2014 Poland, Austria, Germany Tour: DAY 20 - WED 10/8 - REICHSTAG & BRANDENBURG GATE SERENDIPITY

Today is our first full day on our own in Berlin. We have so much information that it is hard to decide what to do. But first things first...we go down to Reception to have them make some restaurant reservations for us, because you must do this to get into the good ones. We spend probably the better part of an hour with Lisa to secure tables for our 8 remaining nights. Lisa is so helpful, speaks perfect English, and knows our sensibilities...she gets us.

Now we are ready to face the day. We decide to do some big important sights first.

So our first destination is the infamous Reischtag, the German Parliament Building. It takes us about an hour to stroll there. It's on the other side of the Spree River which runs through Berlin. We remark that because Berlin is an old city, it could use a little sprucing up, but it seems safe, and the people polite and honest. We pass by the Neue Synagog with the huge gold dome, the largest Synagog in Berlin, along the way which is closed, so we will probably visit it next week after Heidi and Frank come from Aachen to spend a few days with us.

We get to an old bridge to cross the river. We see a few other people around but don't take much notice.

All of a sudden out of nowhere a gypsy guy thrusts a poster in front of me supposedly to get my signature for something about the handicapped... there is a big wheelchair insigna that is prominently visible on the poster. He gets closer to me, and I motion with my arms that I am not interested and for him to go away, which he does. A few minutes later I see this same guy motioning to his friend for him to now come over to me with the same poster, as I must be a good 'target.' By the way, I had on my gold hoop earrings and gold chain around my neck, which were plainly visible even though I was wearing a scarf. This second guy bumps me with his poster on my left shoulder and, as I turn around, I see his right arm go behind my back and reach up to my neck. He was about one inch away from grabbing my necklace and yanking it off my neck when I realized what was happening! I screamed for him to get away from me. Marty hears me from a few steps away and runs right over to me. The guy flees and they both disappear.

When I realized what just almost happened, I got sick to my stomach, and immediately securely covered my necklace with my scarf. Since then I have been wearing different jewelry and making sure it is covered by my scarf. WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN SMARTER, BUT SOMETIMES YOU LET YOUR GUARD DOWN... LESSON LEARNED!

After we compose ourselves we wend our way along the river bank, in parts grungy, and in parts very inviting with cafe and river boats, toward our destination.

We finally arrive at the Reischtag and see people gazing up at the enormous dome.

The building is immense and impressive. It opened in 1894 to house the Imperial Diet, the seat of the national German parliament, until 1933 when it was severely damaged by fire. Full restoration was not completed until after German reunification in 1999 when it once again became the meeting place of the German parliament, the modern Bundestag. A new 360 degree glass dome was constructed on top of it, which can be visited to see the whole panorama of the Berlin cityscape.

We decide that it isn't worth it to wait on line to get a reservation to go up to the top a few days later so we continue along through a park to reach the famous Brandenberg Gate.

Here are some soldiers resting along the way...street mimes.

Then we arrive at the infamous monument. It is an 18th century neoclassical triumphal arch, one of the most well-known landmarks in Germany. It suffered much damage during WWII, and was fully restored in 2002. After the war, during the partitian of Germany, the gate was isolated in East Berlin and inaccessible next to the Berlin Wall. The area around the gate featured most prominently in the media coverage of the opening of the wall in 1989. Since then the gate has symbolized freedom and the unification of Berlin. Thousands of people gathered at the wall to celebrate its fall on 9 November 1989, and on 22 December 1989 the Brandenberg Gate crossing was reopened.

So as we neared the Gate we noticed a group of what looked like professional photographers working on the nearest point of a narrow island closest to the Gate between 4 lanes of traffic on each side. There wasn't much room to stand, but I said to Marty that I wanted to go over there and see what they were filming. Marty stayed across the street.

The lady in the red coat, Michelle, was very friendly and she spoke to me, in "perfect" English! She said: "We work for NBC news and we're setting up and testing before Tom Brokaw arrives here to do a news piece on the 25th Annniversary of the end of the Wall. He was here in 1989 and reported on it then when it happened." I said :"You're kidding! I love Tom Brokaw! Can we come back when he's here? She said: "We love him too! Of course you can" (even there was so little space to stand on this center aisle). Michelle was so friendly, I was surprised. I thought such a prominent team from NY would be somewhat snutty and off-putting, but that wasn't the case at all.

So I crossed over the 4 lanes of traffic to where Marty was waiting for me on the curb, and gave him the thumbs-up sign as I was walking. When I got to him I said "You won't believe this, but Tom Brokaw will be here in a half hour to film a news segment on the 25th anniversary of the falling of the Wall, and we have to come back, as this will be a special event!" SERENDIPIY AT WORK AGAIN!

So to kill time we walked around to the other side of the Gate and took some pictures. About a half hour later we went back and, SURE ENOUGH, there he was, getting set up to do his news cast!

He did many takes to get it perfect. We stood watching all these takes for as long as it took...we weren't leaving. It took about a half hour till they had the perfect take.

Clare Duffy, the Producer, was watching in the close-up monitor to see what it will look and sound like when it is aired on NBC News. It was fun to watch the process right close up, as we were huddled on that skinny island right behind the crew.

Here are her credentials...NBC NEWS PRESS. They were for real! It brought Marty back to his old AP (Associated Press) days.

After the filming was over, Michelle, in the red coat asked: "Since you've been standing here so long, would you like to talk to Tom?" We said of course! He was so genuinely friendly and approachable!

He greeted us warmly as we introduced ourselves and shook hands. "We have been fans of yours for many years", we told him and, "we're New Yorkers". We asked how he was doing. Right off the bat he mentioned the cancer, Multiple Myaloma, that he's been fighting for two years, but he said that he was in remission now and the prognosis was good. "I'll beat it", he said.

We asked him how he decides which projects he chooses to work on since he retired. He said that he can pretty much pick and choose what he wants to work on. Since he covered the fall of the Wall 25 years ago it was only fitting that he return to capture the mood and progress of Berlin now. Marty mentioned to Tom that he too was in Berlin at the same time and actually chipped pieces of the Wall down himself, which we still have in our living room. Brokaw knew Lou Boccardi, President and General Manager of AP, and many of the same people that Marty knew during his 10 years at AP. We chatted warmly for about 15 minutes and thanked him for giving us some time. He was gracious and we said our good-byes.

THIS DEFINITELY MADE OUR DAY! Just like our meeting in the Salt Mines with the guy who knew someone in Rwanda that we know, this was another 'OH FUCK' serendipitous Cammarata moment!

Here's a view from the other side of the Gate.

And the long avenue in front of it with a monument at the other end, kind of like the Champs Elysses.

There are these weird cycle machines that hold six people peddling in every direction, and it toodles around with tourists.

This charriot statue on top of the Gate was brought to Paris by Napoleon after he marched through Berlin. Then it was brought back to Berlin by the Nazis after they occupied France and reinstalled in its original place on top of the Gate.

What an exciting day today was!

We walked around some more around the Gate area, and then took the U-Bahn home...we finally figured out how to buy tickets and read the metro map.

Then it was time for dinner. We went to Restaurant Alpenstuck, a fabulous typical German upscale restaurant which Lisa, the Receptionist, had booked for us for our first night out. It was simply and elegantly appointed, and the food was divine.