did it. The bus was merely a transfer so there was no narrative.  About halfway along, we stopped at a gas station with a store and restrooms. We paid 70 cents to enter the toilet and you get a 50 cent voucher to use in the station.  The restroom was very clean, in fact the toilet seat was washed after every use automatically.  We met our guide at the Olympic Stadium built by Hitler for the 1936 games.  Two negatives to start: the group was 27 people and the guide had the individual receivers but not the ear pieces.  Fortunately, he had a voice that could project and the only narrative we missed was when walking and he answered questions.  He was born in Canada so there was no difficulty understanding him and he was very knowledgeable about Berlin and Germany.  This was a different tour than in St. Petersburg in that we saw everything from the outside only, no walking through museums or palaces. But we saw a lot and learned lot.  Some of the highlights were the Brandenburg Gate, the Berlin Dome, the Gendarmenmarkt, the Holocust Memorial and The Wall.  Angela Merkels's motorcade went by; a lot like our presidential motorcade. The Holocaust Memorial reminds me of our Vietnam Memorial - very simple in design, but very emotional in impact. There is a brick line in the road around the city where the Wall used to be and there is still a section standing not far from where Checkpoint Charlie was.  Due to the intensive bombing during WWII, most of the buildings are new, even the ones that look old.  Our guide said you can tell which is which by whether they have bullet holes or not.

Seeing Berlin was not a look at unrelatable history. It was a look at history recent enough for me to remember, which was a very different thing altogether.  Hearing about the murders of the Russian Tsar's family was a sad story, but hearing the stories of some of those who risked their lives to get over the Wall brought tears to my eyes.