A Chance to Celebrate

I love being there at big moments, so I was delighted when I found out that we would be in Germany on the 25th anniversary of their reunification.

Since the Germans do know how to party, I was greatly looking forward to joining in on the celebrations: you cannot deny how far this country has come and what a powerhouse it is on a worldwide stage.

Well, Berlin did not disapoint, closing off one of their main streets, just behind the Bradenburg Gate and bringing on Coca-cola as their main sponsor. So you had the entire street lined with stands selling beer, currywurst, sweets, and more beer and people from all around the world coming in with their happy attitudes and ready to party.

I have to note here that to get to the actual place where they were holding this celebration, we walked almost half the length of the famous Tiergarten after having already walked to the gate, then Potsdammer Platz. To sum it up, it was a really long walk and I wanted to turn back at several instances. But I’m glad we didn’t.

As the sun set over the city and the celebrations kicked into high gear, you could sense that will joy was the prevalent emotion, it had not come easily.

The crowd was mostly people born after the wall fell but there were older people in attendance and you could just feel their struggle as they watched everything around them. So many lives were lost and fights were fought to get to this point.

Mid-way through, fireworks went off from the nearby Reichstag building- the site of so many of their historical events. I wouldn’t say that the display was impressive but it was symbolic enough- the national anthem was being sung by everyone at that moment.