It was quite informative and Jan clearly knew the subject matter. Unfortunately, a cafe intended as a stop was not open and we couldn't see the exhibits at the cafe (or spend a few welcome minutes out of the cold).

What worked: focus on the architecture of East vs. West. Our travel companions were thoroughly enchanted with the 'stories behind' the buildings of Berlin, and Anne provided just enough color and anecdotes to really make these large historical movements "come alive" for us. Also worked: Anne's breadth and depth of knowledge about Berlin in general, but our tour-route specifically. One of our party is a naturally inquisitive person and really kept peppering Anne with questions. She handled each with grace and aplomb, and somehow never broke stride! Very impressive. Also appreciated: a pass by the Berlin Wall memorial. I don't believe it was intended to be part of the tour that day, but we detoured through anyway and I really appreciated the additional stop. What didn't: one small gripe — Anne is fairly soft-spoken and a couple of times (particularly when walking near busy thoroughfares) it was hard for me to hear her completely. A little more 'pause, turn and project' would have helped in these loud contexts.

What made this walk for us was the insights of Chris having grown up in the east before the wall came down. Fascinating perspective and very open with her experiences. Really enjoyed the first half on Karl Marx Strasse. 2nd half seemed more to be just a comparative architecture study looking at examples of Bauhaus structures in the west. Would have preferred to spend more time in the east trying to understand what life was like under communist rule.

Load more