Just another brick in the Berlin Wall...

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I met my good friend Matilda at Berlin station- was great to see her! We eventually found our way to our hosts' house, and dumped our bags. Sebastian was in the house, he is from Munster orignally but lives and works in Berlin. His girlfriend Claudia is Italian and works at Check Point Charlie museum, so that is where we decided to go, to see her. We found her looking very bored on the shop desk, so think she was pleased to see us! She let us in to the museum the back way, which meant we saw all the stuff about tearing down the wall and all the escape attempts, but because the museum was so huge we never got to find out why the wall was built in the first place! So we left a bit confused and hungry, so went to find some food. But first we went to see the actual Check Point Charlie, just across the road from the museum. It was small and you couldn't go in, and there was a huge picture of a really young American soldier, which we thought was a bit weird! We took some pictures of us behind the stack of sandbags and then went to get food.
Claudia suggested we go to the Carnival in Berlin, get some food and see some music, but when we got there it just looked like carnage and so many people to we found an Italian restaurant and had pizza instead! Matilda said the pasta she had was just as good as proper Italian! After dinner we met up with Sebastian and Claudia and they took us to a bar, it was very kitch, 60's style-really cool! And there I had my first taste of German beer, it was good! So we chatted for a while, Claudia and Sebastian are very lovely people, interesting to talk to. Then we headed home, Matilda and I were sleeping in the living room, with the mad cat! He is very sweet but is constantly attacking things, including Claudia! Bless him!

In the morning we met Sebastian and Claudia's housemate Iulia, who is from Romania, and chatted to her for a bit, then went to a little Turkish bakery for some pastries. The place where Claudia and Sebastian live has a huge Turkish community. We wanted to go to museum island (how cool does that sound??). On the way there we found a little market and I brought some old war time badges for a euro each. The first museum we went in was the Altes museum, which although it looks huge from the outside was quite small and didn't have too much in it, so we didn't spend long. It was full of classical antiquities. Opposite that museum is the Berliner Dom, a very ornate cathedral, which you can go up to the top and view Berlin. When you get almost to the top there is a corridor which runs round the outside with windows, we thought that was it but then realised there were more steps to go up to outside! There was a great view of the other museums, the river and the TV tower. And it had brightened up so it was quite a clear day! After that we were hungry so decided to go back to the market and get a bratwurst- yummy!
We wanted to go into Neues museum and when we got there I realised I had lost my Berlin card, which would have got me in free, how annoying! A kind lady in the queue told me her mother was ill so couldn't go in the museum, so she gave me the ticket bless her!
The Neues museum was great though, it had loads of Egyptian stuff, including Nefertiti's bust which I got very excited about. Matilda said she loved the look on my face when I spotted it 😊 She was so beautiful! And we also saw some things from Troy and some Prehistoric objects. When we left the museum we spotted a man giving rides on his peddle bike, so we decided to take a ride to Brandenburger Tor. So we sat in the back while he peddled along and told us about what we were going past, the National museum, the place where book burning took place, the street with Check Point Charlie on it...
Brandenburger Tor was impressive, we walked through it a few times, just because we could, as when the Wall was up no one could go through, it was in what they called the 'death strip' basically if you went in there you got shot. While we were staring in awe at the tower a funny bike went past that rides 7 people, they all sit round in a circle peddling, it was great! We walked down the road a bit to the site of the book burning during the Nazi regime. There is a plaque on the floor of the square explaining (in German so we couldn't read it) and an artist had made a memorial- a hole in the ground with glass over so you can see through, and under the ground is a library with empty shelves, showing what the world would be like if there were no books. In our Berlin card book it mentionned a German restaurant that served proper German food so we decided to try it. I had meatballs (they were huge!) and potato dumpling and vegetables. Matilda had liver, I tried some, it was actually quite nice! With the Berlin card we could get a discount, only of course I lost mine, but the waitress scolded me ''just this once!'' so she let me off!

Next day we went to see the Reichstag, but there was a huge queue so we didn't go in. Still, impressive building! Near the Reichstag, on the other side of the Brandenburger Tor, is the Jewish Holocaust Memorial. Walking through it is like walking through a very oppressive graveyard, there are huge concrete blocks, all in rows, surrounding you. Beneath the memorial is a museum, which we went in to, but not for long. The stories you read about the people, the fact that it's underground and there is low light, it all made me feel quite ill, then when we went outside again we were still in this oppressive graveyard type place, I felt quite claustrophobic, it was horrible! We went to have a picnic in the Teirgarden to catch our breath. We sat in this strange little place with these huge rocks, all of different materials. Nearby was the site of Hitler's bunker, not there anymore so you can't see anything, but we read the information board!
Next we went to Alexanderplatz to have a look at the TV tower, huge and cery impressive but 11 euros to go up so we didn't go. The area around was really nice though, looked very 70s but it had a nice feel.
We wanted to go to see a bit of the Berlin Wall, so we went to the East Side gallery, a huge stretch that after the wall came down a lot of artists painted. Because it had been 20 years since the wall came down, in 2009 all the original artists came back and repainted their work, so it was all fresh. Some of the paintings were magnificent. I was very excited to see one painting that was used in Pink Floyd movie The Wall, the same characters and everything. One section of the wall was completely blank and people had written their names on it, so Matilda and I of course put our signatures on as well 😊
Last stop on our very busy tourist day was the Stasi museum, which was very interesting, it was in the building they had used, very bland and overpowering, a little bit scary! They had all the spy equipment they had used, some of it was hilarious- a hollowed out log with a huge camera in it, not very subtle! But some was a bit more clever, like the jacket with a camera in the button hole. We met up with Claudia for tea, and went to another German restaurant, where the food and wine (and conversation!) was really good. While we were waiting for Claudia a man with a parrot on his shoulder started talking to us, asking for directions! We were a bit shocked it was really funny! Matilda was pleased, she said that is just what she expected in Berlin haha!

Next morning was Matilda's last in Berlin, so we went to the last museum on museum island: the Pergamon museum. It was fantastic, they had all these massive buildings from Pergamon, Rome, Greece, Assyria that looked so impressive in the museum. We were there for a long time, each room had something fascinating, it was a great museum. We met up with Claudia for lunch and went to a vegetarian cafe. I had roasted veg and cheese wraps and a fruit smoothis, was really good! Matilda wanted to get her passport stamped, as I had the day before, as if you are going through a heck point. When the wall was up, if you wanted to get from East to West Berlin you had to get 7 stamps in your passport, from all the different places, a feat which few people managed. So it was great to get all 7 stamps in our passports!
Matilda had to fly home after that, so we said a sad goodbye at the metro station and off she went. I went with Claudia to the museum again for a bit, and met her friend Paulo. Then I went back to their flat for a quiet afternoon, I spent some time on the computer and had a relaxing bath, and cooked myself some food, it was nice!

Next morning I said goodbye to Claudia, as I was going to spend the next few days with another couchsurfer. I decided to go to Potsdam for the day. It is a little town just ourside Berlin where there is a huge park. It is a very sweet little town, and the people there seem really happy. I decided it would be a good place to retire! The park was fantastic. I found a little church called the Peace Church, which had courtyards and fountains and statues, and was indeed very peaceful. The palace gardens were gorgeous as well, a huge fountain in the middle with tiers of trees going up, but all the trees were against the wall of the teir, and had doors on them, as if they were in their own little greenhouses. There was a Chinese house which was very cute as well, I went inside and the wall paper, ceiling paintings, and gold furnishings were fantastic to see. A little further on was a Roman baths (not actually Roman, one king wanted to build a baths as if it was Roman), and another building in the Poet's Corner, which had fountains and a rose garden. Further on again was another palace, more grand and more formal gardens. A botanical garden and orangery, and then I was back at the orginal palace. The park was huge and there were so many features, I didn't really have time to take it all in. It was so lovely to be out of the city and in the countryside though! I headed back to Berlin to meet my couchsurfer Caro. She is a teacher in Berlin, just finished her studies, so knows all there is to know about Berlin, she was great to stay with! She had spent 6 months in Egypt as a private tutor to some German children, whose parents were there running a hospital. So I loved hearing all about that, and first thing we did together was go out and get some Egyptian food!- kofta and salad and falafel yummy! The area she took me was a bit of an alternative area of Berlin. There were all these 'back yards' behind the buildings where there a little hidden gems. Like one sweet little backyard had a cookie shop where they help youths who have difficulty finding work to learn a trade. Of course we brought some cookies and they were great! The shop also has a little cookie vending machine outside, where they put fresh cookies everyday. We went into some interesting 'bitty' shops, which were great, I brought Matilda a postcard of a make-your-own TV tower, which I thought was very cool! Then we went to this alternative art gallery area, it was a large run down building that was used as a squat but now local artists can put their work in there. It had a great feel to the place, and interesting art work. When you go in there are these huge animals made of metal, a horse, a bear, a monkey, a tortoise, loads of others. And a giant musical note that Caro liked, and a giant man. We explored the different workshops for a while then headed back home to sleep!

Next morning Caro and I had breakfast together then Caro had to go to an appointment. I met her later on at a fantastic travel shop called globe trotters, that sells everything for travel. They have an area with different surfaces you can walk on to try out your shoes, and a pool in the middle where you can try out the canoes! It was a great shop! We went for lunch nearby and I had a curry wurst, it was so tasty, I loved it! It's like sausage with a lovely curry sauce and chips, was great! Then we went to the Botanical garden to meet up with Sebastian and Claudia. We all had a lovely walk together in the 3rd biggest Botanical garden in Europe (or something like that..) until we lost Claudia and Sebastian because it was so big, we couldn' find them! So Caro and I went to explore the greenhouses, with lots of tropical plants and cactus' and interesting things. Then I had a message from Claudia saying they had left so we left too. We went home and had a quiet night in and watched 'Freedom writers', a film about kids in the gangs of America, and one teacher who helped them. Was a good film.

In the morning Caro took me to the Berlin Wall memorial. One area still had the wall up, in the original position, with some blocks moved to the other side of the 'death strip' and left there. There was a memorial to a lot of the people who died during the time the wall was up, showing their photos, and some information boards telling you about how there used to be a church in the area, until they decided to put the wall up and it was in the way so they demolished it. They also dug up a load of the graves that were in the way and moved all the bodies. On the other side is a little chapel showing where the church used to be. The cross that was on top of the church is still laying on the floor, and the bells of the church have been housed in a wooden structure nearby. The chapel is made of wood and wattle and daub type material so that it looks as though it isn't a permanent fixture. Underneath the chapel you can see an unexploded American bomb they found when they were making the chapel. Apparently they find these in Berlin about every 2 weeks or something, and have to evacuate the area while they disable it!
There is a documentation centre for the wall, showing a video shot just after the wall was opened, in a helicopter. It goes all along the wall showing where it used to run. From the top of the documentation centre you can see into a reconstrustion of the wall, showing the 2 parallel walls, the death strip in between, with street lamps so no one can hide, and a watch tower. No grass is allowed to grow in the area, and a path going down the middle is where the guards and dogs would patrol. It looks impossible to cross. I think they did it really well because from the street you can't see over that bit of wall or get inside the area, so you get a feel for what it would have actually been like.
Caro and I were going to a film festival this weekend, called Road Junky Films, which is why I ended up staying a bit longer in Berlin! So we headed to where the festival was to get some food. Caro took me to a great restaurant in the area, quite posh and expensive so she paid bless her! I had these fantastic egg noodles that tasted so good, and Caro had some gammon-type meat with fried egg, so I tried some of that as well. I love German food, it is so rich and tasty, they really don't mess around! We also brought some cake to eat in the festival, but it got squashed so it wasn't quite as good as it should have been! still tasty though...
I am so gald I stayed for the festival, it was fantastic! It was small, a little room with a screen and projector, obviously done with very little money by some people who simply wanted to share some travel experiences. There were few people, although it got busier as the weekend went on. We were all sat around on the floor, it was like we were just a group of friends watching a film, so cosy! There were some fantastic speakers, 2 french guys who went on a world tour, hitch-hiking everywhere (including on boats and planes!) so they had a lot to say about their adventures. One girl showed some films she had taken while living in China, they were fantastic because the people had no reaction to the fact that she was filming them. One gilr she was filming for about 10 minutes sat at her clothes stall looking very bored, the girl paid no interest to the gilr with the camera at all. One film I particularly liked was the 'tea mall' where a girl was pouring tea and doing all the ritual that goes with it, it was fantastic!
Another fascinating talk was by a French man who went hitch-hiking around the world, it started out as 2 years but in the end it was 5! When he got to North America he decided he wanted to give talks about his hitch-hiking experiences and how great it is to do. So he made a bit of money giving presentations to schools and clubs about his experiences. He hitched a ride on a tiny boat with one man on it across the Pacific to New Zealand. The man was pleased because he said his wife didn't want him to do it alone, and the French guy was a bit worried when he say 'sailing for dummies' book on the boat! When he got to India and China he gave more talks at schools, and he said the children there were so fascinated about other cultures. Part of the speech he gave was talking about how he thinks peace on earth is possible, and he is currently working for a sports organisation that promotes playing sport between different cultures to help build relationships. He lives in France now with his wife, who he met in Panama during his travels, and he's only 32! I honestly have never seen a more happy man in my life!
The festival went on very late that night, but I decided afterwards that I would take Claudia up on her inviation to go to a Turkish Gay night at a club, and I'm glad i did! Caro decided not to come but she came with me to meet Claudia, who was already quite drunk! The music was great to start with but I have to say it did get a bit repetitve after a while, and all these Turkish gay men around, it was quite hilarious, definately an experience!
The festival the next day began with a film about an Indian myth about Rama and Sita, done like a cartoon, it was pretty cool. Then a man gave a talk about how he lived in Mongolia and he had to have his appendix taken out, and was telling us these horror stories about the hospital, like how they basically operate on you then leave you to recover on your own, so all the patients help each other out and give each other the injections they need and things! One man called Florian gave a talk about couchsurfing, how he uses and how it changed his life, which was great because that's what I am using as well!
Then was the talk I had been waiting for, my couchsurfing host in Brugge had told me about this festival because her friend Anick-Marie was doing a talk about women travelling alone. It was a great talk, gave lots of advice and was very inspiring. She was also promoting hitch-hiking, she does it all the time on her own, and is a neo-nomad, so lives in all different places around Europe. Anick-Marie is a fantastic person, I introduced myself to her the day before and we had a chat, she is great! The last talk was from the guy who organised the festival, 'Tom Thumb', who went to India with no money at all. He had some great stories to tell as well. The festival ended with a film competition, 19 short travel films, all interesting and different. The one I voted for was about an African man who was looking after 21 children, mostly nephews and nieces whose parents had died. He was so jolly, it was a great film!
So the festival was definately worth staying in Berlin for, I had a great time and was so glad Caro came with me. I was really sad to leave her, we became good friends and I hope she can meet me somewhere else on my travels.

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