Berlin

Berlin was the final weekend trip in a thrilling yet tiring series of trips. Each was beautiful and fun in its own right, but we left Berlin with a certainty that it was the most important historical city of the 20th century. We took a free walking tour, which lasted 4 hours, that included the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (within a block from the confirmed bunker in which Adolph Hitler shot himself, which is now a parking lot where all the Berliners let their dogs relieve themselves) and Checkpoint Charlie (where the US and USSR faced off at the height of the Cold War). The scars of the Berlin wall were special to me, as I remembered in awe the decision of my parents to bring their young kids to this amazing and controversial place, right after the Wall was torn down.

Needless to say we had a serious history lesson, which included a picnic and wine in the Tempelhofer Airport’s Tarmac. This is a converted park from the airport that was the site of the Berlin Airlift, potentially the most important airlift of recent generations. Certainly the most important for Berliners. With all roads and rails cutoff by the Soviets to West Berlin, the US and other Allies landed a cargo jet here every 3 minutes for a year to supply the city until the Soviets lifted the blockade. Now there are people rollerblading down the runways and landing their remote control planes, with this massive structure in the distance. It was at one time the largest building in the world by square feet, and went down far underground (we were told 20 stories down before the Soviets flooded it). The Nazis built their planes at this location underground and lifted them to the surface to take off, so they had less risk of loss. The airport is immense and the whole place feels post-apocalyptic.

On our last day we went to visit a concentration camp outside of the city. We figured this was relevant given our work at the tribunal, and it was moving. The camp, Sachsenhausen, was the administrative HQ of all concentration camps and was supposed to be the model camp of the 15,000 camps that were spread across Europe. We met a couple from Australia as we exited the tram and walked with them the 2km to the camp. It turns out that they were from Germany originally, and Ian's grandfather, Arthur, had died at Sachsenhausen during the World War II. His father was rescued by the Allies at 18 after the war and moved to Australia.

After the camp we had to hurry back across Berlin to catch our flight, but not before one last Kebap (Gyro). We stayed at the Metropol Hostel, with an amazing street vendor just out front and a good bar upstairs. We spent our nights in the neighborhood fell in love with the Kebabs (they had separate grilled veggies for Sara). So we waited in line for 45 minutes to get that last one while we watched time tick away before our flight. We had to run down to the subway, then catch a bus, made it through security in 10 minutes and barely made our flight back. It was an exciting trip through and through, and a nice weekend for Sara and I to enjoy alone. Next week Sara is off to Tennessee to Rachel's wedding (which I unfortunately could not attend) and my brother comes here to visit! A much needed taste of home for both.

Hope everyone else out there is having a good summer and staying cool! We come to the beach for the summer and The Hague has the coldest, rainiest July in history. Miss you all, be back stateside in a little over a month...