Post #122 1 March 2017

Gentlefolk,

This post covers our visit to Berlin, 6 - 14 August 2016.

Berlin, the capital of Germany.  We had heard good things about this city, and they were confirmed.  It is much bigger than Budapest - takes longer to get used to the place - but it has something for everyone: cosmopolitan, sophisticated, cultural, artistic, historical, shopping, eating, etc etc.

We had 8 days in Berlin, and felt that we just scratched the surface.  A most impressive city.

We took dozens of photos - here is a small selection, to give a feel for the place.

Map of Berlin.  We stayed in Berlin Mitte (Middle Berlin). Visited Potsdam one day - nice city.  We took the train from Dresden, stopped at Leipzig for 3 hours and looked around the Old City which was opposite the Leipzig Hauptbahnhof.  Then another train to Berlin.  On arrival bought 7 day travel passes to get around the city, then took a bus to the Circus Hostel in Rosenthaler  Platz.  Berlin has a great transportation system of bus and tram and subway.

We stayed near Rosenthaler Platz in Berlin Mitte - the top right had corner of this map.  About 600 meters north of the Hackescher Markt. It was in the old East Sector, but most of the buildings have been tastefully renovated.

Rosenthaler Platz was well served by Subway, Trams and Buses.

We stayed in the Circus Hostel in Rosenthaler Platz for the first four nights.  Studio room, quite large but no a/c or TV (100 euro a night).  Then Andrew, Caz & Eddie arrived.  They booked a two bedroom apartment in the Circus Apartments around the corner, so we moved in with them for the next 4 nights.  These apartments were top quality.  

We visited the Museum to the Berlin Wall which was not far from our hostel. Quite small, but powerful.  The Berlin Wall was built on 13 August 1961 to stop the exodus of people from East Berlin to West Berlin (and West Germany).  It became a symbol of Communist repression during the Cold War.  The Wall was finally breached on 9 November 1989 following a popular movement by East Berliners.  It was an amazing moment. Soon after the Communist Party of East Germany relinquished power (as happened in other Soviet Satellite countries).  A year later East and West Germany were reunited after more than 40 years of separation.

The fearsome Berlin Wall as it was: 3.6 meters high, 55 km long. Built August 1961, breached November 1989. 

Across the street from the Museum are preserved sections of the Berlin Wall.

A view from the Museum across a section of the Berlin Wall.  In many places (like here) there were actually two walls with a "no mans land death strip'" in between.  Guard Towers were erected every  few hundred meters.

Part of a monument showing photos of people who were killed trying to escape the West.

A simple chapel near the remains of the Wall - starkly effective in its simplicity.

After visiting the Wall, we went to a huge "flea market" nearby, held every Sunday.

Another photo of the flea market.

After the flea market we met up with Tamara and Felix Baur.  Tamara taught German at our university in Qingdao and is now back in Berlin.  Her husband, Felix, is a policeman. They showed us around the Brandenburg Gate area (Reichstag; Unter den Linden, Checkpoint Charlie).

Later we met up with Gerhard Antretter, another German teacher we met at our University in Qingdao,

The Reichstag (or Parliament) Building near the Brandenburg Gate.  We wanted to do a tour of the building, but tours were booked out a week in advance.

Berlin has a very fine collection of museums.  There were usually long queues as August is the height of the tourist season.

A side view of the magnificent "Dom" Cathedral.

The interior of the Dom Cathedral; rich and ornate.  It was half-way through mass before we realised that it wasn't Catholic, but Lutheran (the sermon went on and on, which was a clue). Wonderful organ music.

Powerful memorial to war dead.

The impressive monument to the victims of the Holocaust, located near the Brandenburg Gate.

This bombed out church (Kaiser Wilhelm Gedachtniskirche) on Kurfurstendamm near the Berlin Zoo (Zoologischer Garten) has been kept as a reminder of WW2. It was built in 1890 and destroyed in 1943.  Locals refer to it as Der hohle Zahn (the hollow tooth). 

The stunning chapel next to the bombed-out church.

A street sculpture on Kurfurstendamm near the Zoo, which was the main shopping street in West Berlin. Berlin is a sophisticated city.

We went out to Potsdam to see the famous Sanssouci Palace, but all the tour spots were booked out until late afternoon. So instead we visited Schloss Cecilienhof (see below).

Schloss Cecilienhof in Postdam was built 1914-17 by the last Royal rulers of Germany. It is famous as the site of the Potsdam Conference held 17 July - 2 August 1945.  The leaders of the Allies met to discuss the future of Germany and its allies.   Berlin (including Potsdam) was occupied by the Soviet Army, which quickly planted the Red Star in the courtyard.  The Schloss (Castle) is now an interesting museum of the Potsdam Conference.

The three leaders who attended the Potsdam Conference, from left: Winston Churchill (UK); Harry Truman (USA - President Roosevelt died in April 1945 and Truman was the new US President); and Josef Stalin (USSR). This photo was taken on 25 July 1945.  Although the war in Europe ended in May 1945 with Germany's surrender, the Pacific War was still going on; Japan surrendered on 15 August 1945 after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs to end WW2.

Potsdam contains many beautiful mansions, most of which seem in very good order.  The city center also has the "Hollandische Vertiel" (the Dutch Quarter) because the distinctive look of the old houses. One day wasn't enough to explore Potsdam properly.

A fairly typical street in Berlin Mitte.  The buildings have been renovated - some quite extensively rebuilt. We were impressed by the number of small parks and children's play areas amongst the many residential buildings.  It's a well-planned,  livable city.

Another street in Berlin Mitte.  Many buildings have restaurants and small shops on the ground floor, and residential apartments above.  Usually not more than 5 floors.  Actually, it was quite strange coming from China, where cities feature 20 and 30 storey buildings km after km, to see very few skyscrapers in Berlin.

Andrew, Caroline and Little Eddie arrived on 10 August and we shared their apartment for 4 days. They are based in Hong Kong; on this holiday they spent time in Copenhagen, then Majorca, and finally Berlin.

Little Eddie has already visited more than a dozen countries and he is only 2.5 years old!

Lots of good eating choices around Berlin Mitte.

We spent a day around the suburb of Kreuzberg.  We had lunch in a nice restaurant overlooking a river. Parts of Kreuzberg were "edgy", with more immigrants visible (many young men from Africa and the Middle East, who didn't seem to have much to do).

Another section of the Berlin Wall which has been preserved.

On our last evening we had dinner and a beer (of course) at the large Prater Beer Garden. Lots of people, including families, drinking beer and eating, all well behaved and just enjoying a beautiful summer evening.

Sunday 14 August 2016 Andrew, Caz & Eddie left for the airport.  Shortly afterwards Vera & I headed for the station and our train to Hamburg.

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So ended our time in Berlin.

One day we'd like to return to explore more of this impressive city.

Some top-of-the-head impressions of Berlin

Well-organised; good transport infrastructure. Many cyclists (the city is basically flat). But there was quite a lot of litter on the streets (although few bottles because they bring cash).  Lots of building/renovating going on. Preserve/respect history (museums, churches, old buildings). Cobblestone streets. Lots of little parks everywhere, and also the huge Tiergarten in the center of the city. Germans love the sun, and flock to parks when the sun comes out.

Not many refugees in evidence, at least most of the places we went.

Good food; not cheap (about the same as Australia, but overall better range and quality). Lots of restaurants and cafes – how do they all survive?

Changeable weather – one day hot (after all it was the middle of summer), next day cool.

Many people smoke, including women.  Many people had pets, especially small dogs.

We didn’t notice any crime – the place felt quite safe.

Many American TV programs, dubbed into German.

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My next post will describe our visit to Hamburg.

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Best wishes, keep well and keep smiling.

Alex & Vera Olah
Canberra, Australia
1 March 2017

(Currently visiting our daughter and her family in Brisbane.)