Advertisement
Published: August 20th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Old station
The former Anhalter Bahnhof station across the road from our base. Yes I am aware that Berlin isn't in Eastern Europe either. Well spotted, clever clogs. But in August 1961 it became a divided city where the east and west snarled at each other face to face over a ruthlessly-constructed wall that split families and friends and which drew the Iron Curtain across Europe. What better place to launch into the east from?
A fairly dull half of the six hour journey from Amsterdam had elapsed when we entered Germany and two unsmiling police officers boarded to check passports. The Americans sitting next to us were asked to give the purpose of their visit, and the young man being questioned clearly wanted to crack a joke but thought better of it. There's something about the Germans which makes them a little more menacing than everyone else in situations like that.
A young, naive Eastern European sat behind us was searched and was found to have weed on him. He was frogmarched off the train by the unsympathetic cops, who mocked him by mimicking his mercy pleas back to him. I can't shake the feeling that he was taken straight to an underground bunker and interrogated by serious men with big
Potzdamer Platz
The sparkling new Potzdamer Platz, once the site where Berlin was divided into four. guns and even bigger dogs. I would never dream of stereotyping.
Berlin these days is the capital of Europe's premier economic power and is dazzling and new. We didn't have to wait long before being faced with striking evidence of modern Germany. In fact we arrived in one. Berlin Hauptbahnhof is a huge building as well suited for shopping as travelling, encased completely in glass and steel.
We checked into our hostel room which we were sharing with a trio of Spaniards (the two ladies were pleasingly easy on the eye) and quickly set out to see if we could find any traces of the old wall. It didn't take long, unbeknown to us we had booked ourselves into accommodation literally around the corner from not only the longest preserved stretch of wall in the city, but the Topography of Terrors, an exhibition in the heart of where Adolf Hitler and co organised their sinister operations in the 1930s and 1940s. Most of the buildings have been flattened now, but the former headquarters of the infamous Gestapo is still there and is now a museum.
It took us a couple of hours to take in the short
Prussian Parliament Building
The Parliament building just across the road from the former HQ of the Gestapo. walk to the U-Bahn via Checkpoint Charlie, the division between the American quarter of the city and the Russian, and we headed out two stops in search of a recommended "restaurant" which turned out to be a street kiosk. Fortunately there was a curry house across the road which made do instead.
Having bought the equivalent of a travelcard on the first night and used it for a total of four stops, we made sure that Tuesday saw us get value for money. We were on and off the S and U Bahns like Mr Motivator with a stepping board. The day started badly. After I dazzled the salesperson at Lichtenberg station by asking him in German for two tickets on the "Nacht Zug" to Krakow, we were informed there were none. We had already booked accommodation in Poland and had nowhere for that night in Berlin. Oops. Fortunately a quick stop at an internet cafe saw to that, and with an extra day now to play with, we headed back to the city centre to see the sights.
First up was Potzdamer Platz, the point at which the city was split into quarters controlled by French, American,
Del Boy Adams
Who does this remind you of? British and Soviet governments after the war. On the site of this significant historical sight is now a huge, flashy triangular arcade housing an IMAX cinema, restaurants and shops. We followed the tourists up to the Brandenburg Gate, stopping to look at the Holocaust Memorial along the way. The gate, built in the 18th century, was just yards from the old wall and signifies where west and east Berlin meet. We strolled up to the Reichstag but opted against joining the 100m queue for the observation dome at the top of the building which I'm sure gives a fantastic view but there are limits to my patience. I do have other things to do you know.
The next point was Bernauer Straße, one of the most significant points of the old wall, the border between the French and Russian quarters. Here, 2,000 people were made homeless when the East German government bulldozed their apartments to put up the wall to stop people fleeing the economically deprived east for the more prosperous west. Some homes were just a couple of feet from the wall and a number of occupants fell to their deaths trying to jump out of windows to
Berlin Wall
The longest preserved stretch of the wall, around the corner from our hostel. It is also next to the area where the Nazi operations took place thirty years before. get over. The Church of Reconciliation found itself in the way and was blown up just four years before the wall was to come down. A chapel has now been built to mark where it once stood.
From an observation tower, you can see a preserved piece of the "death strip" - the area between the front and back walls where anyone trying to escape was targeted by guards with orders to shoot to kill. 136 people died trying to get across from when the wall was built up until it came down in November 1989. An inscription and flowers now act as a memorial to those who perished in search of a better life.
After chilling with a couple of milkshakes at a roadside cafe, we took the tram around to the East Side Gallery where parts of the wall have been decorated with artwork. We were trying to find one of a few remaining watch towers from where armed guards kept their eye out for would-be escapees. We didn't find it though (we went back and spotted it the following day) and headed back to our lodgings for the evening, a basic hotel around the corner
Death strip
The so-called Death Strip at Bernauer Strasse, preserved and now visible from an observation tower. This section of wall divided the French and Soviet quarters in the north of the city centre. from the hostel where we had spent the previous night.
After overspending during the first week, a budget night in was in order. But fun was still desired and at a German branch of Aldi near our hotel, Si bought a bottle of Pina Colda and I managed to get a 70cl bottle whiskey and a bottle of River Cola for four euros. FOUR EUROS. Never has a man been battered so inexpensively outside Belarus.
I awoke with a severe hangover, the type that can only be obtained by drinking low-quality scotch, and a mouth that smelled like a badger had crawled in during the night and died. But there was no time to be lying around moping, for it was off to drop our large rucksacks at Lichtenberg station before setting off to the Olympic Stadium in the western suburbs. Built for the 1936 Olympics but revamped twice, most recently for the 2006 World Cup, the lavish and unusual stone clad design of the outer wall was chosen at the request of Hitler believing it made a statement about Germany and the Nazis.
Inside, the stadium holds around 74,000 and is used by Germany and Hertha
Chapel of Reconciliation
The chapel built in place of a former church which was demolished in 1985. Its congregation had been unable to access it for 24 years because it was enclosed within the death strip. Berlin. The Olympic pool was outside and it's now open to the public so any Tom Dick or Harry can go for a dip in a 6,000 seater arena. Cool.
We forewent the guided tour (it was all in German) and instead opted to buy an audio guide which consisted of an iPod-type device, a map and a pair of headphones from 1983 that made us both look utterly ridiculous.
After dinner near Lichtenberg station of a "Cheeseburger meal" (it didn't have any cheese) which tasted like dog in a bun with chips that would never have been allowed in if my stomach had a decent door policy (honestly, how do you cock up chips? I would have thought that was practically impossible) it was time to leave the western world. The night train to Krakow was boarding.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.131s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 12; qc: 47; dbt: 0.0585s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
anonymous
non-member comment
You foolish brits still have nothing but stupid prejudices about us germans. No prejudice ist that a huge part of the british society consists of the underclass. And the typical sport watched by those is football. Well from a guy who travels europe and instead of wanting to visit its cultural highlights like churches, museums or Castles is going to visit stupid soccer ground nothing else than poor education and prejudieces can be expected.