Berlin

6 days in the capital of Germany with Mum and Dad, October 15th to 21st. We hired an apartment in the suburb of Wilmersdorf. An autumn chill was definitely present for our trip; multiple layers were required most days.
Sights:
1.Hop on – hop off Bus trip: We did this on our first day, it was a good way to get a feel for the city, whilst sheltering from the elements.
2.Potsdamer Platz and Arkaden – Sight of Europes first traffic light, then ravaged and divided by the war the area is now a showcase for urban renewal, with buildings such as the Sony centre, Daimler city and the skyscrapers in the Beisheim Centre. We wandered through the arcade where the water fountain feature really captured Dad’s attention.
3.Reichstag – Home to German parliament. As one of many visitors to the Reichstag we queued early to see the attraction. We took the elevator up to see the Reichstag’s most striking contemporary feature, its glistening glass dome. We spiralled up the inside of the dome with commentary of various sights out over the panoramic Berlin cityscape. Inside the dome was mirror clad funnel, which directed air and light to parliament chambers. The aspect of visitors seeing the MP’s making and debating laws is promoting the ideology of a transparent government. I guess this is important for the German’s given their history. The building has been burned, bombed and blasted but now after being rebuilt it is the centre piece of Berlin.
4.The Holocaust memorial - A memorial to the murdered jews of Europe. Designed by American Architect Peter Eisenmann it consists of 2711 concrete stelae spread evenly across a huge field like an abstract cemetery. The symbolism of the memorials’ design is open to the observer’s interpretation. We wandered through the field of slabs, in the centre of the memorial the ground slopes away and the blocks are more like skyscrapers. We darted through the blocks and snuck up on each other taking surprise photographs.
5.Hitler’s Bunker – Today it lies under a run of the mill car park. This was where Hitler spent his last moments at the end of the war with his newlywed wife Eva before they took cyanide pills and killed themselves with pistols. Apparently the bunker is now flooded.
6.Brandenburger Tor and Pariser Platz – A symbol of division during the cold war, the recently restored landmark now epitomises German reunification. It is the only remaining gate of a series through which Berlin was once entered. On top of the gate lies the Quadriga sculpture, a horse drawn chariot piloted by the winged goddess of victory. The Quadriga was stolen and taken to Paris after the victory of the forces of Napoleon I of France over Frederick William III of Prussia. The Quadriga was later returned (or a replica anyway) when Napoleon was defeated. The gate stands sentinel over Pariser Platz, an elegant square surrounded by embassies, bank buildings, museums and a starbucks. Also at one end of the platz is the Hotel Adlon, If you want to go all out you can book a room there for 15,000 Euro’s a night! Err... maybe not! It was also the hotel where Michael Jackson famously dangled that baby out of the window.
7.Gendarmenmarket – Once a thriving market place Gendarmenmarket is now Berlin’s most graceful square. The twin churches of Deutcher Dom and Franzosischer Dom (built for the French Hugenots) frame Schinkel’s Konzerthaus to form a superbly harmonious trio. Surrounding the square are fancy hotels and restaurants.
8.Jewish Museum – The history of German Jews and their contributions to culture, art, science are creatively chronicled in this arcitecturely unique museum. Designed by Daniel Libeskind, the building serves as a metaphor for the tortured history of the Jewish people. Zinc clad walls rise skyward in a sharply angled zigzag ground plan that is an abstract interpretation of a star. Instead of windows, irregular gashes pierce the gleaming facade. Some of the exhibitions at the start of the Museum were particularly haunting, the ‘void’, the garden of exile, the holocaust tower and the fallen leaves exhibit, where 10,000 cast iron discs with faces carved into them were spread on the floor of a large room. The museum was full on, with a lot to take. Unfortunately, we had to rush the last part (persecution of the jews during WW2) because Dad was flying out that afternoon.
9.Berlin Wall and Eastside Gallery – A barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The barrier included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, which circumscribed a wide area (later known as the "death strip") that contained anti-vehicle trenches, attack dogs, barbed wire and other defences. The Soviet-dominated Eastern Bloc officially claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a Socialist State in East Germany. However, in practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period.
Today the path of the wall is shown by a double brick line in the ground, however there are still short stretches of wall which serves as a memorial. The Eastside gallery is 1.3 km long and one of the best preserved parts of the wall. It is the largest open air gallery in the wall, and some of the graffiti artwork is amazing!
10.Olympic stadium – Built for the 1936 Olympic games, the Olympiastadion recently underwent a four year 290million euro revamp. The highlight is the oval roof that sheltered nearly all of the 74,000 seats. A beautiful web of glass, steel and fibre glass membrane, it softens the bulky original coliseum like structure. We wandered the stadium with our Audio tour and took in the swimming pool, and the Maifield out the back which was used for mass Nazi rallies. We also learnt about Hitler shunning the black athletes such as Jesse Owens when he won gold. Jack Lovelock also featured for NZ winning gold in the 1500.
11.Potsdam – On Wednesday Mum and I ventured out with the Sandemans walking tour group to Potsdam, 24 km southwest of Berlin. In our group we had a friendly older couple from Aussie and our Aussie tour guide Paul. The weather was pretty dicey, but we soldiered on. We learnt about the history of Prussia and Brandenburg. Fredrick the great was influential in transforming Potsdam into the crown jewel of the state of Brandeburg. Many of the Palaces and grounds outside the city centre survived the destruction of the war, and their architecture albeit a wee bit neglected over the years is still quite a sight. Highlights were the terraced palace of Schloss Sanssouci, Neues Palais and the historically significant palace / mansion of Schloss Cecilienhof where the Potsdam conference took place after the war and Germany and Berlin were divided up into occupied zones by the allies. The palace grounds were particularly spectacular with the autumnal colours.
12.Sandemans Berlin Walking tour – We also visited other sites in Berlin, courtesy of the sandemans walking tour. ‘Geoff’ from the Netherlands expertly guided us around Berlin and we visited other sites including The Luftwaffe headquarters, which only survived the war because it was used as a marker point to bomb the rest of the city. Check point Charlie, now a much touristified symbol of the cold war, this was the main gateway for Allies, other non-Germans and diplomats between the two Berlins from 1961 to 1990. On the tour we also saw Berlins Pink pipes their apparent purpose being to control Berlin’s high water table and prevent flooding. Halfway through the tour we stopped at the restaurant Aroma and had tasty sandwiches on very fresh bread. Here we met an interesting guy (Ben) from Cornwall. We strolled through Bebelplatz, famous for the Nazi book burning incident in 1933. Today a memorial by Micha Ullman consisting of a glass plate set into the cobbles, giving a view of empty bookcases, commemorates the book burning. Also surrounding the square is the state opera house, St Hedwig’s Cathedral and the law Faculty for Humboldt University. Over the Unter De linden Boulevard is the main campus for Humboldt University, Berlins oldest university it was attended by many famous scholars including Albert Einstein, Karl Marx and Max Planck. Down from the university was the memorial for victims of war and tyranny. A statue of a lone mother cradling her dying son in an empty room is very haunting. Our final stop of the walking tour was the steps of the impressive Berlin Dom Cathedral (built in 1906). Here we learnt about the accidental announcement of the opening of the gates between East and West Germany. Morale of the story... always read you notes before announcing something over live international TV.
13.Teirgarten Park – Berlin’s green lung. I went for a few morning runs through the park mostly in drizzly damp conditions, but it was still picturesque with the autumnal leaves. At 167 hectares it is one of the world’s largest city parks sweeping from Brandenburger Tor all the way to Bahnhoff Zoo Charlottenburg. In the centre of the park is the Siegessaule or Victory column which commemorates successful 19th century Prussian military exploits. Along the southern stretch of Tiergarten is embassy row, where there was a combination of modern and culturally significant embassy buildings. Highlights were the Nordic Embassy, the Mexican Embassy and the Saudi Embassy. We spent an evening in a beer garden near the Zoo, they had nice orange rugs to wrap up in the cold and Mum enjoyed a very large shandy!
Accommodation: As mentioned before we hired an apartment in the suburb of Wilmersdorf. Situated in between the orange line( Fehrberlliner Platz) and light blue line (Blissestr.) It had a large open - 1 room living plan plus a bathroom. But it was perfect launch pad for exploring Berlin. The only minor problems we had were with the noisy heating clicking on and off on the first night and the missing curtains. The decor was very colourful and the two options of coffee cups were massive or tincy! We ate in a couple of times with takeaways and often ended the night with a game of quiddler which the favourable result unusually went the way of Dad this trip.
Shopping: Berlin is a great city for a wardrobe makeover. I came away with a couple of new jackets (one leather), couple of shirts, a scarf and a new pair of casual shoes. We spent a couple of days in total probably shopping. We wandered into some ‘very nice’ shops with clothing that had ‘very nice’ price tags. We visited KaDeWe, Galeries Lafayette (which revolved around a giant glass cone), Potzdamer Platz Arkaden malls and other shops straight off the street. I am not normally not much of shopper and it only worked for me after a caffeine induced hit. Mum got a couple of things as well, but Dad was really only there for moral support.
Transportation: For a city of approximately 3 million people, Berlins transportation is top notch. The metro system is extensive and there were no delays. I have to mention Hauptbahnhof train station, it is the main railway station in Berlin, Germany and the largest crossing station in Europe. It began full operation two days after a ceremonial opening on 26 May 2006. It is now Europe's largest two-level railway station. It is an architecturally stunning glass and steel structure that is a pleasure to be in.
Food and Drink: We dined out a couple of times in the city. The first time was at our ‘local’. Just down the road from the apartment. The place was a lounge bar / French restaurant. Unfortunately there was no live music on the night we were there, but the food and laid back atmosphere was excellent. Our friendly German waiter (who had stayed in Gisborne!) recommended some traditional German food for us. I won’t even try to remember the exact names of the meals. But I had meatballs, Dad had a potato mince thing and Mum had Snails! We also one night ventured over to East Berlin, to a traditional German restaurant recommended to us by our tour guide ‘Geoff’. The Volckswirtschaft. The restaurant was homely in a German way and it had a good atmosphere. The highlight of the evening was the home brewed wheat beers which were the best I have ever tried. Our waiter was a little bit eccentric, in a German kind of way. But he was friendly and helpful. I went for the sourkraut with pork and mash. Deliciousimo. Other memorable food experiences in Berlin were... The thai food which I asked the lady for without nuts, and got nuts! The Berlin Buns, Dad’s and my expedition to find currywurst. Top notch Donor Kebabs. Imbibing delicious German wheat beers, including schlossenhoffer, Erdinger and others...
City Life: Berlin has emerged from its long dark past as a modern, trendy and vibrant city. The place oozes style and this is reflected in the youth of Berlin. A very liveable city with some amazing modern architecture, the German people are embracing change at a very rapid pace. Potentially my favourite European city so far on my travels, it’s definitely worth another visit!