Program 771: What’s New in Berlin; Reflections on the Peace Corps

It's a city with a dense history, reflected in its many top-notch museums. A city that seems to be always finding creative ways to redefine itself. On the next Travel with Rick Steves, guides from Berlin update us on what's new in the German capital. And why they love living there.

And a former Peace Corps volunteer reflects on the value of his two-year stint, right out of college, that had him living and teaching, halfway around the world.

Come for the adventure, each week, on Travel with Rick Steves.

• Jim McDonough, tour guide from Berlin
• Holger Zimmer, tour guide from Berlin
• Tim Suchsland, author of "A Five Finger Feast" (Peace Corps Writers)

• Jim McDonough provides custom tours in Berlin and Potsdam.
• Holger Zimmer offers custom tours in Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, and Potsdam, and contributes arts and culture features for RBB kulturradio in Berlin. He can be e-mailed at [email protected].
• The Rick Steves online guide to Berlin.
• Tim Suchsland wrote "A Five Finger Feast" about his two years in Kazakhstan on an assignment with the Peace Corps. He spoke about his experiences there on Travel with Rick Steves program #764 in August 2024, and includes short phone videos from his time there on his "Go Travelopolis" YouTube page.
• The goals of the Peace Corps.

• Volume One, "mono + mono," Claude Challe: Sun Disc vol. 1 (collection) / Wagram
• SOHO_SOHO_0248_01001_Berlin_Cabaret_APM
• KPM_KPM_0541_02301_Club_Berlin_A_APM
• BM_BMLP_0079_01401_Berlin_APM
• Jerry Murad's Harmonicats, "Lindenstrasse (The Street of Linden Trees)," Try a Little Tenderness / Sony Mod-AFW
• * Academy of Ancient Music, conducted by Christopher Hogwood, "Badinerie (J. S. Bach)," Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067 / L'Oiseau-Lyre
• Boozoo Bajou, "Under My Sensi," Berlin Lounge (collection) / Wagram
• SEL_SEL_5086_00201_Happy_Intermezzo_APM
• Double Fantasy, "Lost Control," Universal Ave. / Innovative Communication
• SON_ISCD_0160_00901_Waltzing_Maria_APM
• DuOud, "Interluth," Wild Serenade / Label Bleu
• Der Plan, "Alte Pizza," Japlan / Bureau B
• Anima Sound System, "The End," Claude Challe: Sun Disc vol. 1 (collection) / Wagram
• * LeGoGo Beats, "Kavkaz New," (single) / Records DK
• Nina Simone, "Mood Indigo," The Very Best of Nina Simone, disc 1 / Disconforme
• Floratone, "Swamped," Floratone / Blue Note
• SOHO_SOHO_0132_01901_Cafe_Perdu_APM
• Aminollah Hossein, "Sheherazade - Shahriari's Prayer," Symphonic Poems from Persia / Colosseum Records
• The Other Singers, "Peace Corps Marching Song," Sing Other Songs for Other People / Essential Media Group
• MTA_MTA_0052_00201_One_Wheel_Bike_a_APM

* Indicates filler music used during internal breaks on the broadcast

• The interview in segments A and B this week is framed around "what's new" in Berlin.
• At 20:36, Jim McDonough says a new visitors center is being built at the Reichstag, projected to be completed by 2030. Holger adds that the main part of the Pergamon Museum is closed for renovations, but a temporary exhibit has been constructed around its perimeter. Jim later explains how the Friedrichstrasse renovations include turning the recently closed Galleries Lafayette department store into a state library.
• At 25:08, Rick and the guides discuss the recently opened subway route that provides easy access through the heart of the city, and the monthly transit pass that works on multiple systems.
• At 27:35, they discuss the infrastructure construction at Gendarmenmarkt that might eventually make the Spree River clean enough for swimming.
• Rick forward-promotes the segment C interview at the end of segment B by describing an impromptu campaign appearance in Ann Arbor, Michigan, by John F. Kennedy in October 1960, in which he first proposed the concept for the Peace Corps.
• Rick opens segment C summarizing the founding of the Peace Corps "in April 1961."
• At 57:20, Tim Suchsland mentions "recent flooding" in northern Kazakhstan.