Greetings from the good ol United States! I finally returned home
Thurs. Aug 5th. Traveling is fun, but it’s always great to be back
home. People, both abroad, and here in the US, often ask me what my
favorite place was to visit. Its difficult because they were all
wonderful in their own way. For sheer beauty of the landscape, it
would have to be Norway. As far as cities go, I would lean toward
London, because of the diversity of things to do, its people, who
were very congenial, and the fact that they speak English. Berlin
and Paris are not far behind, however. In fact, Berlin was a
pleasant surprise. This captital of the Third Reich and Hitler’s evil
empire, is a city full of history. The first surprise was my hotel.
One never knows what you are going to get when you book a place
online, and especially when you are looking for a place that is
inexpensive. But the Hotel Bogota exceeded all my expectations. It
was located in the most elite and expensive part of Berlin with a
Gucci’s around the corner and a Cartiers and large Rolex store across
the street. The hotel had once housed some of Berlins most famous
residents and served for a time as Hitler’s office of cultural
affairs. My second surprise came when I saw a free walking tour of
the famous sites of Berlin advertized. The leader of the tour was an
American named George. We started at the Brandenberg Gate, past
Hitlers bunker, to Check-Point Charlie and the Berlin Wall. One
thing I like about Berlin and its people, is that they have owned up
to their own tragic history. The city has left some of its bombed
out cathedrals and other buildings stand as a testament to the
tragedy of war.
In fact almost all the buildings from that era have bullit holes and
mortar shell or bomb damage. 90 per cent of central Berlin was destroyed
during WWII. One notable exception was the Ministry of Air Defense, a
massive and modern looking building that didn’t have a scratch on it. The
reason was that by the end of the war, Germanys Air Force had been mostly
destroyed and so the allies left the building alone and used it as a
landmark to guide them to other sites. One of the most controversial
sites was a memorial to the Jewish holocaust. But the Germans used a more
vivid term. It was called The Memorial to the Murdered Jews. It consists
of about ten acres of concrete blocks of various sizes that looked
somewhat like a cemetary. Another place I found fascinating was Hitler’s
Bunker. This is where Hitler conducted military operations in the last
days of the war and where it is claimed he committed suicide by taking a
cyanide pill and then shooting himself. It is said that the Russians
found Hitler’s body, but no one knows for sure. Today it is a gravel
parking lot and would be unrecognizable if not for a small sign marking
the spot. It is said that Berliners show their contempt for the man by
bringing their dogs to the site and letting them do their business.
Check-Point Charlie is well-known to any GI who served in Germany after
1962. That is the year the Berlin Wall went up and divided the city into
east and west. Today there is only about a hundred yards of the wall left,
and ironically, the remaining wall is protected by two fences. There are
many heroic stories of East Germans trying to cross over to freedom. Some
would build armored cars and blast their way through. Others would tunnel
underground, and still others would be smuggled in secret compartments in
or under cars. But one of the most amusing stories that our guide George
told us about was two East Germans who decided to graze their way to
freedom. Thats right. They donned a cow costume, one in the front and
one in the back, and they began to slowly graze their way to greener
pastures. A guard noticed the errant cow and called his superior officer.
“There’s a cow thats crossing over into the west.” His boss replied,
“It’s a cow. They always return home eventually!” And so the two Germans
grazed and mooed their way to freedom. May we never take our freedom for
granted! Happy trails to you! Gary Fulsebakke (71)