September 12, 2024

September 12, 2024

This morning we checked out of our Leipzig hotel and hopped on a train north. Our $49 German pass allows us to use any train or bus, as long as it is not an express train. It is an absolute steal compared to an unrestricted Eurail Pass that costs $2000 for a month. No wonder German trains are breaking down frequently for lack of maintenance funds.

We disembarked at the little town of Wittenberg and dropped our luggage in a locker. Wittenberg sits on the Elbe River downstream from Dresden and was the capital of Saxony before Dresden. We walked into the town center stopping at the castle. The attached castle church is a World Heritage site because in 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on its door setting off the Reformation. The ensuing religious wars killed millions, one of every three Germans. The original door is long gone but has been replaced by a bronze version with permanent Theses. We toured the church seeing Luther’s grave along with that of his little-known partner-in-crime Philipp Melanchthon. Luther’s Reformation survived being crushed by the powerful Catholic Church because he was protected by the reigning Wettin Dynasty Saxon king.

After a quick Bratwurst lunch, we toured Luther’s parish church of St. Mary sitting off Market Square. It is the site of the first Protestant service and where Luther often preached. There is a big statue of him in the center of the plaza.

After this quick stopover, we took a train headed northeast. Ninety minutes later we got off in Berlin and rode the subway to our accommodations. Berlin is our splurge hotel location for the trip. And what a view we have from our balcony of Deutscher Dom Cathedral and Gendarmenmarkt, the most beautiful square in Berlin. Too bad there is construction going on at the base.

I visited Berlin 40 years ago and took a one day trip across the Berlin Wall into East Berlin. It was eye-opening and I have been anxious to return and see how the city has changed. Checkpoint Charlie where I crossed on foot past opposing guards is now a tourist attraction in the middle of a street. You have to dodge speeding cars to take a photo. Checkpoints Alpha and Bravo were the crossing points for drivers from West Germany.

Potsdamer Platz 1984

A few blocks further west in Potsdamer Platz was an observation deck I climbed to take this photo peering over the wall into the no-man’s-land between the two wall layers.

Potsdamer Platz 2024

The same view today is now unrecognizable. The wall is gone; only a brick line in the pavement shows the prior location. The modern Mall of Berlin fills the former kill zone. I never thought the Wall would fall during my lifetime.

A few blocks north is a sign indicating where Hitler’s Bunker was located. He committed suicide here in the final days of WWII. Interestingly I got into a discussion with several Brits my age who grew up on Jersey, one of the Channel Islands. They told me it was occupied by the Germans during the War. The island is still full of bunkers and they all have discarded Nazi military equipment.

I got a pleasant surprise a few more blocks north. We turned the corner and ran into the Brandenburg Gate. Forty years ago, it was the border, unreachable, between the walls, and stained dark with grime. Today it is wide open, gleaming, and again the icon of the city.

We walked a little bit of the grand tree-lined Unter den Linden boulevard past the US and Russian Embassies.

Happy with our quick lay-of-the-land tour, we found a Spanish Tapas restaurant for dinner. Having some tasty Spanish wine instead of beer was a nice change of pace.