Berlin has been great for me again. I was able to see places I had not been able to get to on my last trip. We had an extensive day exploring the Berlin Wall which is an area I researched heavily as part of my Masters degree. We visited the Wall Museum which was not here previously and which has worked to preserve sections that included the entire wall infastructure not just the concrete wall. So we walked along and inside the no man's land and viewed the memorisl to those killed. We also had rare access to the Museum's storage area,that has original artifacts including guard towers. We then also walked along the length of the Eastside Gallery that is,an area of the wall that was covered in artwork by various artists and today preserved. We also met one of those original artists and went to their home to hear their story.
From there I went on an adventure with 2 others to find the massive Soviet Army War Memorial and cemetery at Treptow Park. Wow! !!! It was awesome! The scale is grand but the place for its size is hidden within the park. It is full of symbolism...from the statue of the weeping mother to the powerful soldier clutching the child in his arms while crushing a swastika. No specific graves are marked as more than 10 million Soviet soldiers who died are unknown. They had no real system to track the men or id the dead. Soviet soldiers were given a piece of paper with their name written on it but since most were illiterate they used it for rolling cigarettes. I am glad I visited the site which is maintained by the German government.
Our last day we had an art workshop in the morning which was my least fav program of trip. This was followed by a brief concert by an America - Jewish musician residing in Berlin who performs Jewish folk music.
In my few free hours remaining I managed to get the last ticket for the Underground Dark Tour; this is a tour of the last intact underground airraid shelter in Berlin. It was great and we had a superb guide. I learned a lot and saw many artifacts including a heavily damaged enigma machine. I loved the experience!
So we ended the seminar with a closing dinner out together which was nice. I head off early in the morning to Amsterdam and a new adventure!
