Post Germany

Before our trip to Germany, I searched out some historic photographs of the cities where we would visit, with the aim to attempt to recreate some of the camera angles and to see what had changed over the last 70 odd years. This gave us a "mission" to complete while being tourists, and it provided some historical context for what we would be seeing. I recently went over some of my photos and finally pieced together a few composites. We appreciated the history we saw and this simple task made the views much more powerful for us.

The first one was in our first stop, Munich. After a busy morning touring the Munich Residence, we decided to see if we could find this old building somewhere near the Hofbrauhaus. That was all the information we had, but we were successful! Surprisingly, the cafe in the 1941 photo is still there and still a cafe! Having found it without any doubt, Wendy and I used the picture on my phone to attempt to position ourselves at just the right angle. I imagine this caused some chuckles from the many people sitting around this small busy square. The street cobblestones look similar, although the drain in front of Hitler was filled in sometime over the years. In 2019, to the right of the frame is the front door of the Hofbrauhaus beer hall (great beer!), and to the left of the frame is.... the Hard Rock Cafe! Go figure.  A little bit of Photoshop was all it took to bring this to life.

Just outside the Hofbrauhaus in Munich, 1941 and 2019.

In Berlin, the next mission was to find the Brandenburg Gate. OK, I agree that finding it is not a big stretch, but the angle was much more challenging for this location due to the number of people, bicycles, and street performers. We entered from the far side of the gate and the first thing Wendy said was, "Is that a nude man?". I had to agree that it appeared that way. On closer inspection, the 'nude dude' was actually wearing a thong but nothing else - he was demonstrating for some purpose, all of which was a mystery to us (and to most of the indifferent crowd). Not sure if this is a common occurrence in the area, but it certainly made us shake our head. Hope he had sunscreen.

Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, 1945 and 2019

Luftwaffe and shopping in Berlin

As you may have gathered, we went to another aviation museum today. Wendy and I headed about as far away in Berlin as we could (and still be covered by our transit pass). We went to the village of Gatow where the Luftwaffe Museum is stationed. We did get lost on the way there - the bus route apparently splits into two routes at one spot, but we didn't get that information from the overhead announcements. The bus driver told us where to wait, then picked us up again after about 15 minutes (he and his bus sat only 50 feet away the whole time). Getting back on, he said: "You were looking for the airplane museum, right?". He drove us to the branch point and showed us the correct spot to change. On getting on the new bus, that driver said: 'You were looking for the airplane museum, right?'. Seems they chat on the radio!

This F-104 Starfighter was modified for a zero distance take off - they added an extra rocket engine that allowed it to take off without a runway!

The museum itself was great, and even better, it was completely free! Great collection and good gift shop. Afterwards, we had to walk 27 min to catch the bus going back - at least it was 25C and beautiful out.

We decide to go shopping at a famous department store (KaDeWe = short for Kaufhaus des Westens), and while having a late lunch, Wendy found a Coca Cola Bar! And yes, she enjoyed every drop of her coke. Eric looked at the watches, but most cost more than this trip...

Good lunch, then back to the room to rest and prepare for dinner at a Pizza place a half block away. Strangely, their web reviews say that the serving staff are "left-leaning". Not sure what that meant in the context of a restaurant, but it was good either way. Took less than 10 minutes from ordering for our pizza to arrive!

First day in Berlin

Our first full day of touring Berlin greeted us with beautiful weather (again).  After a leisurely breakfast, we headed out to see the Berlin Wall Memorial, then walked along multiple sections remaining of wall,  then went to checkpoint Charlie (with KFC and McDonalds within a few feet of the spot).

Several sections of the Berlin Wall have been left standing

This section also included a guard tower

Very Americanized section of Berlin

At the Topography of Terror museum

We then found a great donair spot for lunch, and after a brief rest, walked 30 min to the Spy Museum (saw an Enigma machine), walked around the Mall of Berlin, went to the memorial for murdered Jews, and then the Brandenburg gate. If that wasn't enough, Wendy Seidlitz and I walked over to the Reichstag. Sore feet pushed us to head back to the apartment for a light dinner. 

Enigma code machines

At the Spy Museum - all spies drove Trabant's, right?

Memorial for Murdered Jews - a lot larger than we had pictured.

The Brandenburg Gate

The Reichstadt

Berlin so far is full of people smoking (as all other parts of Germany we have seen), but the most notable thing is the graffiti everywhere. Even at the top of tall buildings!  Very different from Bavaria.

Up to Berlin!

Just a travel day today. We got on a train in Garmisch (about 200 m from the apartment) and took it all the way to Munich. A 30 min transfer in Munich had us on our way to Berlin in facing first class seats. Went through all sorts of towns and cities, including Erfurt and Leipzig. Unfortunately the train didn't go through Halle, where my grandfather was born.

 

A quick tram ride to East Berlin brought us to our AirBnB for the rest of the week. Sure can tell the difference in architecture between Munich and the old East Germany.