Richard Isaac — [email protected] Excerpt from Eastern Europe travelogue, September 1997 (http://www.rmisaac.com/eurtrip.html)

First stop, Beer-lin, a city in the vortex of change. The city is vast, full of tumultuous history, a vibrant nightlife, majestic museums and broad boulevards, displaying a sense grandeur lacking in Seattle. My traveling companion Julie and I stayed in a very central pension near the Ku'damm, the tree-lined main shopping boulevard with spacious sidewalks, home to a plethora of outdoor cafes, merchandise displays, street musicians, and the bombed-out Kaiser Wilhelm Church, a stark reminder of the devastation the city suffered fifty years ago.

We walked—and walked and walked—through the expansive Tiergarten (central park), climbing the 285 steps of the Siegessäule (Victory Column, topped by the golden Winged Victory); browsing the Turkish market in Kreuzberg (Berlin is the largest Turkish city outside Turkey); and passing through the historic Brandenburg Gate (symbol of German nationhood and site of joyous celebrations when the Wall fell) into former eastern Berlin. Down its historic main avenue, Unter den Linden, we were stunned to come across the British consulate swimming in flowers for Diana; later, we took in a panoramic view of the city at night from the TV tower in Alexanderplatz. In the Nikolaiviertel, a restoration of old Berlin as it was centuries ago, we ate and drank along the Spree River. Among the museums we visited were the famous Pergamon (Near East antiquities) and Haus am Checkpoint Charlie (a terrific museum about the history of the Wall). We toured the grounds of Park Sanssouci in Potsdam, whose palaces and gardens were the playground of Frederick the Great.

There is massive construction everywhere, especially at Potsdamerplatz, once a busy crossroads, then severed by the Wall, now a field of dozens of cranes building the edifices of multinational corporations; and at the Reichstag, which is totally enveloped in scaffolding (the German government moves to the new-old capital in 2000). The distinction between East and West is blurring more and more in Berlin; indeed, wherever we traveled it was hard to imagine life just ten years ago, since the commercial West is such a strong presence already.

Both being Jewish, we made special efforts (throughout our trip) to see what renewed Jewish life was like since the fall of communism. I attended Shabbat services at a Reform congregation in one of many synagogues destroyed in the 1938 pogrom Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) and visited the overgrown, vandalized old cemetery, as well as the Jewish Museum in the gilded, restored New Synagogue (“new” meaning 1884).

The subway system is daunting but, as elsewhere we traveled, run on the honor system (you are to buy a ticket and validate it in case you are randomly checked—we were never checked until we got to Budapest, where yours truly was fined all of $4.00). My modest German served me well long after we left Germany, though I spoke almost as much Hebrew with local Jews and the hordes of Israeli tourists! We tried some local specialties, including Berliner Weisse mit schuss (beer with syrup), bratwurst, döner kebab, etc., gorging ourselves (OK, myself) at the KaDeWe department store, the largest in Europe, with a food court so vast that I got lost. Of course, everything was immaculate, including the spacious public restroom—complete with Muzak, and which cleaned and disinfected itself after each use—except for the ever-present graffiti and the dust from construction.

Next up, Prague: a breathtakingly beautiful city of friendly people and exquisite architecture at every turn, classical music concerts and theatre galore. Prices are surprisingly cheap: we spent $15–$20 a night for lodging for the both of us and regularly ate well for under $5.00.

Prague escaped WWII relatively unscathed, and despite the hardships it has seen since then, the atmosphere felt much lighter there than in Berlin. Forty thousand Americans live there, and I can see why! However, we were disappointed to hear of the rampant discrimination against the Romany (gypsies) in both the Czech Republic and Hungary, where landlords and restaurateurs unabashedly refuse to rent to or serve them.

The Old Town Square was a sight to behold, a broad plaza with a huge sculpture in the middle serving as a hangout and resting place, ringed by ornate churches offering daily classical music concerts. We ate and shopped and checked e-mail along Wenceslaus Square, the site of massive demonstrations during the 1989 Velvet Revolution, now a booming commercial district. I'll never forget seeing Hradčany Castle overlooking the city, all lit up at sunset as seen from the Karlův (Charles) Bridge over the Moldau, bustling with tourists, musicians, and artists. We discovered oplatky and becherovka (a local sweet and the national liqueur) and brought home a small supply.

Remainder of trip: Terezín, Český Krumlov, Kraków, Auschwitz, Zakopane, Pecs, Budapest, Szentendre