To Berlin (16 August)

This was a day of much travel. I went to Berlin to see Sister Inga Binte, a former Temple Square sister. The train rides took about 8 hours, but I didn’t mind. I took the RE train 2 ½ hours to Koln, and from there took the ICE train to Berlin (5 hours). The RE train is the slow one that weaves through the countryside and stops in all the little towns. When I was planning what time I should arrive at the train station and find the right train, Jessica told me not to worry: there was one railroad and one train that would come at my allotted time. So we drove down and stopped outside of a tiny town and—oh—there’s the train station in the woods by the stream. The ICE train, on the other hand, is the nice one that travels 150 km per hour and makes fewer stops. It’s more like riding on an airplane because it has comfy seats, a smooth ride, optional refreshments (if you want to pay), etc.

Enough train talk. This was just my longest train experience ever.

Ritter Sport chocolate advertisement in the train station. Pretty cool.

This just made me laugh. Let's make some nice, hot "shmoes" in the true American tradition!

I arrived in Berlin and met up with Marina, Inga’s sister (who doesn’t really speak English, but understood most of what I said). We took the S-Bahn (above-ground metro) and walked to Inga’s work and met up with her. Afterwards, she had to go home and work on some things, so I went out on my own to the Checkpoint Charlie Musuem.

Back up. When I was looking at what I wanted to do in Berlin, I decided that what I really cared about was discovering the unique history of this city. That is why I chose to go to a museum that explains more about the history of the Berlin wall and highlights various ways people escaped from East Berlin. I heard lots of interesting stories and saw awesome photographs and artifacts. There were suitcases and cars that people had hid in to be smuggled across; there were tunnels built, ropes strung between buildings, etc. It really provided a personal look into that time period. And I gained an insight into human nature as I heard about individuals who sacrificed time and time again to help people cross over to freedom. There were also stories of Soviet guards who didn’t feel good about the wall and would purposely miss when shooting at an escapee. I was also impressed with the artwork there because it highlighted Berliners’ feelings toward the separation.

I walked along where the wall used to be for a bit. The “wall” was actually not just a wall—it was an area of land several meters thick. It included a barbed wire fence, an empty area with security towers in it, and a stone wall. Oftentimes there was also a canal with spiked metal grates that would prevent people from swimming through (although some still managed).

Then I took the metro and a bus to Inga’s apartment. Call me city-girl—I was pretty pleased I made it successfully. Inga has been working on moving into her one-person apartment. It’s most common here for young adults to move completely out and on their own, not keeping one foot at home like I do when I’m at school (or right now when ALL of my stuff except for one suitcase-full is at home). So she was happy to have me because it can get kinda lonely.

Inga works at Dominoes. She got me the best Dominoes pizza I've ever had.

Checkpoint Charlie was on this street (the one I'm standing on to take the picture). 

There are wall markers throughout the city. I just thought my foot could be included as proof that I was there, you know.

In true missionary style, we made plans for the next day and then went to bed at a reasonable hour.