We decided, once again, to road-trip it to Berlin instead of taking the bus. With nine people this time, there was no way we could all fit into Paul's car. Hence, four of us rented a wee Škoda Auto for €100. It's unnerving to power through the Autobahn with its unlimited speed limit in a Czech-made car that translates into "Damage Car". But with three guys and a truck stuffed full with luggage, I barely felt the speed of 160 km/h.
It was a wintry Friday morning when we set off into the heart of the city. We've all heard good reviews about the free walking tour offered by Sandemans New Europe and decided to check it out. Our guide was a contemporary dancer who used to study Math and Physics in Columbia University. His enthusiasm and excitement was contagious. His guided tour, brilliantly done. In fact, it was so good that a friend and I decided to join the Cold War Tour the following day - this time, by an incredibly knowledgeable Englishman.
Most people connect Germany's turbulent history to Hitler and the Nazis. But when one thinks of Berlin, the Berlin Wall comes to mind. I cannot imagine the devastation of being separated overnight from your loved ones by barb wire and fierce gun-toting guards.
| “ | On August 13, 1961, Berlin was cut in two by a concrete wall. The purpose of the wall: to hinder the people of socialist East Germany from fleeing into the normal world. The wall was constantly perfected and strengthened, transformed from a normal wall into a system of impassable technical hindrances of traps, elaborate signals, concrete shooting cells, watchtowers, anti-tank tetrahedrons, “hedgehogs” and self-firing guns, which killed the fugitives without the intervention of the border guards. But the more work, ingenuity, money and steel the communists allocated to the further development of the wall, the clearer it became: human beings can be kept in a totalitarianist society only by impenetrable obstructions, barbed wire, dogs and by shooting in the back. The wall meant that the system which the totalitarians had built attracted no-one. It repelled. | ” |
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| The death strip in between the Berlin Wall(s). The Communist Regime gave explicit orders to shoot and kill attempted defectors. Here, you can see the (now crushed) electric box standing in the middle of the strip. |
"In rural Germany, two men dressed up as a cow - one the head, the other, the ass - and successfully mooed their way across to the west."
- One of the many escape stories told to us by Patrick, our tour guide -
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| Various graffiti on the Berlin Wall |
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| A quick pitstop in Dresden en route to Prague |
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