Berlin

Brandenburg Gate

We arrived in Berlin over five weeks ago so I guess it’s time to write something about our stay! 

Although we’ve been to many parts of Germany in the past, this was our first time in Berlin…long overdue.  We found it to be a fascinating City, an interesting mixture of old and new and sometimes a mixture of the two at the same time. 

The modern Dome on the Reichstag may seem odd to some but I think it works!  Out of the ashes of WWII and the years of a divided Germany, the new and modern Germany rises out of the old Reichstag building….becoming a symbol of today!  The juxtaposition of the old and new reminds me of the I.M. Pei pyramid entrance to the Louvre in Paris – disliked by some but admired by many.  Over time the Pyramid has grown on me. After all, Parisians hated the Eiffel Tower at first and the Centre Pompidou had many more detractors in the past than today.  Sometimes architecture is ahead of its time. 

Thanks to Rick Steves’ book on Berlin we learned about reserving a time to visit the Reichstag Dome.  It is very easy on-line but I recommend doing this early – I made the reservation about a month in advance.  It was very nice walking past the long lines trying to get a cancellation for that day or a ticket for the future.  Since we were in Berlin the last week of August, it was still very crowded with tourists.

  

The views of Berlin from the Dome are fabulous.  We took our time walking up the spiraling ramp to the top viewing area of the Dome because we kept seeing interesting reflections and views that begged for picture taking!   We think this is a “must see” when in Berlin. 

There is always controversy – especially on Trip Advisor – about taking a Hop-On-Hop Off bus.  But, we almost always take one on our first day in a new City.  Yes – they are full of tourists and yes – the commentary can be less than ideal…sometimes hokey.  However, these buses give us a quick overview of the main tourist areas and I can build my “mental map” of the city we’re visiting. 

I found the English commentary good, in fact, quite funny at times.  It featured two men talking – one with a British accent and the other with an American.  There were many biting comments about both the Nazi and Communist eras.  The statue of Marx and Engels is an example.  They mentioned that the two were called the Pensioners during the Communist days.  They are sitting on or standing by narrow rectangular “boxes.” The commentary mentioned that the East Berliners joked that these were actually suitcases and Marx and Engels were waiting to emigrate. 

Marx and Engels - The Pensioners waiting to emigrate from the Old East Berlin

On Trip Advisor there were many recommendations for bus 100 as a DIY hop-on-hop-off – (Rich Steves mentions it too.) We took this bus one day and ended up standing the entire time – I think everyone read the same entry on TA or bought Rick’s book!  (In 2008, we were sitting in a café in Montepulciano, Italy when I started counting how many people walked by carrying either Rick Steves’ Tuscany or Italy books!!  He must be doing well – but we do like his recommendations and his off-beat humor.)

View from the Hop-On-Hop Off Bus

Check :Point Charlie

Even though it was still the busy tourist season, we easily got good seats on the open top deck.  We also find the top to be a great place for pictures because you are “up in the air.”   We took the 1.5 hour trip around almost twice and then got off at Gendarmenmarkt, considered to be one the most beautiful squares in Europe.  The German and French (Huguenot) Churches and the Konzerthaus are on the square – but there was another very important reason for getting off here.  The most famous chocolate shop in Berlin, Fassbender and Rausch, is on the edge of the square!  Of course, we had to go. Our extensive study of hot chocolate demanded it.    We had wonderful hot chocolate and pastries in the second floor restaurant – Schokoladen-Café and we then HAD to “tour” the amazing chocolate shop on the first floor.  From here we took the U-Bahn back to our apartment.

This brings me to transportation in Berlin.  It is a well integrated system of buses, metro, and trams.  We used all during our stay.  There are various options – day passes, books of tickets, and passes for longer periods.  It was a little difficult figuring out at first but if you are used to urban transportation systems, it is not any worse than others.  We loved the trams which run, primarily, in the old East Berlin.

Tegel Airport is not far from the City but is quite old and antiquated.  The new airport for Berlin, Brandenburg, is a local joke.  It is now €5 billion over-budget and four years behind schedule as of now.  The latest we heard while in Berlin was that it may not open until 2016. This seems to be contrary to the reputation of German efficiency. 

We took a car service from Tegel to our apartment – first time we have done this.  In Germany, they have a relatively new service – My Driver– a division of the Sixt Car Rental Company.  The reason we used this is that we were getting into Berlin early in the morning and we could book this on-line and pay by credit card in advance.  Like Uber, the service includes tax, tip, luggage, and airport extras.  We took the service back to the airport because we had to leave the apartment by 5am on a Saturday and did not want to be standing on the sidewalk wondering if the taxi would show up. It was not much more than a taxi and having someone standing at the exit of customs with our name on a sign was welcome sight after a long transatlantic flight. 

Our apartment was another from Vacation Rentals by Owner.  It was a very modern, large studio with everything we needed for a short four night stay.  It was near U-Bahn and Tram service and was in the old East Berlin. The street we were on was interesting.  There were many old buildings – most were repainted and in good shape.  There were a few that looked derelict.  Sidewalks were not in good shape something we found in many parts of this section of the City – which surprised us some.  (Old City Managers always look at infrastructure – it’s an occupational hazard!)  To get to our apartment, we had to go through a wide gate that fronted on the street.  This opened onto a large inner courtyard with several mid-rise apartment buildings with very modern architecture.  It was a different world behind the old facades that fronted on the street. 

Because our first day was dedicated to jet lag recovery, we really only ended up with three days in Berlin.  We never made it to any of the world-famous museums…so there is plenty to do on a return visit!    

The Champagne Region…Not Just About Bubbly!

Verdun National Cemetery

We have visited the Champagne Region several times, stopping to tour the Champagne Vintners in Epernay, admiring the great Cathedrals in Reims and Troyes, buzzing by on the A4 on our way to the east of France, driving leisurely through the miles of vineyards.  Before this trip, my memories were mostly of Champagne caves, learning about the process of making the bubbly – from pressing to riddling to disgorging the sediment and,….of course, tasting. 

This trip we saw the more somber side of the Region – the side that is tragic – the side that is a reminder of the ravages of modern warfare – the side that requires reflecting and remembering.  WWI (1914 -18 War as it is often called in France) left its impact on the Champagne Region, an impact that is quite visible even today.  Military cemeteries are everywhere – French, German, Russian, and many in combination.  Memorials dot the area in the middle of fields, on lone hills, in villages large and small. 

Memorial of Navarin - In the Middle of a Field in the Marne Region

Not only is this the 100^th anniversary of the start of WWI in Europe but it is the 70^th anniversary of D-Day and the liberation of Paris from Nazi occupation. There have been many television programs, exhibits, and articles on these events. Throughout France there are memorials to the sons of the village who died in WWI and WWII.  Reminders of war are never far from you in France, but especially in Champagne because the front moved back and forth over the four plus years of the war – trench warfare was born in WWI and was prominent in Champagne.

We visited the Verdun Battle site.  Eight villages on the battlefield were not rebuilt after the War – several have markers to locate the streets and buildings of the destroyed villages – as memorials. The village of Fleury, for example, changed hands 16 times during the fighting. 

The battle of Verdun lasted for 300 days in an area of less than 8 square miles. 230,000 French and German soldiers died.  130,000 were not identified and are buried in a common Ossuary.  I visited the Ossuary in 1971 – it made a lasting impression and this visit reinforced those feelings. 

Ossuary - 130,000 Unknown Soldiers 

Many French Colonial Troops were Muslim

We also visited the memorial Tranchée des Baionnettes – Trench of the Bayonets, another site that will make a lasting impression.  A Company of the French 137^th Infantry Regiment had been decimated by German shelling.  The remainder of the Company had been placed in exposed trenches to fend off the attack.  Not until after the War did they discover the fate of the Company.   A trench was found completely filled in with only a row of rusting riles and bayonets protruding through the earth with a body under each.

Memorial to the Trench of the Bayonets

The Line of Bayonets 

Although casualty statistics are still in dispute, the scale of the bloodshed in WWI is not in doubt:  Russia 1.7 million combat deaths: France 1.35 million; British Empire 900,000; Germany 1.77 million.  Civilian casualties were also horrendous. Casualties for the United States were 116,000 military deaths with about 700 civilians killed (Lusitania sinking and merchant marines killed in submarine attacks).  In comparison, French civilian deaths were 40,000; Russia 410,000.   If you include disease and malnutrition, the numbers are much higher. Is it any wonder, that nearly every French family was touched?  Marie-Elisabeth is no exception.  Her great-grandfather, a civilian, was killed in Amiens and many cousins of her grandparents died in the Great War.

What was our motivation to go to Champagne?  The main reason we spent our week in Champagne was to follow Emile Duchemin’s WWI Diary to the places he and his troops served in the region. Emile is Marie-Elisabeth’s grandfather.  Our journey also coincided with the 100^th anniversary of the start of the Great War in Europe.

Grandpère Duchemin was an officer in the French Colonial Army. We researched his records at the Military Archives in Paris in 2012.  His career parallels the history of the French Colonial Empire in many respects. He and his family, including my mother-in-law, lived in Hanoi for five years in the 1920s.  From 1896 until the War, he served in China, Madagascar, Sudan, French Equatorial Africa, etc. After serving in France for the first two years of WWI, he was sent to Cameroon to administer a hospital.  Cameroon, a German Colony at the time, is one of the areas of Africa where WWI was fought – a relatively unknown part of the War.   

In Champagne, Emile led troops who brought the wounded from the battlefront to triage centers before they were sent to hospitals further behind the lines.  He was also responsible for establishing cemeteries. Marie-Elisabeth spent many hours going through his Diary to develop a timeline of where he served.  Because of the constantly moving front, this was not easy to establish. 

Our first stop was a Center for Interpretation of the 1914-18 War in the Marne area – in Suippes, France.  Not only was the museum interesting but the staff was very helpful. They used their data bases to help Marie-Elisabeth look for the cemeteries her grandfather established and for the location of the burial sites of relatives killed in the war.  We learned that the cemeteries had been moved and consolidated with others into larger memorial sites.  As with many in WWI, the relatives did not have marked graves but were in ossuaries. Very emotional information. 

We had so many amazing experiences during the week but a few stand out.  The owners of the house we were renting in Bouy, France, told us about the site of the battle of Massiges. A flight over the area revealed patterns on a hill that appeared to show remnants of trenches. Two friends bought the property and started excavating.  When we arrived at the site, there was one parked vehicle but no one was around.  We could see a massive crater that turned out to be one of the places where the military tunneled under their opponents and then set off huge explosions under the unsuspecting troops.  There were trenches that had been uncovered with interpretive signs and pictures from the time.  We started walking through the trenches. 

Due to rain the previous day, it was muddy, giving us a VERY small taste of what men went through during those long days of siege. In a few minutes, a man approached us in the trench and it turned out he was one of the men who bought the site and had done much of the excavation.  We ended up with our own private guide!  The guide, a local farmer, was very interested in Emile Duchemin’s Diary - Marie-Elisabeth will email it to him.  Grandpère had established the cemetery in the village of Massiges and he and his men had evacuated wounded and the dead from this battle. 

In the Diary, Emile mentioned a statue of the Virgin that was moved to the cemetery he established.  We were told by our farmer "guide" that the men would stop to touch it and pray on the way to battle.  When we got to the village, there was the Statue!!!  It is now called the Virgin of the Bees and is famous in the Region.  The statue was originally placed in the village in 1865 in thanks for the inhabitants being spared in a Cholera outbreak.  At the beginning of the shelling during WWI, the statue was knocked off its pedestal.  A hole was made in the side and a hive of bees took up residence!  Of course, in 1914 Emile would not have known that it would eventually be known as the Virgin of the Bees!

In front of the Statue of the Virgin was an Information Panel that included a picture of the Cemetery that Grandpère had established with the Statue plain as day!!!  We learned from the farmer that the cemetery was about 100 meters to the north of the present location of the Virgin.  The villagers had moved it back to its original location when the military cemetery was consolidated with others in the region.  

Vierge des Abeilles - Virgin of the Bees

Photograph of the Cemetery Established by Emile Duchemin
in Massiges, France with the Statute of the Virgin

On another day’s excursion we were looking for a farm that Emile mentioned where he and his men had stayed.  We drove into the village where we thought it was located.  A man was outside his barn and we stopped to ask.  No – we were in the wrong place but he knew where it was – miles away at a crossroads of two main highways.  He said the farm was now gone but there was a marker.  When we got to the crossroads, we saw nothing.  We continued down the road for a mile or two and stopped at a farm where we saw a man in the courtyard of the out-buildings.  Again, we stopped to ask.  He told us the marker was gone but that he knew about the farm.  In fact, he collected old post cards and had some pictures of the place.  Next thing we knew he invites us into the house to see the postcards.  Marie-Elisabeth was able to photograph the cards.  He was also interested in the Diary – to be emailed to him soon.  In reading the Diary in more detail later, Marie-Elisabeth realized that the name of his farm was also in the Diary!  More coincidences!

 

My last story of an amazing experience was on our last day in Champagne. We drove into a small village – population 65 – where Grandpère Duchemin wrote about staying with his troops.  He mentioned several details about the village and where there had been a triage center. We started looking for someone who might know something about the village…but no one was visible.  We drove around at least three times from street to street.  

We finally saw a woman bringing flowers from her garden to the house.  We stopped and M.E. started talking to her.  The woman, Nicole, then called the former mayor of the village who drove over to meet us.  He brought a hand drafted map that showed what the village was like during the war and where the troops had been. Next thing we knew Nicole was making copies on her scanner for us.  They both mentioned pictures in City Hall…and then….she produced a key to City Hall and took us over to see these pictures.  It turns out Nicole was a volunteer assistant to the new mayor!  (City Hall is open for an hour or two one day a week!)  They showed us the pictures and we photographed them.  The former mayor then walked with us to show us the building where Grandpere stayed and worked! 

The Triage Center in 2014 Where Emile Duchemin
 and His Troops Worked in 1914 in Courtemont, France                     

WHAT A DAY!  

WHAT A WEEK!  

WHAT EXPERIENCES!