12.05.06: Tour-in Berlin

12.05.06

Early start today with a scramble for the bathroom and a delicious breakfast platter put on by our amazing host! The electronic air-bed was very comfortable and operated at a stylish, yet conversation-ruining volume, to fill and deflate; gone are the days of the foot-pump.

It is so great to have a local to take you around without the worry of getting lost or missing obvious spots

A stroll through the warm local neighbourhood basking in the early morning sun, we already witnessed the disjointed district with classical modern interspersed with run-down graffitied buildings...we got on the 'U2' trainline from Senefelderplatz to Potsdamerplatz, a newly built ultra-modern metropolis reclaiming the no-man's land between the 2 berlin walls.  We took a glance around the futuristic Sony centre with its umbrella roof and stylish continental people sipping their morning brew. It already started getting very warm now and it promised to be a hot day.

Took my first glimpse of remains of the Berlin Wall preserved here as part of a memorial, with a poignant open air history lesson printed on the 'west' side which remained less graffitied. Though many Berliners would rather dispose of symbols of the tragic divide that was in place for so long, it was important to keep sections, and this small preservation is in line with special paving that marks the route of the entire Iron Curtain, which you see time and time again when you wander around the city and unintentionally cross between the previous sectors... There was much buzz in this place and we even caught a film crew shooting some movie capturing this helicopter that was weaving precariously in and out of the skyscrapers. Crossing the wide boulevard, we were already onto the souvenirs!!! how bad is that? i get postcards and a german flag for my pack, whilst Elaine purchased her mandatory fridge-magnet and Nia a russian doll for her collection...now, at last, we were all properly relaxed to continue sightseeing :)

It is so great to have a local to take you around without the worry of getting lost or missing obvious spots, and after wandering past the home of the world-famous Berlin Philarmonic, we came across the purely startling sight of the Holocaust Memorial, which was a huge complex of 2711 gray concrete slabs of different heights set out as straight corridors within which one could walk on unequal cobbelstone floor. It was made the more impressive when you enter and walk about as you are deceived, when peering from the outside, just how tall some of the slabs are. and to think people used to jump across this memorial. stupid and potentially lethal, not forgetting disrespectful!

Sliding only a small distance further, we came across the Brandenburg Tor (or gate) and as i had no idea of its existence, which everyone else seems to associate most with Berlin, or what it looked like, i was heavily impressed by it whilst i heard whispers by other visitors that it was smaller than they had imagined... (as the famous philosophers: the 'A. Monkeys' would proclaim: 'anticipation has a habit to set you up' ) Anyway, this area was buzzing with bus loads of tourists and is clearly one of the many focal points of Berlin. However, soon on passing to the Reichstag, i was taken aback by the rather long queue to go up to the dome, designed by our Sir Foster, of the German government building which after heavy restoration, retains much of its impressive classical structure whilst finely incorporating modern features. a rather photogenic establishment, and one of a few buildings which has escaped graffitying!

Within turning right of the new adidas stadium in front of the Reichstag, our gaze was fixed onto the new Chancellery with its ultra-modern concept buildings, three of which were in a line to represent a unity of philosophies. It's connected by bridges over the canalled River Spree, one for governmental officials and one for tourists...after all this walking, we felt the need to get some cold beers and some lunch already and turned towards a beer-garden near where Frau Merkel's appartments were, but this security guard turned us away as we were walking towards it along the river, pointing back to an A4 sized sign hidden in a bush that said refurbishments were occuring. Never fear, there was another one across this pictoresque statued bridge (reminiscent of the one in Prague) at a closer distance.  We sat out in the sun and took out time over a pleasant lunch of Rostbradwurst, Kartoffel und Krautsalad and were joined by what seemed like an Austrian Biker Gang which just seemed odd - though we didn't end up talking to them.

The new Berlin Hauptbahnhof train terminal looked impressive in the sunshine even though the workers were struggling to complete the project for the World Cup next month; there were already plenty of reminders of this summer's main sporting event - like we need it... Weaving in between the gated off construction site and construction vehicles, we made it up to the glass roof covered platform area, where we saw workers on the roof wiping each of the glass panes, which is painstaking considering the size of the thing.  It would have been bigger, but they ran out of money leaving the first-class areas of the platform uncovered!

A short ride to Hackerscher Markt revealed a nice stylish square with plenty of places to eat and drink coffee and an Irish pub which excited Elaine somewhat. the whole area reminded me of Covent Garden and i wanted to spend some time here later on but we'd just eaten!! This area also houses the so called 'museum island' which has some impressive galleries and some grand classical buildings such as the Berliner Dom, which i was simply blown away by and couldn't stop capturing it on the way to the start site of the river cruise in front of the Palast der Republik.  This housed the East German Parliament when the wall was up and is now being dragged down due to it being an eyesore and asbestos ridden.  what will go up in its place is undecided at the moment, and i'll just have to come back and see!

The cruise was ok. I've never really been impressed with these kinda boat trips but i was adequately entertained by the well-rehersed tour guide, though i was more captivated by how sunburnt his face was getting, rather than every bridge he described...  Nia and Elaine were less romanced and promptly fell asleep during what was almost uncomfortable heat, and they were sitting front row!! A highlight of the route was the stunning Tiergarten as well as this river-side artificial beach which served as a bar; it just screamed 'cool'.  I was also lulled into taking a pic of the stunning architecture of the Bode museum and said to myself that i had to come back and go inside some of these impressive monuments.

The next tourist haunt was Checkpoint Charlie, an American strong hold controlling the flow of anything between the east and west, and was the scene of many incredible attempts of people smuggling. We walked to get here and Marco assures us that it was 'near', but after stops in H&M!! a coffee shop and almost 45 min walking, we still weren't near. from then, we stopped believing anything was 'near' when Marco said it was.  After some more complaining, we finally stumbled on a plaque which marked the line of the wall again, and rather evidently, the immediate area around it has been left undeveloped.  Purely touristy with opportunities to have photos with people dressed up as russian and american soldiers and a lady, dressed as an official, who could stamp your passport with an genuine stamp to say you've been through.  We were more humoured by the fact that when we approached with interest and then withdrew hesitantly (as one would when you find out there is a 2 euro cost per stamp), she said 'do you want it or not, because i need the toilet!'. we replied 'no' and Marco in his uber-efficient, jolly but never-mincing-his-word fashion, mused: 'ENJOY!'

The famous museum there was worth a look but we had no idea how expensive it was, and as i was the only student, we decided that i should come another time, as for 9.50 Euro, you'd want to take your time rather than face closing time. Instead, we wandered around some long boulevard towards Humboldt university with its rather impressive lecture theatre, the Alle Bibliottek and the spacious courtyard, strangely devoid of students.  However one thing Berlin was certainly not devoid of were people selling authentic gasmasks, russian dolls and SS uniform/hats, which were ubiquitous throughout the city. i have no idea why?

Further along, as the sun and our own energy faded, we were led by Marco to one of prettiest squares in Berlin - the Gendamenmarkt, which had opposing German (Deutscher Dom) and French (Franzosischen Dom) cathedral enclosing a lovely paved area in front of which we sat and rested.  I was particularly amused at a busker, who was being watched rather too intently at close proximity by a passer-by who was smoking in front of him, and the musician's body language seemed to me that he might just stop and smash his guitar over the fumer's head and push him into the fountain behind him. The smoker got the message and left and as soon as he got back to playing, this accordian started up on the other side of the sqaure and drowned out the guitar out. haha :)

Knackered as we were, we all had a nap before having Vietnamese food again, but at a really nice and uber-popular restaurant in town called 'Monsieur Yuong', which we reached by M2 tram. My dinner was rather spicy and had celery, but of what i could eat, it was delicious. Two bottles of house white were rather easily polished off as we left to do some bar-hopping a la Marco.

The first place, 'Club der Republike', we went to was bizarre! another glass of white was polished off in this bar, which was located at the top of a dodgy fire-exit staircase. It was decorated with only 70's furniture, with a background hum of the few people and the DJ scratching some chill out tunes...it was proper cool and ive never been anywhere like it, but the lack of enough atmosphere saw us move on after one drink though for the most part, the ladies were trying to figure out if this guy on the adjacent table was famous, and if so, who was he? Figured it out yet?

The next bar 'Wohnzimmer' (living room) was definitely more lively and just as funky as we had our drinks in a mock-up of a 70's kitchen!! with another group sitting around a dining table. it wasnt just the furniture, the wallpaper and clocks were accurate to the time period and it has been suggested as a nostalgic reaction to the modernisation of the eastern sector...anyway, i was well on my way to being merry as i hadnt eaten too much, and after the last bar, 'Zu Mir Oder Zu Dir' (your place or mine) in this psychedelic place back near Prenzlauer Allee, which had disco lights and massive fluffy furniture straight out of an Austin Powers movie, i was in happyland as we sat outside due to the intense heat inside. then the politzei arrived because of complaints of the locals and we all dispersed back to the flat, not before taking photos of Elaine and Nia pretending to leave that Brothel at the head of Raabstrasse!!