Peter Eddington and Clay Thornton arrived in Berlin today on the first stop of a five day trip to Germany.

They were met at the Berlin-Tegel airport by UCG-Germany editorial staff member Jesmina Allaoua, who had arrived herself an hour earlier from the Cologne-Bonn airport. Jesmina accompanied Peter and Clay throughout their visit and made all the arrangements for their itinerary in Germany. The first stop after arriving was the Schilton Hotel in Berlin-Spandau. The hotel was once the non-commissioned officers’ quarters for the British army in Berlin. After checking in, it was time to start getting video footage of Berlin. At Checkpoint Charlie Peter and Clay saw the former crossing point between the Russian and American sectors of post-war Berlin. The checkpoint became famous during the Cold War when the Berlin wall went up. As press representatives, Peter, Clay and Jesmina were able to tour the "Berlin wall museum" with its visual history of the 48 years of the wall.

The weather in Berlin was perfect with sunny skies and warm temperatures. The weather showcased the vibrant German capital of four million people. Clay mentioned that some Americans have images of a destroyed city in mind when they think of Berlin. With the unification of the once divided city and the return of Germany’s government to Berlin, the number of construction cranes has again multiplied. During the years of the "Wirtschaftswunder" following World War II, there were so many construction cranes in major German cities that some people joked about the crane being Germany’s national bird. That’s the impression you have again when you visit certain parts of Berlin, as Peter and Clay discovered. The areas most affected are those where government ministries have offices and areas that were previously off-limits since they were in "no go"-zones near the Berlin wall. One of the most impressive areas for new construction is at Potsdam square, which in pre-war Berlin was one of the busiest intersections in all of Europe but lay dormant during the Berlin wall era.

After a full afternoon and early evening of film work, the crew returned to the Schilton Hotel for a well deserved first night’s rest in Germany.