Fulbright U.S. Administrators in Germany Program

Today was a rest day. A day for us to explore Berlin in whatever way we wanted. My two priorities were the East Side Gallery of the Berlin Wall and the Hertha Berlin-Schalke 04 football game.

The East Side Gallery is a collection of 105 paintings painted in 1990 on the east side (the formerly Communist side) of the Berlin Wall. Probably the most famous of the paintings is the one of Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker kissing. My favorite – although they are all interesting – is the one in the picture: the mural of musicians.

Hertha Berlin play at the Olympiastadion, which was built for the 1936 Summer Olympic Games. You enter the enormous stadium between the same columns and under the same Olympic circles as those spectators who saw Jesse Owens win four gold medals and rain of Hitler’s parade. Today was not a good day for Hertha Berlin either as they lost 2-0.

This is our last day in Berlin. A city whose complex past makes it an incredible city to explore. At the same time, Berlin is a city for the future yet the past is around every corner. I hope there will be a time to return.