Trabi Car
When we visited Berlin in 2017, one of our fun adventures was driving a Trabant, known as a Trabi. I have to admit, I had never heard of these cars before. And when Marty suggested the tour, I was curious and so glad we did it.
Marty took the wheel as we followed our guide through the streets of Berlin, listening to directions over the radio. The route carried up past Berlin’s wall, and it was quite symbolic to be driving a car that once represented life behind the Iron Curtain.
The car itself was the major part of the experience. The Trabant was the most common automobile in East Germany, produced from the late 1950’s until the fall of the Berlin Wall. They were built out of Duroplast, a plastic composite made from recycled materials. The car was simple, noisy and underpowered. Waiting lists for these cars could stretch 10 years.
Today, these little cars are rolling pieces of history. As we drove around Berlin, people stopped to take photos as we passed. Driving one felt like we had stepped back into another era.
Read More From Nancy
The Kolonnadenhof, Museum Island
On our trip to Berlin, we spent time exploring the museums on Museum Island. There was so much to see inside that it would have been easy to hurry from one collection to the next. Instead, we found ourselves lingering in the Kolonnadenhof, the garden shared by the Alte Nationalgalerie, the Neues Museum, and the Pergamon Museum. It gave […]
Otto Weidt’s Workshop
While on a Jewish history tour in Berlin, we visited the former workshop of Otto Weidt. Unlike many Holocaust museums that focus on persecution, this small workshop tells the story of a man who chose to help others despite the personal risk. Otto Weidt owned a brush and broom workshop that employed blind and deaf […]
New Synagogue
With its gilded dome rising above Oranienburger Straße, Berlin’s New Synagogue was a prominent expression of Jewish communal life when it opened in 1866. Its scale and elaborate architecture reflected a community establishing a visible place within the growing capital. Built to designs by Eduard Knoblauch, the synagogue drew on Moorish architectural forms. Its richly […]
