The Road Home: A Powerful Pause in Berlin

As our motorhome journey home began winding down after weeks of adventure, snow, and starry skies, we made one last stop that would stay with us long after the engine cooled—Berlin. This city, bold and honest in its remembrance, gave us a chance to pause and reflect on some of history’s most defining moments.

The Holocaust Memorial: A Sea of Silence

We began at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. 2711 grey concrete slabs stretch out like a solemn sea in the heart of Berlin—stark, quiet, and heavy with meaning. As you walk through, the ground dips and the slabs rise, until you’re completely engulfed. It’s a feeling of disorientation, grief, and stillness.

Beneath the memorial lies a powerful information centre where stories of the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust are preserved. Letters, photographs, and names fill the space with emotion. It’s not just a place you visit—it’s a place you feel.

The Berlin Wall Memorial: A City Divided

Later that day, we made our way to the Berlin Wall Memorial, where a preserved section of the Wall still stands. For nearly 30 years, this concrete barrier split the city in two—East vs. West, oppression vs. freedom. We walked along the strip where the Wall once stood, imagining what life would’ve been like for the people separated by ideology, fear, and barbed wire.

There’s something deeply moving about seeing the old guard towers, the "death strip," and personal stories of escape attempts—some successful, many tragic. It’s a sobering reminder of how fragile freedom can be.

Glienicke Bridge: The Bridge of Spies

Before we left Berlin, we took a slight detour to a place that feels like something out of a Cold War spy novel—because it is. The Glienicke Bridge, also known as the Bridge of Spies, connects Berlin and Potsdam over the River Havel.

During the Cold War, this unassuming bridge became the site of secret spy exchanges between the United States and the Soviet Union. The most famous took place in 1962, when U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers, shot down over the USSR in his U-2 spy plane, was traded here for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel—an event dramatized in the Spielberg film Bridge of Spies.

Standing on the bridge today, it's peaceful—swans glide across the river and tourists stroll quietly—but knowing what took place here gives the air a strange stillness, like history whispering just beneath the surface.

A Different Kind of Journey

This part of the road trip was unlike the rest. It wasn’t about landscapes or snowboarding or sunshine. It was about remembering. About standing in places where history happened and allowing ourselves to feel it.

Berlin didn’t just show us what was—it showed us how far humanity can come. How remembrance, healing, and hope can live side by side.