Berlin

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This three day trip was probably the most interesting history and cultural lesson I have ever had in my life. Steve (another RMIT intern at Airbus) and me were taken on a road trip to Berlin by our mate Christian who basically explained to us all the political history relevant to Berlin in the car on the way there. So with all this information still fresh in my mind I went and explored the city and all the significant sites over 2 big days which were filled with caffeine so that I could fit everything in…

I had a great list (thanx to my lonely travel guide) and I was determined to get through it, even if it meant sleeping only 3hrs and exploring by myself because the others decided to catch up on sleep. So what did I see? The remainders of the Berlin Wall, The Bundeburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, the Holocaust Memorial, German Parliament all the important historical stuff basically. I found it really hard to imagine the separation between the East and the West, especially considering that the wall only came down as recently as 1989. And from talking to people it seems that the wall was a very efficient method in keeping the Berlin separated.

In the east they had only the cars they produced and could only trade with other communist countries so fruits such as bananas were practically non existent there, not having bananas seems like a trivial issue but imagine how effective the system would have had to have been to separate one city in such a way.

Even though Berlin is one city now, unfortunately there are still clear signs that Berlin is still separated in some way to this day. For example when driving to Berlin instead of having the signs saying Berlin City there are signs for Berlin City East and Berlin City West even thought they are in the ‘same area’. Also there are trams only operating in East Berlin. And I have been told that the salaries are still lower in the East which understandably fuels animosity between the two halves of the city.

The Holocaust Memorial is only new and it is very well planned and because the regulate the number of people entering it is really easy to see everything and it gives a solid history of the Holocaust however it was nowhere near as powerful or as disturbing as Dachau.

Even though I used every minute I had in Berlin, the city is so huge that another couple of days would have been good and I wouldnt advise for anyone to spend any less than two days there. There is just so much to see.

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Photos

Museum Island
Berlin has over 170 museums!
The Pergamon is a must see

Checkpoint Charlie 1
Steve getting in trouble for touching the flag and not paying his 1 Euro to get a photo there.

Checkpoint Charlie
I found the details of all the escape attempts (successfull & unsucessfull) the most interesting at the museum. The funniest one was when the wall went up some guy got seperated from his wife, so he found himself a girlfirend that resembled his wife and somehow got visas to go accross to the East. Once there he found his wife, stole his girlfriend's papers and took his wife accross to the West with him leaving the other woman in the East!

Callum and I at the Belin Wall
Callum is another RMIT student and he had just arrived in Berlin to do his praktikum in Berlin with Siemens. Always good to see familiar faces from Oz :)

F3 & Tackleberry
On the way to Berlin we stopped over in Kiel for a night to go to a punk rock concert because the bands were mates of Christian's. Yes I sat through the whole thing and it was an 'experience' but when the offer came to go to another the following night in Berlin I quickly declined. Not being to able to understand a single word at a concert that was completely in English is not excatly my cup of tee! But nevertheless, the punk rockers were really nice guys.

Berlin from above
Because we waited for an hour or so to get up, we felt we had to stay up there for at least an hour soaking in the view to justify the wait but the view was definately worth the wait

May Day Eve In Berlin
May Day Eve in Berlin is basically an excuse for heaps of strange people to run riots justfying it as a protest....a protest about everything. So of course there was Police everywhere even the cars were filled with them. But no-warned us that the streets would be filled with people wearing only black so Steve, Callum & I stuck out like sore thumbs in cream and light grey tops. Bad idea in that crowd so we left pretty quickly!

The paper car
These cars were manufactured by East Germany for their citizens and had to be ordered when the child was born. they were a mixture of metal, paper and plastic :S

Gate of Babylon
The Pergamon is one cool museum. It is a collection of artifacts from Ancient civillisations and they have bought in entire structures and put it in one massive building. For example, they shipped over the gate of Bablyon brick by brick, very impressive.

Pergamon Altar
Another piece of history. All of carvings detailing the story of a battle between the Gods has been bought over and put on the walls of the museum.

Pergamon Altar 1
I can't get over the fact that this level of detail was preserved

Me at the Berlin Wall
The only other remaining section of the Berlin wall, but because this is a bit out of the city its less touristy and is thefore not fenced off, and it is also the longer section. Its strange because you can tell excatly where the wall would have gone because of the areas where there is simply nothing but grass.