Gregory E.
Yelp
Today I wanted to write a review about a tour I took of the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. I lived in Germany for 16 years, but for some reason I never took a trip to the country's capital; last summer I decided to go on a trip with my best friends. A few days before we went, I watched Race, which is a biographical film about Jesse Owens who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Not only was he the first athlete to accomplish this in track and field, but he was also African American. This caught my attention and made me want to give the Stadium a visit; since I would already be in Berlin it was killing two birds with one stone.
As far as transportation, my friends and I just took the regular city train and walked the remaining distance. It was very cost efficient and is a great alternative to beat the city traffic. Before entering into the stadium, there is an entrance building we had to walk through first to pay. The cashier was extremely nice and gave us an overview of the entire experience. All the workers were very welcoming and even shared what their favorite part of the stadium was.
Our tour guide gave amazing service; she was super friendly and brought a great amount of energy to the tour. She was very outgoing and you could tell she was extremely passionate about her job. She first started the tour by giving us a history lesson of the artifacts that stood outside of the stadium. As we began to enter the stadium, she gave us background information about the 1936 Olympics and the significance it had at the time being. She answered everybody's questions and even shared a personal experience about her first time coming here when she was younger. We had a good balance of being guided and having personal time to walk around on our own.
The last part of the tour was going to the area where the torch was lit. On the walls around us were all the names of athletes who placed during the 1936 Olympics. Not only was their names engraved but the events they placed and what country they represented. As I was gazing through the names, I saw Jesse Owens. From watching his life, on a TV screen a week ago, to now actually standing where he made history gave me chills. It still amazes me how inspirational having your name on a wall can be; this made me take a moment and appreciate everything that I was surrounded by. At the end of the tour, our tour guide concluded by telling us how much she enjoyed being able to share this moment with us. Before we could exit, we had to go through the gift shop to get out. They had a variety of souvenirs we could purchase and a statue where you could take pictures.
Overall, the entire tour was amazing; the employees working there went above and beyond to make sure we had a great experience. The tour had a positive impact on me because it really gave me a first-hand experience of history. Reading about something in a textbook is one thing, but actually being able to witness it with your own eyes has a different impact. This brought me to the conclusion of how something that we love like sports can bring millions of people together as one. The local area is already a tourist attraction since it's the capital, but the stadium just makes it even more significant. I would give this experience 5 stars and recommend it to anybody visiting Germany. I definitely will make another visit the next time I'm in town again.