8 Jun 2009
The Walls
The week in Berlin began with the overnight train from Zurich and ended with a walk along the remnants of the Berlin Wall. I spent the first hours on the train in the dining car sipping wine, watching the country side and then retired to the sleeping car. The next morning I had a delightful breakfast with my cabin-mate, a retired Swiss plumber.
On my first day in Berlin I decided to wander around to orient myself before a week at the IDUG conference and was drawn to a crowd around a bandstand. I was pleasantly surprised to see a large group of cyclists zooming past the finish of the Tour de Berlin. Although there were few recognizable teams, I thoroughly enjoyed mingling with the German cycling crowd and was amazed by some of the Berlin youth with extreme hair, dress and makeup.
My stay in Berlin was marked by the 20th anniversaries of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the rise of Solidarity movement in Poland and the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing. Having visited all three countries, I was struck by the convergence of these events. The Germans celebrate reunification while the Poles seem to struggle with their new economy. The Chinese deny that the Tiananmen Square protests even occurred.
On my final day in Berlin I visited some of the local sites including the Brandenburg Gate, the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie. I was struck by the similarities between the Berlin Wall and the Great Wall in China 
and overheard a tour guide quote President Kennedy, “a wall is a hell of a lot better than a war”. I couldn’t help but think that the Chinese Emperors must have thought something very similar. Has history proved this statement true, do walls really prevent wars? At the Brandenburg Gate, built centuries ago to enforce excise taxes, I saw a large portrait of President Obama at the Kennedy Museum. Does this juxtapositioning signify that it is time to break down the walls that separate us?
As I traced the path of the Berlin Wall past a Jewish war victims memorial and on to Checkpoint Charlie, the current global transitions took on a new meaning. 
The Germans have it right, we should celebrate (re)unification for we are one people sharing one planet with one destiny.
Click here to see my Berlin pictures.
Bon Voyage, Jay
Sorry for being OFFTOPIC … what Word Press theme do you use? It’s looking amazing!
Schnarchen Blog
December 9th, 2009 at 7:36 ampermalink
I use the following theme. I started with v1, but really like what Ed did with v2.
Ocean Mist 2.0 theme is available from TenByTwenty.com | Designed by Ed Merritt 4X.WP.OM.20.EM
Bon Voyage, Jay
GreenWanderer
December 9th, 2009 at 3:44 pmpermalink