From the Berlin Wall to the TV Tower: Exploring Berlin on Our Own

Today marked the beginning of the true FIT—Fully Independent Travel—portion of this trip.

The rental car has been returned, which means we are now 100% dependent on Berlin’s public transportation system: buses, trains, trams, subways, and apparently anything else that can get us from Point A to Point B. I joked that bicycles and unicycles might be next.

This is exactly the kind of travel I would never attempt on my own. I worry about getting lost, ending up somewhere I shouldn’t be, and most importantly, figuring out how to get back to the hotel.

Our first subway station did not exactly build my confidence. Walking into it felt a little creepy, almost like the opening scene of a murder mystery. Had I been alone, there is a good chance I would have turned around and headed straight back to the hotel.

A dimly lit passageway leads to a subway station beneath an abandoned East German airport terminal, with brick walls and retro geometric designs adding an eerie atmosphere.

Fortunately, I’m traveling with a friend who grew up in East Germany, knows Berlin, and speaks German. That certainly helps—although, for the record, we still managed to get lost a couple of times. Once we got moving, however, the day became an incredible journey through Berlin’s history.

One of our stops brought us near the Reichstag, the German parliament building and the site of one of the pivotal events in Germany’s modern history. On February 27, 1933, just four weeks after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor, the Reichstag was set on fire.

The Nazis used the fire to blame communists, suspend civil liberties, arrest political opponents, and restrict freedom of speech, the press, and assembly. Within weeks, the Enabling Act gave Hitler’s government extraordinary powers, helping transform Germany from a democracy into a dictatorship.

The majestic Reichstag building stands proudly after its reconstruction, symbolizing resilience and serving once again as the seat of the German government.

It is one thing to teach or read about 1933. It is something entirely different to stand in Berlin where these events unfolded and consider how quickly political institutions and individual freedoms can change.

We also visited the Brandenburg Gate. Today, thousands of people casually walk through its arches, take pictures, and move between what were once East and West Berlin without thinking twice about it. Before the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, this area looked completely different. The gate stood within the heavily guarded border zone, inaccessible to ordinary traffic between the two sides.

The gate is a monument to the German people built in 1788 became a dividing line between the west and the east during the Cold War.

We continued exploring remnants of the divided city, including sections of the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie. Less than four decades ago, this city represented one of the most visible dividing lines of the Cold War. Today, we traveled back and forth across that former boundary by foot, train, tram, and subway.

That contrast is difficult to ignore, especially when your travel companion actually grew up on the East German side of that history.

Visitors explore the historic Checkpoint Charlie, a symbol of the Cold War, where East and West Germany were once divided.

Checkpoint Charlie was another reminder of how real that division once was. Today it is surrounded by visitors, but during the Cold War it was a famous crossing point between East and West Berlin. Seeing it with someone who remembers life behind the Iron Curtain adds a perspective no guidebook can reproduce.

We spent time at Berlin’s Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and the museum beneath it. Rather than focusing primarily on artifacts, the museum tells the personal stories of those whose lives were destroyed by the Holocaust. Through photographs, letters, and family histories, the millions of victims become individuals with names, families, and lives. After visiting Buchenwald and Auschwitz earlier on this trip, this memorial added another emotional perspective to what I had already experienced. The stories are heartbreaking and difficult to forget. It is a powerful reminder that behind every historical statistic was a human being whose story deserves to be remembered.

A solemn view of the above-ground section of the memorial, featuring rows of concrete blocks, symbolizing and commemorating the victims of Nazi extermination, against a backdrop of a cloudy sky.

This FIT experiment is also teaching me that independent travel does not mean everything goes perfectly. Sometimes you take the wrong train or walk the wrong direction. You adjust and keep moving.

After spending the day walking around, through, and even underneath Berlin, we finished with dinner high above the city at the Berlin TV Tower

Stunning panoramic view of the cityscape from the TV tower, located on the former East German side, enhancing a memorable dining experience.

.The tower remains a functioning broadcast structure, but its restaurant offers remarkable views across Berlin. After experiencing the city all day at street level, there was something fitting about ending the evening looking down over it from above.

And yes, despite getting lost a couple of times, we made it back.

For me, that may have been an accomplishment all by itself.