Mention Leipzig to most travelers and they might just look at you like you’ve sprouted two heads. Little do they know this city has played a pivotal role in German history more than once! The first is through a certain composer by the name of Johann Sebastian Bach. He spent the last 27 years of his life as the cantor at St. Thomas Church (Thomaskirche) and is even buried here. I joined Houston native and visiting Pastor, Reverend Robert Moore to learn more about Bach’s contributions and how he helped Leipzig become known as the City of Music.

Only a little over an hour from Leipzig is the type of smaller town that packs a punch – a porcelain punch to be exact. Meissen (or Meißen) has been around since the 900s, but what really put it on the map was when it became the very first European porcelain manufacturer in 1710. Back then all of Europe was in love with Chinese porcelain and went to great lengths to pay for it! Only under Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony, did scientists finally figure out the formula. It didn’t take long after this discovery for production to start in Meissen. Tour guide Heidi Diessner took me through the present-day factory to see how artists still use the same handicraft practices now as they did 300 years ago.

Remember how I said Leipzig impacted German history more than once? Well, the second time this city played a historical role was in bringing down Communism in Germany! Following World War II, it found itself a part of the German Democratic Republic and faced a dictatorship with little in the way of freedom. I joined guide Yvonne Walter at the Leipzig Forum of Contemporary History (Zeitgeschichtliches Forum Leipzig) to learn how peaceful prayers at St. Nicholas Church soon became a demonstration so large that the East German government immediately enacted a travel law that brought the Berlin Wall down overnight.

28 years, that’s exactly how Berlin existed. Following World War II when Germany was divided into the communist east and democratic west, Berlin, which was located in the east, was also further divided in half. In 1961, East Germany built the 70-mile long concrete barrier to keep its citizens from escaping, and when it fell in 1989, it was seen as the symbolic end to the larger, decades-long Cold War. With Berlin on Bike guide Sascha Möllering, I biked around to different landmarks while he told me what it was like actually being there the day the wall came down.

It would be remiss of us to visit Germany and not focus on another, darker time in its history – the Holocaust. However, even as we remember this genocide, the ramifications of which are still felt to this day, we must also never forget the everyday heroes who risked their lives saving as many innocent people as they could. One of those heroes is Otto Weidt and tucked away near Hackescher Markt, you can visit a museum dedicated to his work. I joined researcher Elisabeth Anschütz as she shared stories of how Weidt, an important producer of brooms and brushes, was able to protect a number of Jews, specifically blind and deaf Jews, at his workshop.

When looking for souvenirs, visit The Inclusive Manufactory (Die Inklusiv Manufaktur). What started as a public school for the blind in 1864 has morphed into a company where people with and without disabilities work together to create beautiful, handcrafted goods. Onsite, the DIM team designs and manufactures everything from ceramics to wooden toys to furniture, but their specialty is with brushes.

Some may say currywurst is that food but I have it on good authority that, really, you don’t want to miss the doner kebabs. And nowhere does them better than the Kreuzberg district of Berlin. Known as one of the city’s hippest neighborhoods, this is where the cool kids congregate! Because of its large Turkish population, it’s also home to a number of fast-food restaurants that serve up mouthwatering doner kebabs and more. I got my fix at Hasir Turkish Restaurant, which has been around since 1970.