Thursday, April 22— Guten Morgan, Berlin!

Bev and I are struck by how beautiful, clean and modern Berlin is. The Berlin of today belies its history since the 1930s.

We visited the DDR Museum to see an interesting if not sometimes amusing re-telling of life behind the wall in East Germany after the wall was put up in 1961 to stop the mass emigration of East Germans to the West. The museum showed the fundamental yearning of people to be free, despite efforts to restrict freedom of thought and movement. From there we drove around Berlin in our car, with Holger showing us various famous sites and buildings in the city. It was eerie to drive in what was formerly East Berlin, seeing how similar it now is to West Berlin, but knowing that barely 20 years ago, it was a city of two very different worlds.

We went on to visit “Checkpoint Charlie” and the museum that is there, that walks the visitor through the history of the aftermath of World War II, the airlift of supplies from the United States and its allies to trump the Soviet blockade of West Berlin, and the heroic efforts, some successful and others tragically not, of Germans to flee to West Berlin to be reunited with their families, and/or to otherwise be free. It was a somber but intriguing experience being there at Checkpoint Charlie.

After a quick pizza lunch, we left Berlin by way of the stadium where Hitler tried to showcase Germany's prowess during the 1936 Olympics. I had to be back at Rehyns' home to get on my laptop so that I could “attend” a meeting of the South Dakota Bar Commissioners by Skype. It wasn't as good as actually being at the meeting, but it worked very well, and it was amazing that I could attend a 3-hour meeting half a world away, at no cost!

Wednesday, April 21-Berlin-Day one

After a typical German breakfast of meats, cheeses and fantastic breads, we took off for Berlin with Annabelle and her parents. Julius is staying with a friend because he has school and because being a typical kid, he'd rather be with friends than with all of us!

On our way to Berlin, we stopped at a little village that had been right on the border between East and West Germany during the time when the Soviets controlled East Germany. There was a guard tower and fences and walls and was much like it was during the days of the Wall. It was sobering to think of people not being able to travel freely, or be with family and risking (or losing) their lives trying to escape to the West. Ulrike's grandmother was captive in East Germany and she said it made her feel sad to be at this place. It felt good to be able to get in the car and drive freely down the road.

Autobahn driving is everything we heard it was (fast and furious) and Holger loves to drive on it. We flew through the beautiful German countryside, rich and green, dotted with little red roofed villages, and the two hour trip to Berlin was over in no time! Annabelle's parents had made reservations at the Mark Hotel in Berlin, which is a very nice hotel in a pleasant neighborhood with tree-lined streets.

After checking in, we headed out to do some touring. Our first stop was the ruins of the Keiser Wilhelm Church. It was badly damaged by bombs during the war and instead of repairing or destroying the building, it has been stabilized and made into a monument. Annabelle said they call it the “Remembrance Church”.

Taking a city bus, we went to the Bundestag which is like our Congress. Pre-WWII days, it was called the Reichstag, but Hitler's Third Reich never met at that building. It is a magnificent building that was bombed and heavily damaged during WWII, but has been completely repaired and restored to its original condition. There was a line waiting to get in, but Holger said he had never seen such a short line there, and Reyhns had not toured the Bundestag before, so we joined the line. Even though the line was relatively short, we still stood in line about 45 cold minutes, but when we got inside, we realized the wait was definitely worth it. I thought we'd be seeing some governmental proceedings and that kind of thing and on the lower level, you could look down right into the actual chamber where the Bundestag was in session. It was designed this way to symbolize the transparency and openness of the government. The upper part of inner core of the building had a spiral ramp going up several stories to the top of a glass dome. There were the most incredible views of Berlin for miles in all directions as you walked up the ramp to the top, and with a personal cassette telling the history and information about what you saw, you had a personal tour. It was all pretty amazing and not at all what I was expecting!

Walking down to the Brandenburg Gate from the Bundestag, we went past the Tiergarden which is a huge park, probably like Central Park in New York. One corner of the park has several crosses on a wall and is a memorial to those who lost their lives trying to escape from East to West Berlin. It is called the Wall of Shame. There are no large trees in Tiergarten-and much of Berlin actually, because after the war, all the trees in the area where cut down and used for firewood. When Berlin was divided into East and West by the Soviets, the Wall ran right behind the Bundestad and along the street down to the Brandenburg Gate and beyond. Now only a double row of bricks in the street shows where the wall was. We knew Berlin was a divided city, but didn't realize how the Soviets isolated West Berlin and made life miserable for those living in West Berlin, trying to break them and force them to submit to Soviet control. The US forces in West Germany airlifted food, coal and other supplies to help the Berliners survive. A drop was made every 90 seconds for almost a year!

On our way to the Sony Center, we passed the Jewish Memorial which is an area of varying sizes of concrete slabs, giving the effect of a cemetary. We never made it to the visitor center which I'm sure would be very interesting, but no words were needed to convey the loss that this memorial represents.
The Sony Center is a plaza surrounded by restaurants, shops and offices. The center is covered by a huge canopy and has a fountain. Again, everything is made of glass conveying the idea of openness.
We had dinner and made the cold journey back to the bus stop and to our hotel. Thanks to the Reyhn Family Tour Company, we covered a lot of ground and learned a lot about Germany. What a day!

Tuesday, April 20—Hello Annabelle!

After sleeping in a little and eating a nice breakfast, we enjoyed the location of our hotel in Copenhagen the most when it was time to board the train for Germany. We put on our backpacks, grabbed our handbags and walked the ½ block to the platform for the train bound for Hamburg. We boarded the car that had our assigned seats, put our backpacks on the rack above our seats, and sat opposite each other, with an expandable table between us. The train arrived at and boarded the ferry we had taken across the Baltic Sea on Friday, and we reversed Friday's process. This time, however, there were no mobs standing on the train; it was calm and uneventful. After about 5 ½ hours, we arrived in Hamburg, changed trains and eventually we arrived at the train station in Braunschweig, where Annabelle and her father we waiting, literally with open arms. It was so great to see “our Annabelle” again, and to meet her father, Holger. They drove us to their lovely home in nearby Rothmuhle, where we met Annabelle's mother, Ulrike and her younger brother, Julius (“Ulius”), along with Annabelle's boyfriend, Guido. Annabelle has not changed in the almost 2 ½ years since we've seen her, other than that she is more mature and prettier than ever! She must have been exhausted by the end of the day as she has to translate what we say to her parents and what they say to us! Her ability to switch back and forth between English and German amazes us. Her family is so sweet and their hospitality so warm, it is easy for us to understand why Annabelle is that way! Their home seems to have a skylight in every room, so the home is very light and cheery. We feel very much at home here, as if with family. And in many ways, they are family!

Monday, April 19--Ambassador Fulton Day!

We got up earlier than usual and took a taxi to the US Embassy for the breakfast meeting with Danish lawyers. Having never been to an embassy before, we didn't really know what to expect, though we knew there would be some degree of security. My first indication of how much was when I got my camera out to take a picture of the embassy and a security guard came out to tell me that no pictures were allowed--even of the outside of the building! We had to go through the usual screening machines and had to leave phones and camera with security. Then we had to turn our identification in and received red visitor passes and an escort took us into the building.

The meeting with the lawyers went really well and I think everyone there found the discussion about the differences of the two legal systems quite interesting. There were about 10 Danish lawyers present, about equally balanced between men and women and all seemed relaxed and spoke candidly—and in perfect English.

The meeting lasted about 90 minuets. After the meeting was over and the Danish lawyers had left, Laurie invited us to come back to the embassy about 6:00 tonight so we could ride with her out to the residence for dinner. Most museums and such are closed on Mondays, so we took the opportunity to have a relaxing day—did a little walking around, a little window shopping and a little napping. At 6:00, we were back at the embassy, going through the whole security routine again. This time we were escorted to Laurie's office where she finished up some work while we looked at pictures of friends, family and famous people that she has met as US Ambassador, including President Obama, the First Lady and Oprah!

We met Laurie's chauffeur, Beau, who had picked up our camera and cell phone from security. (Later, at the residence, we got a call that our driver's licenses were still at the embassy, but Beau brought them to our hotel the next morning) and were driven north of the city to the official residence. As we were getting out of the car, I realize we had been followed by a second car with a security detail. She joked with them and told them that tomorrow one of them would have to drive her to the hair salon, so they should bring something to read. Considering that most ambassadors are male, waiting in a beauty salon has got to be a duty the security guards aren't used to!

As we entered the residence, there was a huge, historic painting depicting the passing of a law that would regulate land divisions in Denmark, allowing more Danes to own land. Laurie pointed out that the man in the front, left of the painting is her great-grandfather and the painting is on loan from the Danish museum. It is the painting in the picture taken of the three of us.

The residence is big and beautiful and has a remarkable view of the ocean and Sweden! Laurie's chef prepared a wonderful meal and we pretty much felt like royalty by the end of the evening. We had such a great day with our friend and Ambassador, and in tribute to her public service in representing the USA in Denmark, we've decided to call this "Ambassador Fulton Day" in our blog.

Sunday, April 18

From Dick:

I just got back from the train station where I went to make reservations for Tuesday's return to Germany.  I waited 45 minutes in line, where the announcements were made that if anyone is going to Hamburg, there were no seats available until Wednesday at the earliest!  I resolved that we would no doubt be spending another day in Copenhagen.  I finally got to the window and told the ticket agent that we had Eurail passes and wanted to make reservations as soon as we could out of Copenhagen for Braunschweig, Germany, and he apologized and said the earliest available first class reservation was for 11:45 a.m. on Tuesday!  Needless to say, I paid the 9+ euros and made the reservations, and got boarding passes for a car and two window seats!!  I can't believe it!

From Bev:

Meanwhile, as Dick was getting train reservations, my mission was to do laundry at a laundromat. Remembering the days before we owned a washer and dryer and trips to the laundromat were a weekly outing, I was not real excited about this. Naturally, Danish laundries are different from ours, but once again a friendly local came to my rescue and in no time at all, I was headed back to our hote. Yea-- clean clothes!!!

Having taken care of business, we set out to do more touring. The famous statue of the Little Mermaid is currently visiting Japan, but there was a big Japanese festival going on in the park where she is usually located. Then we toured the Danish Resistance Museum and went to the Carlsburg Glyptotek (which I think means “museum of scultures”). The Glyptotek highlight for us was the mummies and decorated coffins and vaults dating back to around 2500 B.C. I don't care who you are, that's old! We were definitely wishing we had more time there!

We came across a Chinese restaurant and the prices seemed cheaper than a lot of menus we had been seeing, so we went in and had a wonderful meal and felt pretty good about the price until we went back and figured out the conversion and realized that our little dinner had cost us around $90! Even Chinese is not inexpensive in Denmark!

After dinner, we went to Copenhagen's famous amusement park, Tivoli. Laurie had recommended that we visit at night because everything is all lit up. Supposedly, Tivoli was the inspiration for Disney Land. It was quite chilly, but Dick and I and the Japanese tourists were there! We were impressed with the beauty of Tivoli at night, and got in on the light show right before the park closed for the night. It was a worthwhile stop, and is no doubt really beautiful in the summer when all the flowers are in bloom.

Then it was back to the hotel to get to bed. Dick has an early morning breakfast meeting with Ambassador Fulton and a group of about 10 Danish attorneys to discuss differences between the Danish and American legal systems. That should be interesting!

Saturday, April 17--touring Copenhagen with Katie

We had arranged to meet our friend Katie Sullivan, who recently moved to nearby Lund, Sweden for a post-doc program, at our hotel lobby this morning. We enjoyed touring Copenhage, and had lunch.

We then met our friend Ambassador Laurie Fulton for dinner in a nice restaurant in downtown Copenhagen.  Laurie is U.S. Ambassador to Denmark. We had a really nice visit for a couple of hours (with her two Danish security people inconspicuously hanging out at a nearby table!).  We will see her Monday morning at the embassy for a breakfast meeting she has lined up by invitation to about 10 Danish attorneys.  Then she invited us to dinner Monday night at the residence, so that should be fun!

Friday, April 16--European Travel in Turmoil!

We left the warm and gracious hospitality of our hosts in a flurry today. With the help of Mary Sue, we found the tram station that would take us to Central Station to catch a train to the German border. The tram wasn't going to arrive for ten minutes and we didn't have that much time, so we caught a cab that was waiting there. As we were running, with our backpacks on and our other bags hanging from us, I asked Bev if she knew the name of the town we're going to. She didn't remember the name any more than I did. Great! We're running to buy tickets, in a hurry to be sure to catch the train, and neither of us know where it is we want to buy tickets for! I had the information written down, but in the flurry this morning as we were running I couldn't remember where I'd put the information. We rushed up to the counter and told the kind Dutch woman we needed to go to a town near the German border with a name that started with “h.” She was puzzled, as she tried to help us. (By the way, everyone we've encountered in the Netherlands speaks English, so language has not been a barrier. It just helps to know where you're wanting to go!) As she was trying to help us, I suddenly remembered that I had the information in my itinerary folder in my bag, so I whipped it out and voila! “We're needing two tickets to Hengelo!” Her face lit up in a smile, “Oh, Hengelo!” So she sold us the two tickets for 50 Euro and 40 cents, told us what platform to be at for the 7:05 a.m. train and how to get there, and we were off! We made it with ten minutes to spare. The train was waiting there on the track, we got in, unloaded our bags in our seats in the empty train, and took a big breath. It was then that I craved my morning coffee for the 2 hour, 15-minute trip to Hengelo, but Bev wouldn't let me get off the train to find coffee. She apparently has a fear of traveling alone. :-)

Considering the stoppage of all air travel in Northern Europe, we didn't notice the trains being busy on the first two legs of our trip on local trains. But the train system is a hub-and-spoke system, like American air travel, and the train from Bad Bentheim to Hamburg was very busy and we stood the first leg of that trip, then grabbed a couple seats after a stop freed up some seating, and had seats for the last hour of the trip to Hamburg. Travel was pretty uneventful until we pull into Hamburg. The platform by the track for the next train we were to take to Copenhagen was teeming with people as far as we could see! As soon as the train stopped, people quickly moved to the platform and started pushing to get on the next train. The crowd never got crazy, but we practically were carried along by the crowd, got separated from each other and it was a little scary. We both did get on the train where there was standing room only. Lots of people were still outside, trying to get on the train, but those at the door were telling them, "No-there's no more room"", so many didn't make it. I remember thinking, "Who are the lucky ones? Them or us?" An announcement was made for volunteers to get off the train to take a bus, and some went off. But comments were made, wondering if those leaving the train would actually get on a bus, or just end up standing in another line (or, as they call it, "queue.") We spent the next six hours standing as we traveled from Hamburg all the way to Copenhagen! (The last picture above pretty much shows what it was like on the train)

The trip could have been unbearable--but we were standing by some very nice people who spoke English. And we did have a break when the ENTIRE train went onto a ferry to cross the Baltic Sea! It was amazing! Everyone had to leave the train and go to the upper levels of the ferry so we had a 45 minute break from our cramped quarters. We finally did arrive in Copenhagen around 8:30--13 1/2 hours after leaving Rotterdam. Luckily our hotel was close to the station and we even found it with minimal time and trouble! We are feeling very lucky to be in Denmark tonight!