Guided Walking Tour of Berlin

By Emily Cowan

I was absolutely blown away by the energy and excitement that was very apparent in our tour guides face about the lovely city of Berlin. It was one of the first tours I had ever been on in my life that I didn’t want to end. I had the feeling that I was actually in Berlin in the twentieth century by the detailed and fun analysis she gave us each step of the way. It was only my first day in the beautiful city of Berlin while I got the feeling I had already seen it all, and been there for days. Brandenburg Gate, Jewish Memorial, and even the Berlin wall; there is so much history and excitement that is bouncing vibrantly through this city and it was up to you if you could catch it or not.

“Ladies and Gentleman, if you could turn your direction to this abandoned parking lot.” Everything we had the chance to look at was amazing, but a parking lot? I wasn’t really sure where she was going with this one. I look up to see apartments from the 80’s that were apparently built by communist. We weren’t even in the main city center of Berlin anymore. It was just a random neighborhood with a funky smell due to everyone walking their dogs at this parking lot. However it turned into so much more as our tour guide went on explaining what happened over 60 years ago under this parking lot.

Chills flurried down my spins as Hitler’s name came into the picture. Apparently it wasn’t just a normal parking lot after all. It was a parking lot with lots of gruesome and tragic history. As I stood on the gravel, 14 meters below my feet was in fact the place where Hitler’s infamous bunker laid. I couldn’t believe the history rush that came over me standing on top of this parking lot. The tour guide stated how it would be impossible to go down to it because the people of berlin threw all there sewage around the bunker before enclosing it completely. The whole experience of being at this “Historical” place reminded me of my favorite history class in high school, where my teacher taught us all about WW2 especially everything that happened with Hitler. The stories my teacher told me were almost identical to what the tour guide stated. This made it even more eye opening to be standing exactly where so many soldiers stood before me.

 One thing I found strange for a split second was the fact that there was no way of telling that this was the bunker until you look over at a tiny sign the Germans put up when the Olympics came to Berlin in 2006. I soon realized why would they even want to commemorate what had happened here. It goes to show that nothing last forever and that bad can be replaced with a fresh start. No matter where life takes me I will always be able to look back and remember my time in Berlin, learning and growing with the culture and amazing history it has to offer.