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156 photos taken, 19 posted.

This weekend’s trip to Berlin is one that’s going to stick with me for some time to come. I really felt like I was walking through history, albeit a mostly unknown history.

Friday night I was up in our lounge where I found a copy of an old edition of Time Out Berlin. I took it with me and although I didn’t read much of it – I’d gone to bed at 2 AM and the insides of my eyelids were pretty – it was an interesting overview of the city and its history. As I explained to Ute when we met up, the German history that’s taught in US schools consists of 20th century “Germany is evil”, so I had very little idea of what else Berlin and Germany was about.

But backtracking a bit… Train left Praha Hlavni Nadrazi at 8:15. First thoughts: yes! Deutsche Bahn train! Although Ute has explained to be that there can be lesser quality Deutsche Bahn trains, as a whole they’re a better quality than those operated by Ceske Drahy (aka Czech Railways). I’m pathetically excited that it looks like next Saturday’s train is Deutsche Bahn too I stayed awake long enough for the ticket checkers to come through, was woken at the border(s) and then basically slept the rest of the way to Berlin. I woke long enough to peer sleepily at Dresden, a city I’d never have heard of if not for Billy Pilgrim.

Berlin Hauptbahnhof reminded me a lot of Kyoto Station or Kansai Airport. Oddly futuristic in its construction but still visually appealing. I found it a bit difficult to navigate, not because of the language but rather its sheer size and signs that don’t differentiate between train and tourist information points. I finally found the Berlin Info store I was looking for and got the city circle tour tickets.

I’ve been fairly grumbly about tours in class-I *hate* guided tours-but these are different. I like the hop on/off because it gives an overview and then I can hop off and see what I want without someone in my ear telling me what I should be seeing and not let me think. I had a laugh with this tape recording. At one point it was talking about the ‘recent reunification’ and I thought ‘well, Berlin is 750+ years old so 1990 is quite recent in those terms’ until they talked about the parliament ‘someday’ moving back to Berlin. Nope, the tape for the English tour is just _that_ old. I laughed and then enjoyed the sights.

I got off at Checkpoint Charlie because I was so curious about it. There is the famous sign as well but the area itself doesn’t really have a historical feel. I think that’s partially due to changes like this and to a lesser degree, this. It’s not that I expect a city never to change and to stay frozen in time, but I think it should retain some of the feel as to (part of) why it’s famous. The museum was a lot better, but I didn’t do that until Sunday so more on that later. I did enjoy the ‘wall’ exhibit on the street, but felt that I couldn’t imagine this touristy area being the site of Soviet/American standoff and I am (barely) old enough to remember The Wall.

After that it was back on the bus to Brandenburger Tor aka the Brandenburg Gate. [NOTE: I realized that I forgot to mention I was using Ute's two posts from her March trip to Berlin as a sort of 'tour guide' as they were part of the reason why I wanted to go to Berlin]. The gate is what I’d consider to be one of the symbols of the city-made amusing by the fact that I couldn’t recognise it on the back of the Euro at dinner, but that’s another story o:). I didn’t have a lot of time there as I needed to get back to the station to meet Ute, and I wasn’t entirely sure how to get there.

I made it, and because I had some time to kill before our 6pm meeting, I stopped to look at some of the Sandsation Sculptures. They were nothing short of amazing, but I fear for their longevity in the next six weeks. I’d no sooner arrived at our meetig point when I heard a voice behind me ‘Welcome to Berlin’. It was so good to see Ute again nearly one year after one of our last get-togethers. (Note to self, must find that shirt-I loved it). We walked along the Spree to dinner at a restaurant where Ute had eaten before. Lots of interesting signs and history inside. I was brave, I had a sausage curry which was quite good.

After dinner we walked back toward the station along the river stopping to take this photo. It kind of goes along with my earlier sentiments, I can’t picture the wall there but I was standing in East and West Berlin. The Reichstag is behind me and because it was so nice out and the line was <30 min, we decided to go up. We did go all the way up the dome, but this photo, from the lower level, is one of my favourites. I also love how the flag is framed. The view from the top was beautiful and it gave me a good vanage point of the city I’d seen from ground level. I think history started to hit me here, German history usually started at school with the burning of the Reichstag so it was an odd feeling to be standing atop it. It was also refreshingly easy to access, with only a metal detector at the entrance.

After the Reichstag, it was time for two very tired people to go back to Ute’s apartment…

The next morning it was off to the Museum at Checkpoint Charlie. I learned so much from the Museum that I’m not sure where to start. I assumed that the museum’s origins would be in 1990 but rather they went back ~30 years to 1962 when it was started by Rainer Hildebrandt. I think the Wall and my thoughts on Berlin are going to be another post, they require too much processing. This museum really made me stop and think, there is so much more to the Wall than what we learn in history. And yes, Ute and I had a giggle when we ran into the obligatory loud (American) tour guide. I felt better when Ute said Germans abroad are just as bad, but this woman was LOUD.

From the Museum, it was off to the East Side Gallery, which I hadn’t heard of before the last month. The photo above is one of the paintings from the Wall and it’s wonderful to see the Wall serving a new function and educating new generations. It’s sad that it’s being defaced, and I wonder if the graffiti is part of the reason we missed the famed Brezhnev-Honecker kiss, since it has clearly deteriorated. As I mentioned abov, it’s hard to picture the wall near Brandenburg Gate, but I also didn’t realize part of it was still standing. I think it needs to remain. I don’t think visitors can understand Berlin without the Wall.

By this point, our feet were hungry and our stomachs tired. Or something like that Ute knew of a place that sold spaghetti ice cream, and I was intrigued. It was delicious! The cafe’s menu offered “Vitamin Spaghetti” and this was a vitamin I’d like to have more often. We still have ~3 hours before my train so we went to Hackesche Hofe where I was able to get a great photo of Berlin’s walk signals and some more understanding of the Ampelmannchen issue, which Ute had mentioned as a great idea for a blog post. It (and other Ostalgia mentions) actually made me think of some of the ideas put forward in Cafe Europa, but I think I need to stew on that for a bit longer.

We still had some time before the train and decided to go to see the Berliner Dom. I’ve seen a fair few churches this week, but this one was absolutely gorgeous. It was something to sit in the pews and think about the damage that the Cathedral sustained in WWII. To imagine sitting there then. We walked around and, in one of the small chapels, I lit a candle. Happy Father’s Day, Dad. Hit with a burst of inspiration (or insanity!) we decided to climb the 250+ stairs to the top of the dome and were rewarded with a gorgeous view over the city. It was a great last thing to do before heading back to the station and eventually, to Prague….

More on Berlin when I’ve ‘digested’ it more. In the mean time, here is Ute’s post on Day 1.