On the hallowed grounds of the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial rest 9,387 Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice during the Operation Overlord landings and ensuing battles in the Allied liberation of France. Set high on a bluff above the Omaha Beachhead in Colleville-sur-Mer, France, it is one of the best-known military cemeteries and memorials in the world.

Part III of the series begins with a long coach ride from the riverboat AmaLyra’s docking to the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. Our guide explained that we would walk the cemetery alone, for she never accompanies tour groups in fear of endless bouts of tears. This I soon understood, as I paid witness to the many Latin Crosses and Star of David markers on the cemetery’s lawn. The government of France granted use of the land to the United States, perpetually, free of charge or tax to honor the Allied forces. U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and French President René Coty dedicated the cemetery on July 18, 1956.

Elizabeth A. Richardson’s life began in Indiana, then moved on to college and career in Wisconsin, finishing with the American Red Cross in England and France in 1945. Her job was to lift the morale of GIs in rural Britain, providing food, entertainment and “a connection to home.” This was done by the use of “Clubmobiles”: single-decked buses, barely large enough to transport three Red Cross women and one British driver to GIs stationed far away in the countryside. This unique vehicle also contained coffee and doughnut-making equipment, chewing gum, cigarettes, magazines, newspapers, and a record player for popular songs and dance. The Red Cross “Clubmobileists” were well-schooled in the use of GI slang; could “dish it out and take it,” knew how to talk about baseball, Duke Ellington and the Coney Island Hot Dog. They also knew how to look at pictures of wives, families and girlfriends, and patiently listen to personal stories, which may have included sad news from home. The American Red Cross “Clubmobile” women were often referred to as “donut dollies.” When passing a truckload of GIs, a popular exchange was, “Hey, soldier, what’s cooking tonight?” The soldiers would shout back, “Chicken, wanna neck?” Elizabeth A. Richardson’s life ended in a plane crash to Paris.

As I left the cemetery, I accessed my phone and discovered that as many as 4,400 Allied troops, along with approximately the same number of French civilians, died during Operation Overlord on the day of June 6, 1944.

A decision was to be made: a self-guided tour of the Musée Mémorial d’Omaha Beach or visit the Nazi Wehrmacht (“defense power”)  bunkers overlooking Omaha Beach. With only an hour and a half, it would be difficult to do justice to them both. But, after a brief moment of hesitation, I realized that my decision was obvious.

In the wave of thousands of landing ships, more than 156,000 Allied infantrymen stormed five Normandy beaches – Juno, Gold, Sword, Utah and Omaha – spread over 50 miles of blood-soaked terrain. Facing them were around 50,000 German soldiers. Like the “Battle of Okinawa” and “Invasion of the Philippines,” it was among the largest amphibious assaults in modern history.

On Omaha itself, Americans suffered 2,400 casualties, but eventually landed 34,000 troops. The German 352nd Division lost 20 percent of its strength, with 1,200 casualties, and also had problems with reserves arriving in support. The French Resistance and the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a secret British organization, had provided accurate intelligence reports and aerial photography as well as the disruption of German supply and communication lines.

So, with facts and stats in my head, I charged over to the bunkers, and took a harmless spill on its hill, which produced no laughter from the slightly older AmaLyra tour group, whose only concern was of my well-being. But my concern was to enter a bunker and see the Wehrmacht soldiers’ viewpoint of Allied troops on Omaha’s beachhead. My mind raced to images of Allied soldiers landing on the bloody-soaked beaches, doing everything in their power to stay alive, help the wounded, let alone fight. I also thought of conscripted adolescent German soldiers, barely old enough to fire a weapon, trembling, desperately trying to hold back tears. My thoughts then wandered to the words of my Marine Corp father, who had experienced his own World War II D-Days in the “Battle of Okinawa” and “Battle of Iwo Jima”: “No one wins in war, Eddie… it’s only the little guy that gets hurt. We should ask all those flag wavers in Washington DC, if they’re willing to sacrifice the lives of their own children.”

Yet, today, I’ve noticed there are some who have never experienced warfare, regard a battle as it was hardly more than a video game, while for others – my next-door neighbor, who lost a leg in Vietnam, or my two cousins, one who became a Quaker, the other who eventually found piece in Buddhism – it is quite literally a matter of life and death.

African-American soldiers accounted for a still unknown number of deaths among the 2,000 black troops who stormed the Omaha and Utah beachheads on D-Day. While portrayals in film and literature often depict all-white troops, African-Americans fought not only Nazi German weaponry, but also segregation in the military and at home. Waverly Bernard “Woody” Woodson, Jr. was a medic in the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion when his landing craft hit a mine on its way to Omaha Beach. Woodson was wounded in the back and groin, but still spent 30 hours on the beach, reviving soldiers, resetting broken bones, performing amputations, removing bullets and shrapnel before collapsing from his own wounds. By the end of World War II, more than a million African-Americans were in uniform, but when many returned to their homes in the Jim Crow South, they were not regarded as heroes; often segregated from others, denied admittance to restaurants and movie theaters, and forced to sit in the back of buses, while still in uniform, as their white band of brothers sat in the front. In 1994, Waverly Bernard “Woody” Woodson, Jr. was one of the three veterans invited to visit Normandy by the French government to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the D-Day landings. He was presented with a commemorative medallion.

As my photographer and I left the bunkers, we hurried past our tearless guide, who shouted we only had ten minutes left to access the tour bus. “What should we do?” “Run,” she replied. Nevertheless, we decided to run into the engaging Musée Mémorial d’Omaha Beach for a cursory look at its collection of soldiers’ personnel objects, historic documents, archival photographs, vehicles, uniforms and weapons, and a peek at a 25 minute-documentary film. We swore that somehow, someday, we will return for full solid day.

Our bus arrived at a small village for a closer look at Omaha Beach. In our 30 minutes, I noticed the lines at an ice cream vendor, and understood that this was also a vacation for many. I realized I was on holiday, too; as my photographer and I sipped cappuccino on a restaurant’s deck, gazing at  the beach, imagining the U.S. troops’ landings and the horrors they faced.

Julius “Henry” Pieper and Ludwig “Louie” Pieper did everything together. They were identical twin brothers of German immigrant parents, the first twins to graduate from their Nebraska high school, and then went on to work for the Burlington Railroad together. When they enlistment with the Navy, underage, but with parents’ consent, they were informed that they would be separated, but their father appealed and made a special request. “My sons came into this world together, and they should have the right to fight and die together.” And when their vessel hit a German mine at Utah Beach, they perished together at 19-years-old in the LST-523’s radio control room. But then, they were apart. Louie Pieper’s body was found and buried at the Normandy American Cemetery, but Henry’s body, known only as “X-9352,” was not identified until 74 years later due to the help of Vanessa Taylor. Ms. Taylor was a student at Ainsworth High School in Nebraska, who had been looking for a topic for a class project. “We were supposed to select a silent hero from our state. I just happened to notice there were two people killed who had the same exact last name.” She made a request to the U.S. Government for personnel files on the two sailors which caught the attention of officials at the Defense POW-MIA Accounting Agency. Henry’s body was recognized by his dental records and DNA. The Pieper boys were given the Victory Medal and the Purple Heart. Inseparable in birth, in life and in death, and finally reunited. Otto and Anna Pieper received a letter from the brothers only two days before their deaths: “Do not worry about us. We are together.”

As we began our long journey back to the AmaLyra, we passed through a number of small French villages; national flags waved proudly in the sky. It was quiet on the bus. Perhaps we all felt a sense of reverance for the nations who had suffered and sacrificed; no doubt as the French did, too, and still pay homage to the Allied soldiers on this bloody day, a bloody day that time will never forget.

A member of the Coeur d’Alene Schi_tsu’umsh Tribe, U.S. Army PVT Charles K. Louie was one of the 175 American-Indian soldiers who participated in Operation Overlord. As part of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, he was killed in mid-air in the pre-dawn hours of D-Day during the paratroopers’ descent behind enemy lines. A combination of low clouds and anti-aircraft fire caused the break-up of the air armada’s formations, scattering paratroopers throughout the pitch-black sky. The name of U.S. Army PVT. Charles K. Louie is listed on the WWII Honor Roll and on the tablets of the missing at the Normandy American Cemetery, with the distinction that he was awarded the Bronze Star and a Purpleheart. As many as 25,000 American-Indians fought actively in World War II: 21,767 in the Army, 1,910 in the Navy, 874 in the Marines, 121 in the Coast Guard, and several hundred nurses. There is a deep sense of patriotism among many of the tribal nations, a belief that despite genocide, broken treaties, and the savage Anglo-American attacks of their tribes, that the United States can still be a better place for all.

As I returned to my stateroom on the AmaLyra, I slipped into a dream, and imagined the sound of D-Day Clickers. Clickers were used by the American paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, who made parachute drops behind enemy lines on the blackened eve of Operation Overlord’s D-Day. Many perished in the sky or drowned in the flooded marshlands below, but those who landed safely, would make a single click, and waited to hear two clicks back, to determine if friend or foe. When I accessed mine, I noticed two clicks back.

Postscript:

The French Resistance, estimated at 500,000 men and women, carried out endless acts of sabotage against the Axis occupiers. Created by the French Communist Party in 1939, the French Resistance was made up of citizens. And, like other anti-fascist partisans, they were not protected by the rules of war. More than 90,000 French Resisters were killed, tortured or deported. But, after four years of occupation, the French Resistance staged an uprising against the German garrison in Paris, which led to the city’s liberation on August 25, 1944. Allied troops were soon to follow.

The Allies became a formalized group upon the Declaration by United Nations on January 1, 1942, which was signed by 26 nations, including governments in exile and small nations far removed from the war. Latinos from the Americas, led the Allied Western European pack with the largest number of troops in service at 16,000,000.

America First and Seven Hours in December

The U.S. was a late entry in WW II due to a pressure campaign by the America First Committe – its name taken from a Ku Klux Klan rally – whose isolationist policy included no intervention in foreign wars and virtually no immigration from non-Anglo-Saxon nations. With Charles Lindberg as their spokesperson, and members who embraced anti-Semitism and fascist sympathies among their ranks, many admired Hitler and some considered him a friend. Lindberg wore a German medal given to him by Luftwaffe Commander-in-Chief, Herman Goering, then number two man in the Nazi chain of command. The America First’s intensified campaign against sanctions dramatically impacted the U.S. Government’s policy to such an extent that the ocean liner St. Louis, whose 937 passengers were almost all Jewish children seeking safety, was turned back to Europe where many would face certain death.

a prevailing sentiment among the America First nationalists was that British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and world Jewry had caused WW II, not Nazi Germany. The America First nationalists vehemently oppose the Lend-Lease Act of 1941, which stated that the U.S. could lend or lease war supplies to any nation deemed “vital to the defense of the United States.” Under this policy, the U.S. was able to supply aid to Great Britain, while still remaining officially neutral. Once this was achieved, Churchill knew that Nazi Germany would be defeated. The U.S. finally joined the military campaign after the Western Allies had been engaged in warfare with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy for 27-months. It took the surprise, coordinated seven-hour aerial bombings on December 7, 1941 by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service on the U.S. territories of the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island and Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor for the U.S. to act. And act they did, sending a combined number of 16,112,566 American troops to Western Europe, North Africa and the Pacific.

Sad as it may sound

Despite my reluctance to use the term, “fake news,” I found the concept of “D-Day Dodgers” to be a particularly disturbing example. A “D-Day Dodger” was a name branded on Allied troops who supposedly avoided combat on Operation Overlord’s D-Day. The label was put forth by the press to an ignorant populace, unaware that there were many Allied troops who had already participated in earlier D-Days. Many were killed or wounded in the invasion of Sicily, followed by the D-Day beachheads on the Italian mainland with Anzio, Salerno, Calabria and Taranto. On the Western Front of World War II, the battles in Italy proved to the most devastating campaigns in casualties, suffered by infantry divisions on both sides. Over 150,000 Italian civilians died, as well as 35,828 anti-fascist partisans.

I encourage you to read T-Boy’s Stephen Brewer’s illuminating article which covers the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery: At Rest in Italy.

Honor the served & fallen, and teach the next generation

“The War” is a seven-part documentary mini-series which focuses on WW II from the perspective of people living in America’s towns. Directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, and written by Geoffrey Ward, the inspiration for the series stemmed from a lecture Ken Burns made at a U.S. high school. He was surprised that many of the students knew very little about WW II, with some believing that the war was fought against the Soviet Union; our ally who lost 28 million Red Army soldiers and civilians on the Eastern Front,  yet also accounted for 76 percent of Germany’s military dead. It was the beginning of the end after the Red Army’s defeat of the German army in the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943, which continued on the Western Front with the Allied battles at Sicily, Anzio, the Battle of the Bulge, far too many to list.

And, with the Red Army at Berlin’s doorsteps, Hitler, now hidden in his bunker, issued his infamous Nero Decree for the complete destruction of Berlin, leaving no trace that a city had ever existed; also aimed to punish the German people for losing the war. Due to breakdown of communication lines or to the refusal of his generals, it was a command that was never met. Days later Hitler would take his own life. The Red Army soon poured into Berlin, leaving the Volkssturm, Germany‘s citizen army of children and old men to defend what was left of the city. But no one could stop the sheer force of the Red Army’s numbers, and Germany would officially surrender after the Soviet Union victory at the Battle of Berlin (May 2, 1945),

V-E Day celebrations erupted around the globe, but U.S. President Harry S. Truman reminded us that there was a V-J Day that still needed to come.   

Related Articles

• See Part I: Down the Seine to Normandy: Seven Days on the AmaLyra
• See Part II: Monet in Giverny: Down the Seine to Normandy on the AmaLyra
• Stay Tuned for part IV where Ed Boitano writes and Deb Roskamp photographs, The Long Week on the Seiene closes: The royal residence at Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France’s Musée d’Archéologie, and the final night on the riverboat AmaLyra.

The post From Monet Gardens to Gardens of Stone: Seven Days on the AmaLyra, Part III. appeared first on Traveling Archive.

My wife Brigitte, and our two daughters Michelle and Heidi, were part of the crowd at the base of the Kehlsteinhaus (more commonly known as the Eagle’s Nest in English-speaking countries) which was a Third Reich-era building erected atop the summit of the Kehlstein, a rocky outcrop that rises above the Obersalzberg near the town of Berchtesgaden, Germany.

As a longtime military aficionado, and having suffered under the Nazi bombing of my home in London in WW2, I’d frequently wondered about the Eagle’s Nest and how one actually got there. My knowledge was minimal and consisted of such facts as I knew it was used exclusively by members of the Nazi Party for government and social meetings.

Consequently I was delighted when a guide we encountered was, thank goodness, a talkative type, and I listened in rapt attention when he told us that Hitler had an everlasting fear of heights (wow, THAT was news to me!) and because the “Nest” was situated 6,017 feet from ground level, he’d only visited 14 times. Getting up there was, well, equally spellbinding – at least to me: I seriously doubted our two children were as thrilled as I was by how we got up there.

Just before we began our journey to the “Nest” itself, we stopped at a Kitschy sort of Gift Shop at the base of the mountain and purchased one of the outrageous hats on display. Curiously, there were no postcards of the place nor even the surroundings, but as we visited in the late 1980s I feel sure that now in 2019, gift shops are everywhere, with all hawking every kind of souvenir under the sun.

Getting to the top is by bus, and it travels along the one lane 4 mile road that circles around the mountain to the summit. At exactly the same time that our bus departed, another at the top left for the journey down and, typical for the Germans’, they both meet in the middle at the same time – where the “Down Bus” moved into a small turnout so our bus could continue upwards. Once you get THERE, you’ll see the entrance to a tunnel which leads to an elevator. As you enter the brick walled passageway it is eerily quiet and almost dark, and it reminded me of a scary Halloween ride I’d once taken. The walls (at least when we visited) appeared to be damp and glistened with droplets of water. It was right at that moment when it hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks: Hitler had personally walked the very same passageway where I was now walking. It was chilling and yes, creepy, to acknowledge – instantly – WHERE one was, and WHO had trod this hallway all those decades ago.

This weirdness and indeed even fearfulness, was heightened as we entered the interior of an ornate gold hued, polished brass elevator where all 4 sides were Venetian mirrors encased in green leather. The apprehension one felt only increased when the elevator operator, in a very melodramatic voice said “This is THE elevator that Hitler used each time he came here.” He paused, then, almost whispering said, “Nothing has been changed.” It’s only a brief ride as it ascends the 407 feet to the top. We were informed that the Eagle’s Nest project took 13 months to build in the late 1930s during which 12 workers had died. The site is now a restaurant, beer garden and, of course, tourist site. Needless to say, the awesome scenic views of the surrounding mountainous scenery, are stunning.

In April, 1945 a fleet of British RAF bombers went there to obliterate everything as it was rumored that Hitler was hiding there. He wasn’t. However, due to the problem of distinguishing the ACTUAL target, the only thing demolished was the Berghof area. Given the infamy of the place there’s always been some controversy as to which of the Allies FIRST reached it. Among those claiming to have been first, were various units of the US Army; a French Armored division; and even some Spanish soldiers. My lengthy research indicates it was the US 101^st Airborne who were the first to get into the Kehlsteinhaus, and the town of Berchtesgaden. Either way, visiting THIS historic site was one of my all-time most fascinating experiences. I hope you too will find time to visit. CONTACT John:

jd******@gm***.com

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My mind raced back to a recent trip to Poland, where I learned that there were a number reasons why the Wall fell and the Soviet Union collapsed, but many would, indeed, point to Pope John Paul ll, a supporter of the anti-communist Solidarity, and his commanding words to the Polish people: “Do not be afraid,” which gave the devoutly Catholic nation courage to stand-up up the Soviet Union, eventually leading to its break from communism. As I continued to listen attentively to my Berlin cabbie, it occurred to me that no city had a greater impact on the 20th Century than Berlin. The centerpiece of two world wars and the epicenter of the Cold War, everything seemed to happen in Berlin.

Hitler and WWII

When the International Depression hit this nation in transition, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party were growing in popularity and poised to take control. The ageing president, Paul von Hindenburg, detested Hitler, dismissing him as ‘that Bohemian corporal’ with a bad Austrian accent. But he appointed Hitler as the chancellor of the liberal Weimar Republic, basically throwing him a bone, with the plan of pacifying his lust for power. Upon the death of Hindenburg, however, Hitler seized the presidency, combining it with his position as chancellor. The Nazis never liked Berlin, and it took them a long time to bring the city to succumb to their control. Berlin eventually became a Nazi showplace, while the real heart of Nazism was in the conservative city of Bavaria’s Munich. Considered the Texas of Germany, Hitler would stand on tables in beer halls, screaming his disturbing jingoistic speeches to drunken patrons about German racial superiority and the creation of a master race. Hitler became the absolute dictator of Germany, which led to the Second World War and the deaths of nearly 50 million people.

By the end of World War ll, over half the buildings in Berlin were destroyed by Allied bombings. “Rubble Women” (Trümmerfrauen) cleared away mammoth piles of rubble, eventually creating little grassy hills, giving the flat-as-a-pancake Prussia on the Plains, whose splendor has always been defined by its rivers, bridges, parks and architecture, a little beautified elevation. After the war, the city was divided into two, with East Berlin the capital of the communist German Democratic Republic, while West Berlin became an island in the capitalistic West of the Federal Republic of Germany, surrounded by the 1961-1989 Berlin Wall. When the wall fell, followed by reunification, Berlin soon became the capital city of the new Federal Republic of Germany. It’s hard to believe that it was almost four years ago that I attended the monumental 25 Years After the Fall of the Wall celebration in Berlin, with the emotive theme: To live in a world without walls.

The Roaring Twenties

As the cab headed to my hotel, I could see the stunning urban development of Potsdamer Platz –  once the former “no man’s land” (kill zone) between the walls –  but soon I could also see the preservation of Prussian, Weimar Republic and communist era architecture. I thought of a time machine which would transport me back to Berlin in the Roaring Twenties.  Due to the new Weimar Republic, Berlin in the 20s experienced a stunning period of great change and cultural upheaval. The liberal republic had a tremendous attraction for artists, with hundreds of thousands of immigrants arriving, bringing with them new artistic ideas. Berlin had more theaters than New York and more daily newspapers than London. The names of Bertolt Brecht, Max Reinhardt and Kurt Weill dominated the world of theatre, while UFA Film Company produced the films of F.W. Murnau, Fritz Lang and Ernst Lubitsch. Dadaism came to life in Berlin, as well as the German Impressionism of Max Liebermann. The 20s also brought the decadent nightlife of seamy bars, cafés and cabarets, 100,000 prostitutes, and not so secret sex clubs for all tastes. Greater Berlin in the 20s had almost four million inhabitants and became the cultural center of the world.

Berlin Today –  No Longer “City of the Wall”

When the wall fell in 1989 and reunification took place, East Berliners poured into the affluent West (a showplace for Western capitalist values) for the new freedom and opportunities, leaving some of the East abandoned. The Kreuzberg District had been the center of western-style counter-culture when the West was an enclave, but now artists were hurrying back into the East, with Berlin experiencing a cultural and artistic vibrancy similar to that of the Roaring Twenties. As I explored the East’s Kiezes (neighborhoods), I saw forward-thinking artist communities and squatter communes. Art and fashion was starting right on the streets, demonstrated by locals with their direct Berliner Schnauz (in-your-face) attitude. Berlin soon become one of the most important cultural centers in Europe, and now just behind Paris and London as a tourist destination. Today, there still seems to be a cultural divide between the cutting edge, artist-driven East and the ultra-hip, high-fashion West, but this dichotomy is one of the reasons that the city is so alive. Quite simply, Berlin is my favorite city on the globe.

Into the Former East – My Selected Highlights

GDR Museum: The museum focuses on everyday life behind the Iron Curtain, and includes such exhibits as a Trabant Car (The GDR’s answer to West Germany’s Volkswagen) original furnishings, home accessories and food items.

Museum Island, the name of an island in the River Spree, consists of five epic museums which collectively are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located on the original settlement of Berlin, some of the buildings were severely damaged during World War II and have been reconstructed. From classical antiquities to collections belonging to King Frederick William IV of Prussia, each building can be a full-day commitment. What can’t be missed is the Pergamon Museum, which hosts original-size, reconstructed monumental buildings such as the Pergamon Altar. While the Pergamon Altar is currently closed to the public due to restoration work, this fascinating 360-degree panorama by artist Yadegar Asisi will offer an emotional glance of what the ancient city of Pergamon would have looked like. Set in a specially designed temporary exhibition space of approximately 1000 m2, Asisi’s Panorama will create an immersive visual effect to be experienced in conjunction with 80 classical sculptures and nine multimedia visualizations of the Pergamon Altar. Constructed specially to house the Altar, the Pergamon Museum is Berlin’s most popular museum, attracting over one million visitors a year. The restoration work for the entire project, which began in 2013, is presently scheduled for completion in 2025–2026. The rooms in the southern wing of the museum, with the Ishtar Gate and Processional Way, the Roman Market Gate of Miletus, and the Museum of Islamic Art, continue to remain open.

Friedrichstrasse, once Berlin’s most legendary shopping street, has enjoyed a Renaissance and is once again the home of elegant stores and boutiques.

STASI Museum: Modeled after the KGB, the Stasi was the GDR’s infamous secret police. Located in house # 1 of the terrifying former central complex of the Ministry of State Security, the museum showcases original offices, as well as diverse aspects of the political system and the opposition against it.

Berliner Dom is where the Prussian Royal Family came to worship and be buried. Nestled on the edge of Museum Island, a copper dome tops the magnificent cathedral. There’s also a staircase that leads to a viewing room, offering views of the central district. Look closely and you can still see Red Army bullet holes on its façade. In the former East, everything is preserved, while in the West, the period of 1932 – 1945 has been wiped off the earth, including that era in children’s history books.

East Side Gallery: This is the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall, decorated by 118 artists from 21 countries. Watching millennials play sports beside it, I thought of Ken Burns’ lecture to U.S. high school where he was stunned to find that most students thought WWll was fought between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, which led him to make the documentary, ‘War.’ The cynic in me wondered if the kids and millennials were unaware of Berlin’s past, too.

Gendarmarkt is considered by many as the most beautiful square in Germany. It features a concert hall and the German and French Cathedrals. Its Christmas market is one of the best in the world.

Wall Museum & Black Box at Checkpoint Charlie: The museum at Checkpoint Charlie features the Cold War, re-construction of the Wall, and the fight for human rights. Also located at Checkpoint Charlie, the Black Box informs the public about the history of the famous former border crossing point and the Cold War. This is the crossing where U.S. and Soviet tanks faced off for 16 hours in 1961 almost creating a third world war. Checkpoint Charlie can be touristic, but is still worth a visit.

Palace of Tears: Situated at a former border crossing station, the museum helps visitors understand the border experience and the steps toward reunification.

FOR A TASTE OF NOSTALGIA there’s an array of Ostalgie restaurants (combination of the German words for east and nostalgia) in the East, allowing diners to experience the food of the former DDR, complete with period utensils, furniture, posters and paintings. East German meals were often born out of necessity due to ingredient restrictions, so expect roasted pork, potatoes, pork knuckles with sauerkraut and meatballs. You know, the type of meals that only a Mutti could make. I once had an order of pork which was rather tough and grizzly, but absolutely enjoyed its authenticity. And there’s still plenty of street food such as mammoth pretzels and döner kebaps, with has surpassed currywurst, as the #1 food item in Berlin, both compliments of Turkish guest workers. Like an English Tea, coffee and cake is still a late afternoon tradition, but now generally served on the weekends. There are a number of cutting edge restaurants who offer vegetarian meals – there’s even a currywurst stand that is vegetarian – and re-imagined traditional Berlin and international dishes. And, of course,  beer (brewed according to the Reinheitsgebot German Purity Law, which permits only water, hops, and malt as ingredients), wine and spirits, and there is no last call!

Here’s a fun article, courtesy Natalia Buitrago Gomez of All The Rooms: The Best Way to Spend Two Days in Berlin.

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