This is a Berliner:

It is a jelly-filled doughnut made from sweet yeast dough that is also usually covered in powdered sugar.  In Germany, you can order them as Krapfen, Pfannkuchen, or Berliner.  You simply would say “Ich möchte ein Berliner” (I would like a jelly-filled doughnut).  

The people who live in Berlin are called Berliner.  Directly translated that means “someone from Berlin”; similar to Frankfurter means “someone from Frankfurt” and not a hotdog.  The basic difference here is the “ein” or “a” that precedes the noun, right?  I want a Berliner versus I am Berliner.  This is exactly what the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy said during his famous speech at Schöneberg Rathaus in 1963.  Instead of saying “I am someone from Berlin”, he (literally) said, “I am a jelly-filled doughnut”.  Look it up, if you think I’m kidding.**

Today was a busy day.  We walked nearly 10 miles and yes, my feet are killing me.  So, buckle up, buttercup. 

The first thing we did was ride the M-tram (streetcar that stops for traffic lights) into Berlin Zentrum (Center) to Alexander Platz. Then we walked to a lovely coffee shop near the massive TV tower. We had coffee/cacao and some pastries for breakfast.  Not quite the lovely spread we had enjoyed in Frankfurt but food, at least.  The day started cold and overcast with drizzles and ended the exact same way.  Sadly, most of the day was also spent in the rain – from downpour to sprinkles – we never really got dry.  From Alexander Platz, where we also saw St. Nicholas Church and the Red Rathaus, we switched to the S-bahn (street-level transit with dedicated tracks) and took multiple trains (switching at Friedrichstraße) to the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate).  Remember I said yesterday that this was one of the many locations Allita wanted to visit?  Well, we barely saw it.  Thanks to the Euro 2024 football tournament, the entire plaza with the gate, garden and even the Reichtag were completely closed off with police barricades and temporary fences.  Turns out, police from all over Europe have converged on Germany to help manage the “massive terrorist threat from ISIS”.  Keep in mind, the final event will be held here in Berlin on July 14.  That said, we were cranky about having to walk nearly two miles in order to see the Bundestag (Parliament) but at the same time, grateful that we even could.  

Next, we walked to the Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas (Memorial to the Murdered Jews in Europe) or Holocaust Memorial.  The whole memorial spans a little less than 5 acres and contains over 2,700 rectangular stelae (concrete slabs) of varying heights.  There is a list of the 3 million names of the Jews memorialized here in the information center.  It sits on the former location of the Berlin Wall and among many foreign embassies (we passed the British Embassy as we left the area).  The memorial is one of those artistic pieces that everyone has to interpret themselves – it’s designed for reflection – so I will just let the photos do the talking for me.

Then, we decided to find some of the remaining sections of the Berliner Mauer (Berlin Wall).  So we walked further south and came across two different memorial locations.  One of the locations was completely open to the public with general information on placards all around it.  Apparently, it is common for people to smash their chewed gum onto the pieces of wall as a way of showing disrespect.  We were simultaneously grossed out and impressed.  Kind of like watching someone pull something very long out of their nostril.  See what I mean?  

The second section of the Berlin Wall was preserved in a manner that more accurately demonstrates how it once appeared: stark, desolate and cold and is aptly named “Topography of Terror”.   This section is located exactly where the Gestapo, SS and Third Reich headquarters were in Berlin on Niederkirchnerstrasse.  The location of this memorial is intentional: it is the longest remaining section of the wall and during the excavation of the headquarters site, the remains of tortured and murdered prisoners were found here.  The original trench in front of the wall still remains as it was and along with the steel barriers, really drives home the reality of the wall.  This site has been host for a number of WWII-related art exhibits over the years.  Currently, there are photos here of people trying to escape to the West before the wall was finalized; including a famous photo of an East German soldier who flung himself over in order to stay in the West and many photos of East Germans flinging themselves out of windows to land in sheets held by West Germans on the other side. This year marks the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall so there are a variety of activities ongoing throughout Germany and particularly Berlin in that regard.  A final, massive celebration is planned for November 9, of course.  

From there, we made our way to Checkpoint Charlie.  Have I ever told you that I once went through Checkpoint Charlie on the way to East Berlin with my parents one day?  Remember, we lived there in the 80s and the wall was still in place.  The crossing was a two-part process: once you made it through Charlie, you had to go through another checkpoint on the Eastern side.  Armed soldiers entered the bus to inspect our official documents and patrolled all around it, military dogs and heat-seeking equipment were used for inspection of the bus in case there were any defectors being smuggled out, and there were considerable restrictions on what you could bring with you and what you could bring back.  There was a short gap between when you left the American zone and when you entered the Soviet zone and in my mind, it was exactly like the Hollywood images of the spy releases along some isolated stretch with watch towers, barbed wire, and a lot of emptiness, barricades, steel bars, and concrete.  I discovered today that it was actually used for just that – prisoner exchanges! – during the Cold War.  Not surprising in the least – it was definitely a memorable border crossing, I assure you.  One more interesting thing about Checkpoint Charlie (named Charlie because it stands for ‘C’ in the NATO phonic alphabet) – it was the location of one of the very few ARMED confrontations in the Cold War – a very tense 16-hour tank standoff between the U.S. and Russia that very nearly ended in WWIII.  

At this point, and I’m going to be totally honest here, we were starting to get a little depressed. So many murdered Jews memorialized, the Topography of Terror so somber and stark, and then, Checkpoint Charlie, all piled on top of a day full of dark skies, wet ground, lots of walking around barricaded streets, and periodic downpours – touring Berlin was not turning out to be as fun as we had hoped.  So, on a lark, we decided to tour the German Spy Museum.  It just popped up in front of us, right out of the blue, and we both said, “YES!”.  It was the best two hours we had spent so far.  Miniature cameras, listening devices and recorders, and a variety of weapons all hidden in unique and fascinating devices (some everyday and ordinary like a glue stick and a walnut!), a huge variety of different “spy” equipment including a underwater scuba propeller used by the Russians and an umbrella with ricin injector tip used for assassinations, stories of real-life spies all throughout history, real ENIGMA machines, and, best of all, even James Bond paraphernalia and memorabilia! We had a great time reading lips, detecting lies, solving riddles, cracking codes, and exploring the world of espionage all while avoiding the rain.  Win-Win!!

The last item on Allita’s “must see” list for Berlin was the Schöneberg Rathaus.  That required us to ride multiple U-bahn trains (underground subway) and this is an activity that I do not recommend at 4pm on a work day in Berlin (particularly if you have to take the U2!).  The Rathaus balcony is the location where JFK made his famous pastry-related speech and is located in a very lovely section of Berlin just inside the tariff zone A.  Great news for us as we didn’t need to purchase another type of ticket!  The Rathaus has a Rathskeller (basement) restaurant but the food for today was not great for us (cabbage soup, beef steak) so we skipped it.  There is a lovely park nearby with a fountain, some friendly locals playing bocce ball, rows of knobby trees and, of course, more snails.  

We finished our day at the Berlin location of the Hoffbräu München, a fabulous restaurant just off the Alexander platz (square) that offers classic German fare – including schnitzel of all types, Bavarian potato salad, delicious soups, pommes frites (french fries), pretzels and Apfelstrudel (apple strudel) – all of which we naturally devoured as we had not eaten since the coffee shop!  Admittedly, we got a little side-tracked by the camouflage and secrecy of governments.  The place was fantastic – with staff dressed just as you can imagine – and an Oom-pah polka band playing fantastic Bavarian, Oktoberfest music on the squeezebox and clarinet.   We were satt and delighted at day’s end and happy to easily find a seat available on the tram back to our lovely B&B.  

Tomorrow, we head to Poland to see crooked trees.  Hopefully whatever Gasthaus we stay in overnight will have WIFI so that I can tell you all about it.  More to come!

SIDE NOTE:  The black bear is the symbol on the coat of arms for the city of Berlin. With that in mind, about 20 years ago, some artists got the idea to create Buddy Bears.  These Buddy Bears have global and cultural notoriety and can now be found all over the city of Berlin.  We also found some Capital Bears, which we assume are knock-offs, and a wooden bear in the shape of the Berlin Bear from the coat of arms. Finding bears in Berlin and posing with them became something of a game today.  

** JFK was not FROM Berlin, Germany so he would not say “Ich bin Berliner”. After a lot of debate and discussion, linguistics experts believe that “Ich bin ein Berliner” is the way you would figuratively say “At heart, I am a Berliner” and that’s how the Germans understood his speech in any regard. But the literal translation really is “I am a doughnut.”