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We drove to Berlin to tour for a few days and ate lunch at this rest stop.
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We stayed in this town with old row houses and cobblestone streets.
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Some buildings seemed to be in disrepair on the outside. Others were fixed up.
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But at night, even the old buildings had a romantic look in the yellow streetlamp light.
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After the Berlin wall fell, there was so much effort to obliterate it that not much of it was preserved for future generations. The brass plate on the ground marks the path of the wall.
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And all through the city, a double line of cobblestones marks the wall's path. The wall split the heart of the city.
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The German parliament building was in the Western side.
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The famous Brandenburg gate was on the East side in a prohibited strip of no-man's land. They would shoot you on sight. However, this day, we enjoyed the evening in its plaza: children were making bubbles, musicians were playing, people were sitting on benches around the periphery.
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Nearby is the memorial for the European Jews that died in WWII. You can disappear in the maze of stone columns that can tower over you. However, you can't hide, and the outside can seem distant.
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Checkpoint Charlie was an important interface between the American and Russian controlled sectors of the city.
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We had real Italian pizza the end of the first day.
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Next morning, we had coffee at a local cafe before taking the train into Berlin.
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A good train, a pleasant ride through the countryside.
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We passed through the largest train station in Berlin. It is larger than some airports.
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The updated Olympic stadium where Jesse Owens won a gold medal in 1936 to the frustration of some German leaders.
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The east Germans demolished Berlin castles in their territory, but this is the Charlotteburg castle that was on the western side.
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It had beautiful gardens.
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We got around via the excellent public transport.
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The east German apartment blocks were distinctively boring.
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Utilitarian architecture. The green paint was added for visual interest after the wall came down.
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We visited the GDR prison of the secret police. They were very effective in breaking people down there.
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It was a blank spot on maps. People in that area of the city didn't even know it existed.
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Back to the parliament building for a tour of the dome. Inscription: "For the German People".
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The previous dome was destroyed in war. This one improves on it.
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It has a spiral ramp that affords a good view of the city.
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And is a sky-light for the parliamentary chambers below.
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Berlin on a manhole cover! (No, the Seattle Space Needle wasn't imported to Berlin! The smooth round concrete tower here with a ball near the top was built by the east Germans for TV broadcasting.)
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Next day on our way home, we drove through Leipzig.
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We stopped to tour the Buchenwald concentration camp. The crematorium. It is hard to see the evidence of such suffering caused by humans, but we must remember so as to learn.
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Nobody escaped until the camp was liberated.
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In the north there were many wind turbines. And there were poppy flowers in some fields.
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The country was more hilly in the north, but always there were fields of (mostly) grain or corn, separated by tree lines. And usually the hill tops were wooded. Very beautiful.
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Near Agnes' place is the BASF plant: a city-sized chemical factory.
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