Thank you Mark for being a great Tour Guide: English accents are sexy even in Berlin.
I didn’t think I would start this post like this but I was thinking of Mark when I told the lady I met on my flight home that a great guide can make the most ‘uninteresting/plain’ location the best thing and a nonchalant guide can make ‘7 wonders of the world’ rudimentary.
Mark, is a tour guide from SANDEMANs tour group in Berlin.
He is now introducing himself to the group of tourists for the day’s tour.
It was Mark that help bring Berlin to life, another guide could have possibly been awesome (or not). But, I met Mark, the guy who left London and a career teaching History in the classroom to be a guide, a teacher to visitors from all over the world.
Berlin: Hitler, East/West (Choose a Side), Nazi, The Great Wall (well, really the Berlin Wall).
We stood above the bunker where Hitler committed suicide.
But, while I was busy seeing Berlin as it was painted in my History books; a city that was divided by a wall, Mark slowly chipped that wall and showed me a city (a nation) that would not let a wall define its people, culture and way of thinking.
Berlin isn’t the city that was divided and marked by persecutions of different groups. It is the city that welcomes all. It is filled with history but also filled with an energy for progress.
Mark gives an overview about this location and the significance of the architecture and monuments. He allows the group to interact and give their own interpretation of what this could all be.
There are so many tours to take, so many memorials to visit, and so many lessons to forget but the one I remember is the one thought that Mark illustrated when we visited an architectural area recognizing lost lives from the Holocaust (will need to verify, because the area had no true description). It was the fact that the designer offered no explanation and no title so that visitors could take in the moment and come up with their own interpretation. Perhaps, decide to research on their own and learn more about the history instead of just hearing or reading one viewpoint.
Another Look: The Memorial that shall not be named.
Shadow: The memorial of the lost lives are like a mysterious shadow that one tries to understand. The memorial, with its design and no plaque allows individuals to reflect, question and come up with their own answers or research the past.
If there are no markings to tell me what this is, does it really exist?
The Path: Walking along the memorial
The tour was through SANDEMANs in Berlin and it is a free walking tour where guides are compensated with donations. It was an amazing experience and I am glad to have had Mark as a tour guide in Berlin.
Following Mark: No problem.
Make that Money: It is all through donations for this SANDEMANs tour guide.
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