Berlin, 2008. Day three. Part deux

So we left off at Hitler's bunker and we walked to the Luftwaffe HQ. But we, of course, had to take note of these crazy giant pumps coming out of the ground. It looked like those connect-y sticks we play with when we're kids. And they're so pretty! Pink and purple! What, praytell, is in those giant pipes? Well, the city's sewage, of course!
Yup, Berlin's built on a swamp so if the city wants to do any work underground (hi, they also have an AWESOME metro), they use the giant pumps to pump that sh*t out, literally.

To the Luftwaffe HQ! The Air Force Headquarters! This urgly building was built for Nazi Luftwaffe and is now the home of... Germany's IRS! Ah yes, this most hated building (former Nazi Air Force HQ-turned GDR center-turned IRS) is now the place where Germans file their taxes. It is also the site of a tribute to...

June 17, 1953.

Praytell, what is the importance of that!? (why do I keep putting the words pray and tell together? )

It's the worker's uprising of 1953! East Germans were mad as WHOA that the government decided to screw them over. I mean, the GDR in 1953 wanted to revamp their system and so they increased production quotas, increase hours in the work week, and did nothing for the workers themselves. So on June 17, Germans went out onto the street in an organized protest of the thousands saying "um, what, this isn't fair." What does the GDR do? You know, they call MotherRussia and hae the Soviets bring in their tanks and the Soviets use force to bring the protest down. It's the first and last organized protest by East Germans agains the GDR until 1989. Interressant. This tribute is set at the Luftwaffe HQ and there is still a mural depicting the awesomeness of communism in the GDR on the wall of the building. (picture on the left is a picture of East Germans protesting. Picture on the right is the mural, obvi)

We followed the ENORMOUS Luftwaffe HQ to the

Berlin Wall.

Holycrow, I have seen the Berlin Wall. For those of you who know how I roll, you know that I'm a HistoryGeek and a Cold War HistoryGeek for SURE. So for me, little ol' Emily, to see the Berlin wall after fanatically studying this time period/society/etc for so long was like history heaven for me, I kid you not.

The wall still stands there. Behind the Wall is the former SS headquarters. I mean, dang.

Aaaaand then we went to Checkpoint Charlie which is the infamous stop in the wall between East and West, between the American sector of Berlin and the East (remember how Berlin was divided into four parts originally!? crazy!) This is, as George told us, sort of the "Disneyland" of Berlin because it's a complete reconstruction of Checkpoint Charlie. A picture of a real US soldier faces to the East and a picture of a Soviet soldier faces West. It was weird as WHAT to see this checkpoint... Weird is the only word I have for that right now... I'll try to come up with something later.

Then we walked through the former Red Light District and Gendarmenmarkt (supposedly the most beautiful plaza in the world).
And we got to Bebelplatz.

I'm freakin' out. I mean Bebelplatz! Ahhhhh! Over 20,000 books were burned here by Nazi students and teachers alike. Now there is a quiet memorial in the center of the Platz... in the ground there's a piece of glass and looking into it, you see empty bookshelves. Across the street is the University and outside of the University there is a book sale (I think) every day. This book sale is a way of commemorating the book burning and a way of giving back, I do believe.

Theeeeeen we get to Neue Wache which is a memorial to war. It is a very simple memorial - a class dome in the ceiling lets light shine down on to a sculpture of a mother holding her child. When it's sunny, the sun shines on it. When it snows, the snow covers the dome, keeping the memorial dark. And when it rains, it looks as if the mother is crying. Powerful.

Just beyond the Neue Wache is the TV Tower that the GDR had built in order to prove their technological strength. Turns out they didn't build it properly so they had Swedes come in and finish the job. Whoops.

We ended our tour on Museum Island.
That's it, folks! No more history lesson for the day!
George finale-d with the fall of the wall, David Hasselhoff, and the crowd cheering in 1989. We clapped and cheered for George, tipped the man, and then bounced OUT because we three (me, EmTrav, and Katie) had a rendez-vous for swing dancing!

Best. Tour. Ever.
Turns out I knew prob like 87% of the information given but I am SO GLAD I went on it. They also have the Third Reich Tour, the Cold War Tour, and a tour of the concentration camp right outside of Berlin. If I get back to Berlin (which I hope I do) I'm going to do one of them because that. Will be awesome.