Auf Wiedersehen, Berlin

So much has happened since the last time I have posted. Sorry, but there are so few hours and only one computer in the lobby of the Relexa hotel, and that computer is in demand.

I will post stories from the last four days later. But I must tell you about tonight.

We were all invited to The Reichstag (Germany's parlement building) for a celebration of the 20th anniversary of Germany's unification. I thought we were just going to be on the large grassy area in front of the building -- like being on the mall outside the U.S. capitol.

Wrong. When our short bus (go ahead, make your jokes) stopped, we showed our tickets and were led to our... seats? That was unexpected. And so were he ropes holding the "regular" Berliners back. Then Philip Murphy sat in front of us. I didn't know this at the time, but I quickly learned the Mr. Murphy is the U.S. Ambassador to Germany. When he found out who we were, he quickly greated each of us, and posed for a picture (that will be posted when I get home).

Alright... this night is pretty cool... Sitting with the big wigs... in front of the Reichstag.

Then the real VIP's came in: former Chancellor Helmut Kohl (Chancelor during the fall of the wall and German unification) and current Chancellor Angela Merkel. Both with seats no better than ours.

Although I did not recieve a standing ovation, nor flowers like Herr Kohl. But when Kohl's eyes teared, so did ours (more on that later)

Then there was music from  the German Justin Bieber and a large orchestera, a choir, a speach in German that ended with a quote from the German national anthem that, when spoken, let directly into the anthem (I know this because our guide translated for me)

And after the national anthem, the European Union anthem, better know as Beethoven's "Ode to Joy", with fireworks.

I thought we were done, but no! We walked into the Reichstag, to the third floor, for a small reception with dignitaries... a much smaller crowd than outside... free food and drink (making us newsies so happy), and we even chatted with the Embassador from Bangledesh. Oh, and we were about 10 feet from Chancellors Kohl and Merkel. Go ahead, try to be that close to Presidents Obama or Bush or Bush II and see how fast the Secret Service jumps on you.

The whole night I expected someone to point to me and say "Aye! zat iz unt redneck from Oildale! He doesn't belong here! Get him!"

But I was there... and here, in Berlin for a week, on both sides of the line of cobble stones that mark what was once the Berlin wall. I have stood on the East side of that line, in a place that I years ago, during my adult life, I would have been killed for standing in. I have seen the long scar that marked the difference between freedom and oppression. And I have met a whole lot of people who are so happy to be free Berliners.

The people... Eight days, and I've yet to meet a single rude, cross Berliner. Actually, when a Berliner hears you speak English, it seems to be an invitation for a longer conversation. "Do you have the time?" becomes a 15 minute conversation when you answer in English"I'm sorry, I don't speak German."

People like RIAS Berlin Kommishin Board member Hildegard Bousein, who sat next
 to me during tonight's event at The Reichstag. Just as Chancellor Kohl was being honored, as we all sat just a few paces from what was once the wall that surrounded the Western half of Berlin, Hildergard told me a story. In 1981, she went to work at the Reichstag, then just offices as the West German capitol was in Bonn. Her office was in the back of the building, about five feet from the wall, so she had an view of that wall every hour of every daz. But every day, she and some of her co-workers would take their lunch and walk about 100 yards to the wall in front of the Brandenburg gate, a famous symbol of Germany that stood on the wrong side of the wall, to eat "and think of what could be."

I can't type that without getting a lump in my throat, as it was clear that in 1981, "what could be" was not even imaginable.

And yet there we sat, among the free Germans, in front of a building with the large inscription "Dem Deutschn Volke" -- for the people. Not imaginable, but real.

It was a heck of a way to end our week in Berlin. And even though we still have stops in Dresden, Prague, Brussels and Brugges before we leave for home, I hate to leave this city. I have made so many friends, and have so many more stories that I will tell you later.

But for now, Auf Weidersehen, Berlin. I hope to see you again.