Auf Wiedersehen, Berlin. Bis Bald.

I may not drink their coffee but I love Starbuck's
"You are Here" mugs.
I need a shelf like this at home!

Well all good things must come to an end and I knew the 2 full days we had would certainly not be enough to cover all that I hoped to see. But that is a good thing....means we really do have to come back! Even Alan is looking forward to our return!

Checkpoint Charlie is behind me in this photo.
Our hotel is just beyond that triangular building
with all the glass.  So close! 

The hotel we stayed in was perfectly in between 2 U-Bahn stations,but Stadt Mitte was just a wee bit closer.  We also knew it would not take us that long to get to the airport, so we had time for breakfast, right at the corner next to the Checkpoint Charlie replica.

We were just a bit early though, no customers or tourists yet to pay their £ 3 Euro for a photo, so this soldier was actually checking his phone!  He did move himself out of range of our cameras though. Even actor soldiers have to keep up appearances!

We did some last minute shopping at the souvenir shops and then checked out of our hotel to retrace our footsteps to get back to Berlin Schonefeld airport.

It literally is only 3 u-bahns or trains to get there and takes about 1 1/2 hours.

One of the ticket inspectors

After almost exactly 72 hours of unlimited public transport, we realised no one had ever checked our tickets.  And just at that thought, our U-bahn left the station and the 3 doors to enter it had normal looking men at them. But these were not "normal" men, these were ticket checkers!  (They probably have a better name that sounds more official but I don't know what it is.)  There was no way to avoid these men and they did a pincer move so that each and every passenger's ticket was checked.  (We were ok, still had about 20 minutes on it, plenty of time!)  This exact situation happened to us in Bydgosch, Poland as well.  After 3 days on our bus pass and wondering if they were EVER looked at, the same sort of surprise arrival and pincer movement of officials happened on our way back to that airport!
Only this time there was a man on the bus with no ticket.  He was well and truly caught red handed!  I imagine these things happen more often than every time we head home after enjoying a 3 day travel pass, but what a funny coincidence!

It is always strange how quickly foreign things become so familiar and heading back to the airport was like that.

The Molecule Men

So nice to see the areas we had spent time in and now feel a bond with.  I can't wait to return.  On the way back, I was watching out for the Molecule Men who are standing on the River Spree very close to the East Side Gallery.  We really didn't get a chance to see them this trip and hope to get a better look next time. This photo is taken from the train and is only a reminder to us!

In addition to learning the history, seeing the remnants of the wall and dodging torrential rain showers, we also learned alot about social consciousness.  Remember Chris? Our Canadian guide on our first day?  One thing he had stressed was the social problems of joining the East and the West.  Imagine all of a sudden, you lose your home, your job and your means of support through no fault of your own.  The West was a successful Capitalist community but the East had a lot of catching up to do. On the surface, it looks like it has, but Chris said there is still alot of catching up to do. One thing he asked of us all was not to throw our glass or plastic bottles in the bin.  He admitted it might feel odd, but just put them down on the street. That way someone does not lose any dignity by having to rake around the bins but can simply pick these bottles up to turn them in for their deposits.  I had already thrown some away before this advice, but even when we checked out, I just left our plastic bottles on the work surface and did not throw them away.

The other fabulous peace initiative in Berlin is the Buddy Bear collection!  There are bears all over Berlin and many we would not see since they travel the world over encouraging peace and tolerance among the world's many different religions and cultural groups.  They reminded me of the Cow Parades I have seen in Florence and Edinburgh and in the article I linked with this paragraph, it says that was how the person who started this was inspired! They are darling and in all kinds of different places. There is one bear for each member of the United Nations and many others as well.  I will end our trip to Berlin with a collection of my bear photos!

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21,000 steps on our third day in Berlin

Me at the Reichstag 2019

Me at the Reichstag approximately 1965

We had our day all planned today....catch the hop on/hop off bus at Checkpoint Charlie, head up to Alexanderplatz and change to the other bus. The red bus did Brandenburg Gate area and more western Berlin, the green bus concentrated on East Berlin and the wall.  Great plans...didn't work out though.

Again, the problem of not knowing exactly where the tour bus stopped made us stop waiting at Checkpoint Charlie and catch the U-Bahn to Alexanderplatz because we at least knew where the bus stopped there!  Unfortunately, I needed to make a necessary pit stop and could not find any facilities, not even in the many Starbucks all over this area.  I finally went back to the train station.....causing us to miss the green bus, we actually saw it leave.

So we got back on the train and went to the Reichstag since I wanted to retake a photo taken when I was about 12. The we went back to the Hauptbahnhof to catch the tour bus there and that strategy worked!  Those travel passes!

This part of Berlin is totally foreign to me and I really enjoyed learning about the wall and the lifestyle in East Berlin. Another benefit of this particular bus was that there was a human tour guide! So many of these tour buses offer a taped commentary in a variety of languages.

 I noticed this one said German/English and had no idea what it meant was the "real" tour guide was actually speaking to us and asking questions and answering our questions.  Her name was Eleanor and we made a point of not getting off the bus where we had planned so we would not lose her.  There were two stops I really wanted to visit - Bernauer Strasse and the East Side Gallery.  I had read about Bernauer Strasse in the third book of the Century Trilogy I am reading at the moment by Ken Follett called "Edge of Eternity".  (I think everyone should read this trilogy since it really helps understand so many aspects of history that seem to be over simplified when learning these in class, like the cause of WWI, that was in the first book though.  Not just the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand!  But I am not going to talk about this anymore, except to say the third book has really helped me understand what was going on in Berlin and the cause of the wall.)

East Side Gallery

The East Side Gallery is a unique art gallery considering the basis of the paintings are on the actual remaining walls of the East side of East Berlin.  There is also a bit of it with the second wall.  Unless you saw the wall when it was in operation, you possibly would not realise, there were actually two walls, one they had to get over first, then a death zone with sand and other hazards.

Here is the space between the two walls.

These spaces could be between 20 and 100 feet wide, before the people would get to the second wall and presumably to freedom.  However, with the East Side Gallery walls, not only were there the first and second walls, there was then the River Spree to swim across.

We learned from yesterday and made certain we grabbed something to eat so we didn't miss lunch this time.  After walking along the East Side Gallery, we stopped at a bakery and Alan got another ham and cheese sandwich and I got a cheese pretzel to eat on the bus.  Just what we needed before letting the bus take us back around until we got back to Bernauer Strasse!

Lots of respectful silence as this class walked around the site

Part of the wall at Bernauer Strasse

There was a class at this location apparently learning the history of the wall and looking at the monument to the people who died crossing the wall. That was a very sad monument, most of them were so young, early 20s and 30s, some children and one man who died only months before the wall went down.  There is a museum across the street and these stories are displayed.  Very sad reading.

Overlooking a portion of wall that has been protected
so the two walls and the death zone and guard tower are
easy to see.  

But some people also survived the crossing.  There was a 57 year old woman who followed in the footsteps of her son to escape East Berlin by going through a tunnel under Bernauer Strasse.  Unfortunately, her adult daughter was not able to escape and they did not see each other for over 20 years, until 1989 when the wall fell.  By then, her daughter was at retirement age.  There is a photo of the two of them on vacation together in Tenerife.  The raincoat she wore while escaping is also on display.  Just one of many stories you can read there.

This building is across the street from the Hauptbahnhof.
The side of the is building is all graffiti though.
Very well done! 

There was no point catching the tour bus again so we went to the Nordbahnhof and returned to the Hauptbahnhof. Who knew this train station was going to be such a huge part of our trip!

We thought we were going to have a few hours to wander around and possibly return to the Brandenburg Gate for a better sunset. However, we spotted storm clouds on their way.  Same as yesterday, the clouds can be seen from quite a distance so you should take heed and not get caught like we did yesterday.  We were close to the Mall of Berlin so we decided to look for a food court. And what a food court we found!

One of the signs on the mall said "Welcome to Berlin's greatest food court"! It appeared to be huge and so many choices I think there would be something for everyone.  And we got the perfect dinner - Alan got McDonalds and I got a gorgeous pasta dish complete with red wine in a stem glass!  While we ate, it stormed and rained almost like pre-hurricane.  But when we were finished, so was the storm - lucky!   As much as I would prefer to eat at interesting restaurants, the fact we can escape the weather and still find good food in places like food courts whether at the train station or the mall makes me happy.

I would prefer to be dry and eat dinner than suffer for looking for something more "suitable"!


Another super day in Berlin, who could ask for more?

24,000 steps in Berlin

Across the river from Museum Island

You would think with all the joy I shared yesterday about having unlimited access to public transport in Berlin for 72 hours that we would be lucky to achieve the suggested 10,000 steps in one day.  However, you would first have to factor in the way Alan and I can travel and possibly get carried away! This was one of those days!

Our daughter had visited Berlin a while ago and highly recommended the Sandeman's free walking tour so I booked this online. However, it is an informal free walking tour and you don't really have to book in advance!  The English speaking tour started at 10am so we took our time arriving at the Starbucks at the Brandenburg Gate.

There are three eating places right at the Brandenburg Gate, Starbucks, the Backer Wiedeman and Dunkin Donuts. So this morning we went to Dunkin Donuts!

Then we all congregated at the meeting point and met our tour guide, Chris from Canada.  He has done these free tours for 5 years and is so knowledgable about this city.

Sandeman's also does other tours that are not free, and the next time we are in Berlin, I intend to do one of them!  Let me also point out free does not mean you don't put your hand in your pocket at the end of the tour.  What is suggested is to give a tip for what you believe the tour was worth.  He is free lance and depends on tips.

After learning so much about the history of the Brandenburg Gate itself and also the Quadriga - the four horses and Goddess at the top of the Gate.  We moved on to the Holocaust Memorial.  I am not going to repeat all we learned since it was just so much and also, I think the best way to learn about Berlin is to go there!

This shows the location of this Memorial.  Next to the
American Embassy, which is next to the
Brandenburg Gate with the Reichstag  just across
the street from the Brandenbug Gate.  

I have mentioned this Memorial before and cannot stress how moving and special the area is. What Chris pointed out was the central point of valuable real estate it is located on.  Front and centre for all the world to see! There is also an aura of respect here, with all welcome to simply walk through and spend as much time as anyone wants.  Chris was clear that respect is due though and told us that standing on these stones was absolutely forbidden, it is just too disrespectful.  Sitting is ok though.  One person - not in our group - was spotted standing on a stone and she was shouted down.  There are no signs stating what this location is meant to be and what the rules are, but once learned, never forgotten.

We then walked to the parking lot where the bunker where Hitler was meant to commit suicide is under.  There is nothing there to indicate where it was or what it was.  This is also intentional.

There is no indication that these stones get so high when you enter.

See the double cobblestones running
right into this part of the wall....

We stopped for a lunch break at a little cafe called Typisch Berlin. But it was right across the street from a museum about the SS and also a big part of the wall that is still standing.  Chris pointed out the double cobblestones along the roads, sidewalks, through parking lots and where ever visible is where the old wall once was.  It is a very visual way to get an idea of where the wall was when you can't see it any more.   Alan and I were more interested in this than eating, big mistake since we then missed a chance for lunch at all due to what we hoped to accomplish the rest of the day.  It is not in my nature to miss a meal and was certainly not planned, but it happened!

This tour did not solely concentrate on WWII and the division of Berlin though.  We also learned about earlier history of Berlin, but it is all intermingled with present.

Konzerthaus in Gendarmenmarkt

We were told why the Gendarmenmarkt has a French/German name - it is a result of the French Cathedral - built for the Huguenots I think, although Chris never used that term, and the German Cathedral, with the Konzerthaus in the middle.  Later, my cousin asked if we had visited the largest chocolate shop in the world, the answer was no. But I looked up where it is located and it is near this Gendarmenmarkt. So this shop - Rausch Chocolate House - is another addition to my must see list when we return next year!

Humboldt University
This building used to be the library 

Our time with Chis ended at Humboldt University.  Boy does that have an interesting history!  So many famous people attended or taught there, including Einstein.  There is also a very sad chapter of the Nazi regime where the first book burning was located.  They burned 20,000 books, some of which were original manuscripts with no other way to retreive the information lost. The rational for these burnings was that they were written by "degenerates and opponents of the regime".  What a tragic waste of valuable knowledge.

In the centre of this square is a glass memorial that looks down to a room with empty bookshelves, enough bookshelves to hold those tragically lost 20,000 books.  It was raining at this point and is difficult to see.  I am not sure if this is made to look like the bookshelves or is an actual peak into a very sad room.....  I think it is an illusion though, but very poignant.

After bidding farewell to Chris (and paying him), our intention was to spend the rest of the day on the hop on/hop off bus but we were in a part of Berlin we did not know. And they do not have any signposts to indicate where the tour buses stop.  I thought we would catch the first bus and also eat lunch!  This was just after 1pm.  But Alan felt we could walk to Museum Island and catch the bus there, whilst also taking a photo he had spotted the opportunity for.

Berliner Dom

We walked and walked and walked until I finally gave up and sat down and waited for Alan to come back.  It was too long and also the bus and/or train could have taken us to this area later.  Museum Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site but there was no time allocated to visit these museums and that is another addition to my returning list.

He got his shot and we ended up catching the U-Bahn to head to a spot where we knew the buses left from - Alexanderplatz.  It was about 3 by then.

Our intention was to simply ride the bus around the circuit the first time, but it was getting so late there was no way to do that and then return to places we would like to visit. So, once we got into familiar territory for me, we got off the bus!

The disappointing scaffolding 

The two stops close together were the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church and the KaDeWe.  I vividly remember visiting both of these locations. The Kaiser Wilhelm church was more of a ruin when I was it in the mid 60s.  This is hard to imagine but the inside of it is all clean now and has a shop in it.  It wasn't that welcoming then and it felt more sad to see what can happen to such a gorgeous church as a result of a terrible war. The two blue stained glass buildings that took the place of the church were just recently finished when I lived in Berlin in mid 60s and they were so beautiful.  I really wanted to share this with Alan. But I had no idea the bell tower was under repair and covered in scaffolding until we arrived at the bus stop. What a disappointment.

Inside the new church - Quiet and peaceful and
beautiful.

But we did go into the church part of the memorial and it was stunning. I am not certain I had ever been in there before, I only remember going into the bombed out ruin of the original building. It took me a while to find any information on the refurbishment but it appears that the ruin was under repair and scaffolding until 2015 and the article I found said the bell tower would be next. So the scaffolding must have been on a few years now.  I doubt this will be removed by next year.

KaDeWe

We walked to the KaDeWe, which was a favourite place for me to shop with my friends in the '60s.  However, this is now a very upmarket department store, absolutely beautiful but out of my price range, thankfully since my suitcase space is very limited.  We did consider their food court but it was too busy and too confusing too.  Now after 4 pm and still no lunch!



The tour bus stops right at the front door of the KaDeWe so we were able to jump back on and get back to our home base.  Of course, we could also have easily taken the U-bahn back with our welcome card!

Potsdamer Platz

We disembarked at Potsdamer Platz and walked back to the Brandenburg Gate since Alan wanted to be there for sunset.  However, it started to rain and it felt like the beginning of a hurricane. It was tremendously windy and the rain was like buckets of ice water being dumped over our heads.  Absolutely miserable.  I told him to walk on and did the German thing of obeying all traffic lights, getting more and more soaked while waiting.  Oh boy was it cold.

I grabbed this shot just before I entered the safety of Starbucks!

Alan was found sheltering under the gate and we wondered what to do.  But the rain let up a tiny bit and I headed off to Starbucks for shelter, I know, I know....my feelings about Starbucks being everywhere are usually not complimentary, but it offered shelter, a warm drink and also a view!  Very clever of them to get this fabulous location!  So while Alan suffered for his art, I sat and watched the weather whilst enjoying a lovely hot chocolate with whipped cream!

Just taken with my phone but what
a great place to shelter from a storm!

After sunset, we decided there was only one answer to escape the wet and cold and also (finally) get a meal!  So we jumped on the U-Bahn directly in front of Starbucks and this is the express to the Hauptbahnhof (Berlin Main Train Station). This building is huge and we assumed there would be a food court and we already knew we would be under cover the whole time.

This train station is all glass and so beautiful!
It was intended to be finished in time for the
World Cup but they had to stop early and the roof
is not as long as it should be.  I wonder just how
big the building would have been!

My rice bowl

There were quite a few places to eat, but they were mainly fast food and we needed something substantial!  It was now 7pm and we hadn't eaten lunch yet!  We discovered this place called Rice and got wonderful Asian Fusion bowls with whatever sort of rice, protein, vegetable, sauce and toppings we wanted. It was perfect!


After finally having a meal today, we decided to call it a night and jumped back onto the U-Bahn and headed back to our hotel, where we even had to dry out our maps and leaflets.

We got back early enough to catch the
green windows at our hotel this time!

drying out our leaflets!

24,000 steps, what an amazing day!

Revisiting Berlin

At last!

I have no idea why it took us so long to get to Berlin after the wall fell, but some of it was due to having a very young family at that time and also not having an easy way to get there.  But 30 years?  Really?

Anyway, I used to live in Berlin and always hoped I would return one day, and this week we finally made it! Thanks to Easyjet for making affordable flights and easy connections, one flight from Glasgow to Schonefeld and there we were!


The last time I was in Berlin, my first stepfather was based in the American Sector and I was 10 years old.  We stayed about 3 years. The wall had only been up a few years and I was told there were at least 4 incarnations of the wall. The one I saw was certainly not as massive as the last one, but it was impressive enough even for a 10 year old.

We stayed overnight in the Courtyard Marriot at Glasgow Airport so we could easily catch the 7:45 am flight to Schonefeld.  For £50 we got the room and 4 days' parking right there. Then we could walk to the airport to check in.  Not as short a walk as staying at the Holiday Inn Express, but the convenience of leaving our car right where we parked it sounded nice.

My tradition is to have breakfast at Wetherspoons - I always get porridge!  I simply love porridge. Then it was time to board the plane. In less than 2 hours, we were in Berlin!  Of course, the majority of Berlin we were in was very new to me since much of the city was/is in the East! In my previous residency here, we were restricted to the West side of Berlin and mainly the American Sector.

this is what you use to validate
your ticket

Arriving at the airport and not sure if we should buy the 72 hour Berlin Welcome Card covering all aspects of public transport. Considering we also intended to purchase the 2 day hop on/hop off bus, was buying all those tickets overkill?  After realising we should get a discount on the tour bus,  along with many other things found in the Berlin Welcome Card, we went ahead with buying this.  What a great thing to have!  All we had to do was validate it once and never had to worry about what bus to catch, where we were going or anything!  I highly recommend doing this.  We did time it as late as possible, waiting for the S9 train to Friedrichstrasse to virtually be visible before validating the tickets.  This was a good thing because the timing worked out perfectly for our return journey to the airport.  I think we had about 10 minutes left on the Welcome card when we arrived at the airport to check in for our return to Glasgow!

At Friedrichstrasse, we changed to the U-bahn, U6, taking us to either Koch Strasse or Stadt Mitte. Which is where we needed to get off in order to find our hotel.  We chose Koch Strasse first since this was where the replica Checkpoint Charlie is situated and we knew our hotel, Hotel Gat Checkpoint Charlie, was close to this.  Very easy to get into Berlin and find your way around and I don't think you really need to speak German to do this, although I feel being able to communicate in German, or at least make the effort, smooths things along the way. Plus I just like to make myself understood if at all possible.

First view of "Checkpoint Charlie"

I think it costs 3 Euro for these "soldiers" to pose with you.

Our first experience of Berlin was the Checkpoint Charlie replica.  It didn't look exactly right to me, but I was only 10 or so the last time I saw it.  (next time we visit, I need to go see the actual one which is housed at the Allied Museum. )   This museum is housed at the location of the American base housing - where I used to live!  Unfortunately, the massive size of Berlin was too much for us to add this destination to our packed 2 and a half days. So this will have to wait until my next visit, which I hope will be next year.

After leaving our bags at reception, we literally ran to the Brandenburg Gate!  But in between was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.  There is no gate and you can enter and spend as much time as you like. It really doesn't look like much as you enter but keeps on going and going and the 2711 stones get higher and higher, although they are uneven and so is the ground. So while in the middle of it, you have no idea exactly where you are or when this line of stones will end.  It is a very odd and disorienting feeling.  Considering what the designer was intending, I think he represented what happened to the Jews very well.  We had a walking tour the next day and our guide explained that there are other monuments in Berlin representing other victims of the genocide such as the Roma people and Homosexuals.  

These are also close to the centre of Berlin.  Our guide said these memorials are not meant to be hidden but be visible for all the world to see so that we don't forget what can happen so easily if people don't pay attention.

Ever since the wall went down, all I have wanted to do is walk under this famous landmark and I finally got to do this!  And I did cry!  What an amazing experience and we went from East to West.... Then it was finally time to sit down and eat!

There is a Starbucks right in the Parisien Platz but I don't like to frequent franchises if I can help it. And right next door was a local bakery, the Backer Wiedeman, which looked amazing. The girl behind the counter did not speak English either, which is unusual but nice for me to use my German for a change!  Alan got a ham and cheese panini and I got a brown roll with salami and no idea what else, but it was delicious!


After this, we found ourselves at a loose end since this first day was not a "full" day and we had no other plans. So we decided to go back to find a landmark Alan was interested, but we got off a station early because I was hungry (again!) and spent the rest of the evening there.

When we first passed this station, Hackescher Markt,  on our way into the city centre, there were market stalls and it looked like a busy place to visit.  The stalls were gone by the time we got there, but it was interesting to just walk around. The Markt is around the station and there are outdoor tables and chairs and signs with offers of various things. Grand Rocka offered cake and coffee for 5.50 Euro!  Other places were much more expensive, so in we went!

And the cakes were divine!  The coffee not so much.  It was not until right now I looked at a photo with the cakes and noticed for .50 extra we could have ordered latte or cappuccino!  Oh well....live and learn.

Being about 4pm now, we went back to Koch Strasse station and checked in to our hotel.  Threw our cases in and headed out again, back to the Brandenburg Gate for a few more shots and then back to Grand Rocka for dinner!  (See the beauty of having a travel pass?  It didn't matter how many times we went back and forth on trains and U-bahns!)

Grand Rocka

Our server from earlier remembered us and that was so nice.  We both ordered the Berlin Meatballs, having no idea what they were like.  Alan also ordered a Currywurst.  He said it was ok. The meatballs were interesting. At first I was not sure, but once I got used to the different taste of a meatball, I decided they were delicious!

After this long day of travel and discovery, we wandered back by Checkpoint Charlie and collapsed in heaps in our hotel room!