That's the German flag, horizontal stripes of black, red and yellow. Not to be confused with the Belgian flag which has vertical stripes and the yellow in the middle whilst the German flag has red in the middle.
Belgian flag.
Berlin's ITB
I just received a notice about ITB Berlin, an invitation to go and have a chance to win air tickets to somewhere. This would involve me in spending time and money on getting to Berlin.
ITB is in March. I have never been to Berlin and it is somewhere on my wishlist. If I were both in the travel trade and nearby I would go. If I were not in the travel trade, just a traveller, and nearby, I would be watching the English language and German language press to find out what is new and exciting.
My first query, the first thought in my head was, what does ITB stand for?
Wiki and the website of the organization answer that question.
ITB is German for international tourist borse = with a double dot above the o - sorry but the way to type double dots inside blogger is eluding me. I have not found it - yet. (I just heard a speech about not saying no but saying not 'yet'.) The letters and sounds of b and p are close together and borse and purse are the link. It is a purse or pocket or exchange. So, international tourism exchange, not just an exchange of information, although that comes first, but taking action, trading, booking of hotels and events and setting up holidays and travel and services and events for you and me.
Berlin's Attractions
If I go to any event or conference I try to arrive a day early to be sure of being on time at the start and like to stay later to visit the city. What if you are reminded about Berlin as a destination, can't get to the event, but wonder about going anyway? You might well start a tour of Germany in the capital, the most populated city in Europe after London, England.
Berlin is familiar as the backdrop to the city of Cabaret, the film starring Liza Minelli. Berlin was a divided city, now reunited. Famous for the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie.
My checklist of places to visit or re-visit starts with the Berlin Wall:
Berlin wall section.
Photo by VWPolonia75 from Wikivoyage.
1 Berlin Wall Museum
See the colourful murals. Read about those who made it across, those who didn't, sadly 130 casualties, and how the wall came down with great celebration, reuniting the city, West and East.
Allied Museum, Berlin. Section of the Wall displayed.
2 The Jewish Museum
Next on my list is the Jewish Museum, Europe's largest Jewish museum.
Moses Mendelssohn, portrait, Jewish Museum, Berlin, Germany.
In the largest Jewish museum in Europe, the main old museum contains portraits of Einstein and Mendelssohn, and the eyeglasses of Moses Mendelssohn (son of Mendel). He had a hunchback and when told his young lady heard of the hunchback and refused to see him, he asked for just one minute to speak to her and apologize.
He told her, "Marriages are made in heaven and my guardian angel was told my wife-to-be would have a hunchback.
"My guardian angel replied, 'She will be unhappy. Let my young man have the hunchback - and bear all the world's troubles for her.'
"Sorry to have taken up your time. But if you liked what you heard, may I speak to you again one day, for just one minute?"
She saw him again, heard him again, and married him.
He spoke in German, so I reckon my translation into English is as good as others at capturing the essence of what he said so warmly.
Did he use those spectacles to read and teach himself Latin to become one of the leading philosophers of his day, immortalised in a play about himself and his friend Lessing? Or did he lose his sight studying by candle-light? Go to the museum and be inspired to learn more about famous, extraordinary people, and the daily lives of ordinary people, from the past.
His grandson wrote the Mendelssohn wedding march. (The one which sounds like descending a staircase. The rival tune is the one parodied as Here comes the bride.)
Jewish Museum Photo from Libeskind in Wikipedia.
The Jewish museum's modern extension is the famous or notorious, controversial Holocaust memorial, designed by architect Libeskind, all jagged and disorientating. Love it or hate it, a must see.
Garden of Exile, Jewish Museum.
The Holocaust Memorial
The Holocaust Memorial, Berlin.Photo by Alexander Blum in Wikipedia.
Other cities and attractions include:
2 Bonn - Beethoven Museum - the country is full of museums connected to music
3 Wine regions with wine tasting
German is renowned for white wines. Riesling is the grape which supposedly smells of petrol. (Americans say gasoline.)
4 Romantic Road (castles on rivers and lakes, black and white medieval villages on riversides and hillsides)
Rudesheim and many more - follow the trail
5 Theme parks
6 For romantic adults and young adults the inspiration for Sleepy Beauty Disney castle Neuschwanstein (German for new swan stone) in Bavaria, Germany.
See the three fairytale castles built by the 'Mad King' of Bavaria.
| r | Ximonic, Simo Räsänen (post-processing) & Tauno Räsänen (photograph). Wikipedia. |
7 WWII and Nazi past -
Nuremberg museum
Durer's house.
Durer's House, Wikipedia.
Belsen
(where Anne Frank and her sister died)
Munich -
and Dachau where a map of the railway lines shows how trains took people from every major Nazi-controlled city in Europe via Germany to be exterminated across the border at Auschwitz-Birkeau in Poland.
8 Munich and the Oktoberfest
For beer, wine, food and fun.
9 The Pied Piper of Hamelin
Pied Piper's House, Hamelin. Photo by Bush6984 from the Wikipedia article on the Pied Piper.
The story supposedly records an event in the 13th century, when a rat-catcher in pied (multi-coloured) clothing, offered to lure away the rats (which may have spread plague) but was not paid more than half the promised sum, or not paid at all. In revenge lured away all the children (except three who were lame, deaf and blind). They were never seen again.
Possible explanations are that it is a legend with the pied piper symbolizing death from the plague era. If it was a real event, maybe children went dancing with a piper and disappeared into a sinkhole or the sounds and rhythm of the dancing sparked an avalanche.
Records suggest that orphans and unemployed youngsters emigrated, following brightly dressed recruiters. This resulted in the surnames from Hamelin appearing in other cities to this day.
The story was immortalised in German by Goethe, and the brothers Grimm, translated into English. The popular poem in English by Robert Browning is wonderfully rhythmic.
When I visited Hamelin I looked for a hotel where tourists could stay. When a hotel owner showed me his bedrooms and I tried to take a photo, he angrily told me to leave! I was surprised. Any English or American hotel owner would have been delighted, moved lights, asked me to write them up on Tripadvisor. I thought my PR might have been lacking.
Then I picked up a news sheet on the bus which gave an accusing account of a dispute about the funding of a re-enactment of the Pied Piper story. I thought, so, centuries on, nothing has changed. Chilling.
However, that was a long time ago. Besides, every hotel and hotel owner is different.
The Romantic Road
Photo by Pedelecs.
Dinkelsbuhl. Romantic Road. Germany.
Follow the trail maps and the signposts along the romantic road through riverside and hillside villages with steep gables.
Places to find local food: Rathaus Ratskeller
Berlin has a red Rathaus.
Berlin. Red Rathaus. Picture from Wikipedia.
On the main square of most cities is a converted medieval Rathaus, not a rat house (for that tale go to Hamelin) but the town hall. The cellar or Ratskeller with big pillars is usually made into a vast cafeteria serving set meals. A bit like the British medieval banquets at stately homes. Girls and ladies and lads and men in olde worlde costume serve flagons of beer and local food at assorted prices. Busy at lunchtimes.
One notable Ratskeller I visited was in Bremen near the statue of the three animals which are a city folk legend and symbol.
Old picture of Bremen Ratskeller from Wikipedia.
Expect music, historical pictures and framed documents and local history and information on local sites and guided tours. Austrian cities have the same system of the Rathaus and Ratskeller restaurant.
German White Wine
I sampled many wines and stood on the Heidelburg Tun, a giant barrel in Heidelberg castle.
German wines include:
Auslese (late picked and sweeter as it has longer to ripen)
Black Tower (brand of white wine in black bottle)
Liebfraumilch (Our dear lady's milk, referring to the Madonna)
For something sweet, Boppard ice wine tasting in a shop on the main square of Boppard. Must book.
Useful Websites
To learn or brush up your German for free on the internet
duolingo.com
Overview of Travel
GERMANY AND BERLIN
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Germany
https://www.visitberlin.de/en
See Germany and Berlin in wikipedia, wikivoyage, wikitravel, tripadvisor.
https://www.itb-berlin.com/
BERLIN WALL
https://www.visitberlin.de/en/berlin-wall-memorial
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Berlin_Wall_segments
https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/ShowUserReviews-g187323-d196239-r542038704-Memorial_of_the_Berlin_Wall-Berlin.html
https://freetoursbyfoot.com/checkpoint-charlie/
JEWISH MUSEUM
https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Jewish_Museum%2C_Berlin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_Mendelssohn
PIED PIPER
Pied Piper House Restaurant, Hamelin, Germany.
https://www.tripadvisor.de/Restaurant_Review-g198595-d1356484-Reviews-Rattenfaengerhaus-Hameln_Lower_Saxony.html
ROMANTIC ROad
h
ttps://www.romanticroadgermany.com/
WINE TOURS
https://www.worldwidewinetours.com/germany/german-wine-tours/
https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/ShowUserReviews-g187345-d6698203-r391171629-Vinothek_Georg_Breuer-Ruedesheim_am_Rhein_Hesse.html
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have many more posts on cities in Europe, the USA, Canada, Asia and worldwide. Please share links to your favourite posts.
