Campo Family Travels

Walking around, we came across meter-wide sections of wall that have been used as canvas for street art, as well as portions of sidewalk with a pattern of brick inlaid - this was to show where the wall had been. As almost all of the wall had been destroyed and removed, we did visit the site where a portion of the wall remained. You can still see the holes that had been carved by locals and their hammers; standing there, really trying to absorb of the wall and the effect it had on the residents, we couldn't. Truthfully, even with a father who lived in and left communist Poland, I cannot fathom what life could have possibly been like. It is easy to be so unaware of the just how lucky a life I have led, but being surrounded by the depressing and ugliness of that history definitely gave me a swift kick.

The rounded bits were placed atop the wall so that those on the East couldn't  get a good grip and climb over.

These inlayed bricks are were where the wall once stood.

Metal posts in the spaces filling the gaps between the still standing portion of the wall.

We visited an abandoned bunker that was used during the WWII air-raids. We weren't able to take photos, but were guided through the rooms that would become packed, beyond capacity, by residents trying to stay safe from bombings. The rooms were small and would lose electricity when the sirens went off, so they were painted with a (toxic) glow in the dark paint. This paint not only served as a  light source, but also as a base for instructional information to be painted on. It would point you in the direction of exits, restrooms and had other "helpful" information. Some of the rooms have turned into small museum like spaces, housing shells from bombs, belongings of soldiers as well as civilians and some Nazi propaganda. Along the same historical time frame, we also visited the Memorial to the Murdered Jews, just a block few streets away from the Brandenburg Gate. It was a very interesting memorial, not depressing, like you would expect, instead it was kind of simple and beautiful. It was a little sad seeing tourists posing on top of some of the cement blocks, as if it were a park table statue at a zoo.

The more uplifting parts of our weekend were taking in the buildings of Berlin. There is a modern feel, the high-rise and big buildings of communist era Berlin, as well as old European architecture (think Paris). Hitler actually wanted to emulate the look of Paris... on a grander scale, and succeeded in some aspects - the buildings are quite impressive, just a little less historically significant. We did notice, upon closer inspection, that a number of those older buildings still have bullet and mortar holes in them. While most of the buildings have had extensive repairs, they did leave some of the battle scars for people to see. 

Some of the u un-repaired damage from allied forces.

This is just as you walk into the Sony Center.

And then there was the food. Since Berlin isn't full of Germans anymore, the food reflects that. While you can find German food, it's not what the locals eat. We did try the truly Berlin cuisine of Berliner doughnuts and currywurst; Jon doesn't necessarily appreciate the deep fried and greasy food... I do, I loved it! All bakeries seemed to have a couple varieties of the filled doughnut (no complaints!), and the currywurst is a street food and should really be consumed in that environment. If you order it in a restaurant, you'll be disappointed and will have overpaid. We had ours at a little shop while sipping a local beer and people watching. As much as we I enjoyed the experience, I will say that once you've had it - you don't really need to keep repeating it. We also partook in the worldly cuisine that Berlin has to offer, more importantly that Amsterdam lacks. We took away some delicious sushi as well as had some fantastic thai food.

Strawberry filled berliner :)