We are Berliners!

This is why I love trains. Finally some time to write in the day light hours. We are currently on our way from Berlin to Hemer with our German Friends. The German countryside is rolling by and it is time to look back on the weekend that was Berlin. We arrived in the evening and made our connections and long walk to our hotel. It is funny to be walking at 10pm and still be in the twilight. Our hotel was a well appointed business hotel which had comfortable beds which were welcome after our long journey. The morning brought good weather and another great bike tour. Our guide was tall Mike from Manchester. He gave us a thorough look around and caught us up on many of the historical events that have made Berlin a star in many of our history book stories. We visited many sites related to World War 2. We saw the location of the famous book burnings that took place under the NAZI regime. There is a poignant monument of a hole looking into an empty library. The university across the street holds a book sale every Friday now and always tries to have some of the books that were burned for sale. We then went to the site of Hitler's bunker. Strangely (or maybe appropriately) there is little to signify the final moments of this evil man's life. A simple sign, and a parking lot for some expensive condos now sits where his reign ended. An inglorious end for sure. We visited many sites in both the East and West of Berlin. Two things I noticed about Berlin; first it is hard to tell the East from the west anymore. 20 years of construction has blurred the lines of what was once communist and what is now a capitalist mecca. Sure, if you go beyond the city center you can find the communist block style architecture rising in the East like tombstones to a bygone era, but in the city center, where the wall once stood, you can look at “Checkpoint Charlie” through the glass window of McDonald's 15 feet away. You have to be careful when you take a picture not to get the giant Ipad 2 billboard in the background or the Starbucks down the street. The wall, or walls as we found out, stood as a 100 yard barrier and no mans land between freedom and oppression. Today it is all but gone, most of it covered by new developments that took place on the new cheap land that came available. The former wall goes through shopping malls, apartments, and plazas that have obliterated the physical and metaphorical past. We visited the a museum dedicated to those who escaped past the wall. The our group were amazed at the techniques used by people to get out. They included ultralights, hollowed out cars, improvised scuba gear, zip lines, balloons, tunnels, fake luggage and surfboard racks, and just plain courage (one guy was shot 20 times and made it. It was amazing.

After our bike tour the group waited not so patiently for the Germans to arrive. They had numerous plans of surprise and trickery for their arrival that included hiding in bushes, sitting on a bench hidden by newspapers and even going as far as to concoct a fake relationship story about Tricia and Tanner to fool the German kids. All of this was to no avail as the meeting turned into a running and screaming and hugging festival. We had a great meal with the Germans in the Sony Center which is a crazy out door mall filled with space like architecture and changing lights.

The next day we did a number of tour with the Germans. Our group had been hardened by a week of strenuous walking. The Germans found our pace a little exhausting. Our kids were now ready to walk miles without tiring, and we did. We had an amazing visit to the Reichstags, or the Bundestag, which is the seat of the German government. We saw the incredible modern architecture of the ancillary buildings mixed with the grandness of the main building. We were treated to a free meal and a very informative talk by Ryan, assistant to Dagmar Frietag, who is the representative to parliament for Hermer. Ryan is an American who is interning in the Bundestag. He was funny and spoke fluent German so the German kids got his jokes.

The last days in Berlin the students got some shopping time and socializing time between tours. It is amazing to see how quickly the groups melded from two groups to one. Right now on the train Camille is teaching how to make friendship bracelets, Lena and Zack are exchanging funny pictures of themselves, they are looking through the Nordhoff Yearbook, and having as much fun as one could have on a train. They all wish you a happy Father's Day and hope that all of their families are doing as well as they are. I hope to post pictures soon. We will also post a lot of pictures once we get home . Until later... Auf Wiedersehen !Two things I noticed about Berlin; first it is hard to tell the East from the west anymore. 20 years of construction has blurred the lines of what was once communist and what is now a capitalist mecca. Sure, if you go beyond the city center you can find the communist block style architecture rising in the East like tombstones to a bygone era, but in the city center, where the wall once stood, you can look at “Checkpoint Charlie” through the glass window of McDonald's 15 feet away. You have to be careful when you take a picture not to get the giant Ipad 2 billboard in the background or the Starbucks down the street. The wall, or walls as we found out, stood as a 100 yard barrier and no mans land between freedom and oppression. Today it is all but gone, most of it covered by new developments that took place on the new cheap land that came available. The former wall goes through shopping malls, apartments, and plazas that have obliterated the physical and metaphorical past. We visited the a museum dedicated to those who escaped past the wall. The our group were amazed at the techniques used by people to get out. They included ultralights, hollowed out cars, improvised scuba gear, zip lines, balloons, tunnels, fake luggage and surfboard racks, and just plain courage (one guy was shot 20 times and made it. It was amazing.

After our bike tour the group waited not so patiently for the Germans to arrive. They had numerous plans of surprise and trickery for their arrival that included hiding in bushes, sitting on a bench hidden by newspapers and even going as far as to concoct a fake relationship story about Tricia and Tanner to fool the German kids. All of this was to no avail as the meeting turned into a running and screaming and hugging festival. We had a great meal with the Germans in the Sony Center which is a crazy out door mall filled with space like architecture and changing lights.

The next day we did a number of tour with the Germans. Our group had been hardened by a week of strenuous walking. The Germans found our pace a little exhausting. Our kids were now ready to walk miles without tiring, and we did. We had an amazing visit to the Reichstags, or the Bundestag, which is the seat of the German government. We saw the incredible modern architecture of the ancillary buildings mixed with the grandness of the main building. We were treated to a free meal and a very informative talk by Ryan, assistant to Dagmar Frietag, who is the representative to parliament for Hermer. Ryan is an American who is interning in the Bundestag. He was funny and spoke fluent German so the German kids got his jokes.

The last days in Berlin the students got some shopping time and socializing time between tours. It is amazing to see how quickly the groups melded from two groups to one. Right now on the train Camille is teaching how to make friendship bracelets, Lena and Zack are exchanging funny pictures of themselves, they are looking through the Nordhoff Yearbook, and having as much fun as one could have on a train. They all wish you a happy Father's Day and hope that all of their families are doing as well as they are. I hope to post pictures soon. We will also post a lot of pictures once we get home . Until later... Auf Wiedersehen !