Berlin

Posted by Anura Samara, 4 May 2015

We manage to pack a lot into our long weekend in Berlin.

Walking tour

We started off our stay in Berlin with an Urban Adventures walking tour. It turned out there were just the two of us, so we enjoyed a highly personalised tour.

The tour started out near the Brandenburg Gate. Along the way, we saw or talked about:

the Berlin Wall. While most of the wall has disappeared, the outline of the wall is preserved in paving stones set in the roads. There are also numerous memorials to people who were killed attempting to cross the wall,
the Reichstag and government buildings,
the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This is over 2,700 concrete slabs with varying heights to take into account the slope of the ground but laid out in a strict geometrical pattern. It’s very precise – lots of neat rows and columns – and very bleak,
some of the Nazi era building complexes, including the original Air Ministry and the site of the former Gestapo headquarters,
an underground train station that incorporates some black marble from Hitler’s Reich Chancellery,
Gendarmenmarkt which was right across the road from our hotel, and
finishing up near the museum island.

As always with the these walking tours, we didn’t actually go into any of the sites or attractions (apart from being allowed to walking through and around the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe). But that’s not the point – the point is to get a sense of how the city is laid out, what it’s major features are and some background on it’s history so that we can then plan out the rest of our stay.

Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall is omnipresent. Once you learn to recognise the pavers in the roads, you start to see it everywhere. The outline of the wall shows that it wasn’t a planned construction, but really just snaked in, around and often through existing structures, dividing neighbourhoods between east and west.

But there are enough standing sections to show you what it was really like. The first section we saw was right next to the Topography of Terror exhibition. It stands on the edge of the road, showing how something as normal as a city street could be instantly divided between two countries.

There’s another longer stretch along the River Spree at the East Side Gallery but if you want to see what the wall was originally like you should head to the Berlin Wall Memorial. It’s here that the Berlin Wall was erected through a cemetery, completing cutting people off. There are sections still standing, and then other sections lying on the ground. There’s some sculptures based on simply reinforcing rods, and a simple memorial (including photos) to the people who died trying to cross the wall. On the apartment blocks nearby are large photographic murals showing the same scene at the time of the wall. And when you climb to the top of the visitor centre, you can look down into a short stretch where the wall is preserved as it was. The wall was in fact not just a single wall, but a series of layer structures including lights, watch-towers, simple wire fences and roads as well as the famous wall itself.

Despite seeing the wall or its outline everywhere, we were never quite sure whether we were in the former eastern or western part of the city.

What about Checkpoint Charlie It sits in the middle of a busy street street with tourists swarming over it, and “guarded” by some guys in US-style army uniforms. Standing there, it’s hard to get a sense of its importance as a crossing point – further up the street is an exhibition of photos which do a better job of showing how the checkpoint functioned.

Kreuzberg

At our tour guides suggestion, we headed across to Kreuzberg to see this “cool” area. Little did we know that it’s the traditional gathering place of all sorts of different groups celebrating May Day with a history of violent confrontations with the police.

So we wandered down some nice, wide boulevards which had a definite celebratory air. Although the shops were closed, bars and cafes were open with people spilling out on to the footpaths. We stayed within a gradually increasing steam of people heading into the centre of Kreuzberg. As the crowd increased, we noticed that the roads were all closed to traffic and people were now walking in the middle of the street. As we got to the heart of Kreuzberg, it felt like a real festival with outdoor gigs and street performances underway.

The first inkling of trouble was when I saw a policeman in full riot gear walking through the crowd, where he joined around a dozen of his colleagues in a circle facing outwards to the crowd. Nearby was another similar circle of riot policeman and not much further on we came across a large area that was barricaded off with no access and patrolled by yet more police – I assume this large area was to give them space to organise their responses to any violence. At this point, we figured we better get out of there and started heading to the nearest S-Bahn station. Along the way, we came across dozens of police vans with more riot police on standby. Of course, the first station we came to was closed (we could see that the trains were still running), so we headed for the next one – closed too. Eventually we found an open station and escaped. Checking the news later on, it looks like May Day 2015 in Kreuzberg was less violent than some in its history.

Brandenburg Gate

I had a few opportunities to look at the Brandenburg Gate. There’s a great cylindrical viewing platform position just in front of it, which gives you a better view of the gate from above the street and in both directions along the Unter den Linden – the only problem was that there was some sort of public artwork being installed directly in front of us, with temporary fencing obstructing the foreground view. But then you can walk up to and through the gate to get a closer view.

As it was close to our hotel, I ducked out when night to take some night photos too. Like so many iconic buildings, on the eastern side modern buildings come right up to the edge. At least from the west you can get a great uninterrupted view of the gate.

Reichstag Dome

The Reichstag has been through a lot in its relatively short history, and remarkably is once again the home of the German parliament. For us, the main attraction was the new dome.

The original dome was destroyed in the fire of 1933 (reportedly staged by the Nazis to give a pretext to pass some emergency decrees. Instead of attempting to rebuild the dome in its original form, it has instead been built in a form which is both functional and striking – a large, glass dome atop the renovated Reichstag. It’s functional, in that it has been designed with a series of internal mirrors to direct sunlight into the main chamber directly below. But it’s incredibly striking from wherever you stand inside the dome. Your enter at the base, and can then climb the spiralling ramp along the inner ramp to the top. All along, you can look down into the dome and see the angled mirrors and weird reflections.

At the top, you can walk all over the roof of the building and look at the dome from the outside, as well as see the city views. The Reichstag Dome is one of those modern structures which just cries out to be photographed.

Topography of Terror

The Topography of Terror sits on top of the place where the former Gestapo Headquarters stood – a fitting place, as you can still see the foundations of the underground garages that were used for torturing people. But above ground, the building is a stark, modern design standing on gravel.

Outside, at the level of the old foundations, is a good all-weather display showing the progression of Nazi terror over the 12 years in which they held power (just make sure that you start at the right end!). These have good photos to illustrate each stage.

Inside are larger displays which follow the same theme but with many more photos and artefacts from the period. What’s particularly chilling about the Nazi’s reign is that, while the basis for the Holocaust was ideological, they went about their repressions in such a bureaucratic way, as though once started the repressions, denial of liberty, terror and death just had to continue on their way. And of course this meant keeping copious records of everything they did. And of course the most chilling thing of all was that the German people watched each step of the process and did nothing.

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

It’s interesting that there are not many physical reminders in Berlin of the Second World War, so the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is interesting to see. It’s the remains of a church that was bombed during the war with just the remains of the entrance hall and spire left. The spire is effectively amputated below the top and even the entrance hall looks like it is at risk of falling over.

A new church and belfry has been built next door. From the outside, the new church is extremely ugly – a hexagon made from honeycombed concrete. But when you enter the new church, it’s a large open space completely bathed in blue light from the glass set in to the concrete honeycomb. The effect is outstanding and a complete contrast from the external appearance of the building.

Unfortunately, the belfry was encased in scaffolding and, stuck in the middle of a main road, it’s hard to full appreciate both the old and new churches.

Neue Heimat Street Food Markets

A friend had recommended the Neue Heimat food markets, down by the river. It’s a series of large warehouses in an old industrial area which have been turned over to various activities.

By the time we got there, the food markets were winding down. They were a series of food stalls both inside and outside the warehouses, although there were a couple of bars which seemed to be more permanent. All we could really do was sample some of the remaining food and have a drink before heading into the surrounding suburb for some real food. By then, the drinks were starting to flow and the music was getting louder – we started to realise that maybe we were just a bit too old for this place!

Humboldthain Flaktower

I’d heard about the massive flaktowers in Berlin and was keen to see one. Unfortunately, the tours inside were fully booked on the day, so instead we climbed up the outside of the one at Humboldthain.

From the gardens, there is nothing to see except a fairly steep hill criss-crossed with walking paths through the trees. We knew it was there, so just started heading up hill. It’s only when you get to the top that you realise that the hill is man-made using tons of soil and debris heaped up on the side of the flaktower. And once you’re at the top you realise how the tower would have dominated the city – there are uninterrupted views across the city from the massive concrete platforms at the top. And on this side you can look straight down the concrete side to the ground below. These are truly impressive structures – tall, strong and dominating. So strong in fact that all attempts to destroy them failed.

Bendlerblock

I really wanted to see the Bendlerblock, the scene of one of the few organised uprisings against Hitler. It’s not close to the city, so it involved a bit of a hike even after catching public transport. And we didn’t have enough time to really explore all of the exhibitions there. But even our brief time showed what immense risks the plotters took, and how in some respects the way the Nazi system penetrated every part of society really led to the plot failing, and the arrest and executions of so many people connected with it.

The courtyard outside was used for the film Valkrie:“http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0985699/”. It was deserted when we were there, which gave it a sense of eerie calm.

Public transport

Berlin has a great public transport system. As is our standard practice, we used the bus and train to get from the airport to our hotel. As we find in so many European cities, connections are well-planned so that despite the change it feels like a single journey.

While our preferred way of getting around is on foot at street level, a good public transport system really helps with saving your feet when you want to move longer distances. And as Berlin is a such a large city, we quickly found need for it.

Tegel Airport

Tegel Airport is a real blast from the past.

It was designed to reduce the time between arriving at the airport and going to the gate. When you arrive, the luggage carousel is inside the gate and when you depart the check-in counters are similarly directly next to the gate. Unless you arrive too early, when you need to check-in your baggage at a special counter. And then wait. The airport is in a ring shape, which means most of the shops and cafes are scattered among the queues for check-ins.

I can see the point of the design – it lets you go from the kerb to the gate with the minimum of fuss (eg. the check-in queues are dedicated to each flight, distance is shorter). It also avoids the mandatory walk through the duty free store just to get to your gate. The airport feels dated, but looking back I wonder whether some of the more modern airport designs are for the benefit of us or the airport owners.

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