Visiting Berlin was a bit of a last-minute decision. I’d always wanted to go and it’s only a 3-hour drive from Wroclaw, so we went for it. As we had less than 24 hours in this very cool city, we made the most of our time, knowing we’d have to come back one day and spend more time exploring.

It felt comfortable, more familiar back in a German-speaking country. We could understand people, read the road signs, knew the currency etc. (Czech Republic and Poland don’t use Euros except in some tourist areas)

I’ve always been fascinated, perhaps that’s not the best word, let’s try curious, intrigued, concerned… with world war history, Nazis, Jews, communism, Soviet rule and the Berlin Wall. We studied it a lot at school, especially as part of my German classes. So I was keen to do some more learning of what really went on and perhaps understand a little of what it would have been like for people living in Berlin, Germany and other war-affected countries.

Our first stop was The Memorial to the Murdered Jews. That title alone is awful. We had to line up to see the museum, security checks etc. It was really well presented with lots of different voices, documents, letters, facts and figures of the suffering of the Jewish people (and many other groups) during the war. It was rather overwhelming and scary and just unbelievable, really; what we are capable of as human beings. We all shed some tears.

We also visited the site of Checkpoint Charlie, and did lots of reading there about the time of the separation of East and West Berlin during the Cold War. The wall of shame as some call it. Again very sobering. Did you know it only took a few days to erect the wall, but nearly two years to tear it down?

You can buy a piece of wall from the Berlin Wall museum, which I did. I think it’s a good reminder for me of tough times gone by and to help me appreciate the peace I enjoy in my own life. And perhaps expand my own ‘map of the world’ to grasp a little better what it is / was like for people living during these times.

It was a very colorful wall with tonnes of beautiful paintings, all on the west side as the eastern side were not permitted to paint. It was cool to see that, even in spite of difficult circumstances, art still existed and probably gave people something to dream, hope for, a creative outlet, perhaps a peaceful protest of the bondage of communism.

On a happier note, we found a Bayern Munich fan shop at the Berlin Mall (the biggest mall I’ve ever visited) so the boys were stoked!

I look forward to visiting Berlin again one day.