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ByLeonardStohler Onthecomfortable train from Prague to Ber- lin that follows the Elbe River part of the way, I thought about the cities I had visited. I travelled in these three great cit- ies of Budapest, Vienna, and Prague as a 78 year old male American. I grew up being very conscious of World War II, the Cold War, and recently what I call "The Early 21st Cen- tury Regional/Civil/Ra- cial/Religious Wars, Rev- olutions, Atrocities." We are updated daily of the "Reign of Terror" by ter- rorists found in many ar- eas of a world where ter- rorism is so broadly inter- preted. It has been seventy years since Nazi Germany and the Axis powers, in- cluding Japan, surren- dered with most of their major cities destroyed. It has been over a quarter of a century since the col- lapse of the Soviet Union and its hegemony in East- ern and Central Europe and part of Germany. I think the history of Europe is really about Ger- many. And that brings me to Berlin. How can an area be so totally destroyed and be what it is presently? There are many reasons given: the Marshall Plan, NATO, our military pres- ence and all that it entails, and US political support. Our allies in Europe have had its defense paid for by the USA as it was the only nation who could counter the Soviets. That left the enormous energy and the will of a people we call "German" to re-construct a city like Berlin into the city it is to- day. It is a different city, in many ways, than the other three; yet, it remembers the horrific things that fascist Germany caused in the 20th century. Politi- cally, it is still fighting bat- tles within a minority of its own society and I think it will increasingly have major problems as mil- lions of refugees and mi- grants move in. Like the other three cities, it has its own cultural identity. I think the cultural identity will change dramatically! But what about what I saw in this huge and mod- ern city? Since it was prob- ably 70% destroyed by bombing and capture in World War II, it is a city with few buildings from its long history left stand- ing. I had been fore- warned by a friend who had traveled in Germany extensively over many years, that Berlin was a great, large city. I con- cur wholeheartedly. I rec- ommend that if you plan to go to Europe, you will find Berlin "unbelievable" and a very pleasant city to visit. Arriving from Prague, I get off the train at the impressive train station called the "Berlin Haupt- bahnhof." In German this is translated as the main train station in Ber- lin. I had read that Ber- lin had many buildings with lots of glass. This one is so massive with narrow metal "beams" to support the glass. From within, you can view the out- side all around you. I am amazed at its size. From the outside, you see mostly glass. I say that it is glass, but I am sure it is a special kind of glass and in the vulnerable places close to the ground it is bullet and bomb proof "glass." Hauptbahnhof station has continuous tracks that run through the station. The through trains are several levels down so the train that I was on could continue on to its desti- nation. The so-called Un- derground is the top level making it easy to change lines within the city and nearby. The Hauptbahnhof had to be moved to accom- plish this unbelievable en- gineering. I go up several stories, this time on a modern es- calator and find myself with a 360 degree view of Berlin. I go out an exit that is not the north side where the taxis are lo- cated. I am rewarded with my first view of the Spree River and the many build- ing cranes of Berlin. Intu- itively, I go to my left on an almost deserted view- ing platform and find my- self on the traffic side. Taxis are waiting. There I see the huge statue of the Rolling Horse, by Jurgen Goertz. I don't quite know what to make of it. At the street, I obtain a taxi. The taxi driver tells me that the new construc- tion around the Haupt- bahnhof is part of the cur- rent rebuilding of what was "East Berlin". He had been born in Berlin, or so he told me. New build- ings are everywhere. I am glad to be delivered to the Adina Apartment Hotel, near Check Point Charlie for 20 euros. The new, or recently re- modeled Adina, was built for families who desire cooking facilities. It had a fully supplied kitchen and even contained a washer and dryer. The restaurant on the first floor served its clients breakfast, if they had paid for that. I enjoy breakfast anywhere, but here were many grains of Germany and the pastries. It is like having a coffee TRAVELOGUE Berlin: Dynamic, rebuilt, and youthful KaiserWilhelmMemorialChurch. PHOTOS BY LEONARD STOHLER Rolling Horse by Jurgen Goertz. BERLIN ยป PAGE 8 | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2015 6 B