Learnings of history from Berlin, Munich and Amsterdam orchestrated into random days because I forgot when I learned each cool piece of information. Having grown up in a country torn apart by WW2 and the Cold War (which led to the Korean War) military history continues to be a major curiosity point for me so much of the learning is from that topic.

Random Day 1:

• Amsterdam is seen as a beautiful city with numerous rivers and canals. Of these many rivers the Amstel river is the only true river and the rest were man-made. This is also where the city gets its name. Amsterdam is derived from "dam near the river Amstel". All along the canals, there are unique and distinct houses and many were purposely made elaborate and unique because the houses used to not have numbers. Hence, people would identify houses by the unique engravings and designs of the houses. The houses used to also be taxed on their width so some build deceptively small looking houses but they would spread out to become very large through the back. Given how Anne Frank's house was built, it seems normal for most homes in Amsterdam to be extremely long. Apparently some are so big in the back that they even have a garden with a tea house in it.

Random Day 2:

• During WW2, most major cities in Germany were decimated from the numerous air raids by the Allied powers and were rebuilt thereafter. Apparently, cities like Frankfurt, Dresden, and Hamburg were rebuilt to the new modern forms of architecture but Munich had chosen to rebuild the city exactly as it had been before it was bombed in WW2. This meant the classic appearance of the city had modern interiors as most buildings were constructed in the 1950-60s.

Random Day 3:

• Munich is the capital of Bavaria, a state in the German Federation. Germany is made up of a number of states (much like USA and Canada). Most of Germany's states were created as a result of the country's formation but Bavaria had been a sovereign kingdom beforehand. Hence, the Bavarian people were known to have a unique and strong pride in their Bavarian heritage as many saw themselves as a nation within a nation. A Bavarian native I met in Oktoberfest routinely referred to himself as a Bavarian who spoke Bavarian and that I was experiencing Bavarian traditions after my initial referral to all as "Deutsche".

Random Day 4:

• On my visit to Berlin, I noticed a significant absence of skyscrapers and any presence of an industrial/financial/commerce district. I'm a big fan of the energy of financial districts and upon inquiry learned that many major companies moved their HQs out of Berlin after WW2 because they didn't want to be isolated into East Germany. Though Berlin was split into the West and East, the capital city itself was deep in East Germany. This actually explained why the German stock exchange was in Frankfurt, why many banks based out of Frankfurt and Munich and why industrial companies based out of Hamburg. It also explained why there were a number of 5-6 major cities in the country instead of one or two major cities like Toronto in Canada or London in the UK. Berlin currently has a population of about 3.5M but that is still shy of its height in 1939 of 4M. What seems to have been left as result of this is a unique city with a mix of culture from the East and West (quite literally) that does make it a truly unique capital city though it was one I considered to resemble a kind of sadness despite the city's celebration of freedom on 30 years since the tearing of the wall. It still begs the question in my mind of what it would've been like if Korea had unified 30 years ago.

Random Day 5:

• Upon visiting the Bundestag (the German parliament building and historically known as the Reichstag.. the Soviet view of the Nazi HQ) I had a chance to understand a bit about the political development of what is now the largest economy of continental Europe. After losing WW1 the German monarchy ended and the Weimar Republic formed. It was Germany's first attempt at democracy and it was such a chaotic time that they couldn't even form it in Berlin so formed it in a town at the center of the country, Weimar. This had the basic structure of the current Federal Republic of Germany with a president, chancellor, and parliament. However, it quickly dissolved to make way for Hitler's Third Reich (Third Empire). Hitler saw the Holy Roman Empire as the 1st empire and the German Empire up to WW1 as the 2nd empire and he was to create the 3rd empire.. what he later dreamed up to be Germania. After WW2, the West formed the Federal Republic of Germany and it started in Bonn as the capital (Berlin) was deep in East Germany. It eventually moved to Berlin with the unification of Germany. But odd how the Weimar Republic (Weimar), Nazi Gov't (Munich) and Federal Republic (Bonn) started not in Berlin. But something I was very happy to learn was the amount of responsibility future descendants took of what happened in WW2. Maybe I had great tour guides but whether it be in Berlin or Munich... all my tour guides had this deep and personal regret to what Germany had done in WW2. It was as if they personally felt responsible and needed to make right. The numerous amount of memorials to all victims scattered around Germany is one example. But what I considered to be a particular act of courage was what they had inside the Bundestag. The Bundestag is an architectural beauty with the famous 'dome' by Henry Foster. I voiced to my girlfriend that if I could come to work in this beautiful building I would consider a job in government. But what upheld the architecture were walls filled with grafitti from the Soviet soldiers who took over the old Reichstag to host the Soviet flag to signify the fall of Berlin, Nazi Power and end to WW2 in Europe. The graffiti (when translated) were filled with anti-German inscriptions with Soviets condemning Germany in so many ways. These graffiti were well preserved and are now erasable and condone the walls that German parliament members have to walk through to do their job. Most countries would cover up their faults and insults to them because of shame and embarrassment. Nations like Japan erase and deny what they've done but to see what the German people did in answer to WW2 I was extremely impressed.