The Idiot didn’t come to Berlin for the first time in almost six decades simply to promote The Idiot and the Odyssey trilogy of travel narratives at a local library and two bookstores.
He hadn’t visited the city since 1965 — when, as a 17-year-old high school student studying near Stuttgart for the summer, he ventured through the heavily guarded Berlin Wall and spent an afternoon in Soviet-controlled East Berlin — and wanted to retrace his earlier steps.
He also wanted to determine whether any vestiges of World War II and the East Berlin/East German era remain; confirm that the German capital is still as edgy and vibrant as it was after the reunification of the country over thirty years ago; and check out a Gustav Klimt painting on loan to one of the museums.
The Idiot visited a replica of the sign he passed when he went into East Berlin in 1965.
The Idiot visited a replica of Checkpoint Charlie which he last saw when it was the real thing in 1965 and there was no McDonald’s nearby.
The Idiot walked along a section of the Berlin Wall, which encircled West Berlin from 1961-1989, that is still standing as a reminder of the past.
The Idiot found some panels of the Berlin Wall that have become works of art.
The Idiot was surprised to see that Trabant cars (aka Trabis), which were manufactured in East Germany, are still alive, driving and exhausting odors.
The Idiot was glad to see that the Ampelmann traffic signals, which were created in East Germany in 1961 and significantly reduced pedestrian deaths, are still alive and well on Berlin streets.
The Idiot was thrilled that curry wurst, created in Berlin in 1949, is still a favorite street food — and that the bear is still a symbol of the city.
Four key symbols of past and present Berlin: curry wurst, the bear, the Ampelmann pedestrian signal and the Trabi car.
A recent sculpture of a bear, long a symbol of Berlin, features contemporary images of the German capital.
The Idiot is slightly bemused that the television tower, constructed by the East German regime in the mid-1960s after The Idiot’s visit, is still a prominent part of the Berlin skyline.
Memories of World War II near the U.S. Embassy: The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin.
Memories of World War II: The Idiot’s favorite contemporary sculpture in Berlin, which was unveiled in 2011, is an outline of the face of Georg Elser, the man who almost assassinated Adolf Hitler in 1939.
Memories of World War II at the Friedrichstrasse train station: “Trains To Life…Trains To Death.”
A protest against the invasion of Ukraine in front of the Russian Embassy on Unter den Linden boulevard in Berlin.
Another reason The Idiot came to Berlin is to see Gustav Klimt’s “Judith” which is on display at the Old National Gallery on Berlin’s intoxicating Museum Island.
The Bode Museum on Museum Island in Berlin.
The Idiot’s second favorite sculpture in Berlin is “Mother With Her Dead Son.” The statue is directly under the open oculus. When it rains, water creates a river of tears.
Social life along the Spree River is a key part of summer life in contemporary Berlin.
It’s easy to be reflective in Berlin during a sunset cruise on the Spree River.
It’s easy to be reflective in Berlin during a sunrise walk on the Spree River.
The Idiot visited the Brandenburg Gate, the best-known symbol of the tumultuous history of Berlin and Germany, for the first time in 58 years.
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