Ich bin ein Berliner

On the char-a-banc on the way to Stansted!
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Berlin is a weird city. It's hard to get your head round the concept of a city which was divided for such a long time. Perhaps I'll never understand what it was like.

We arrived via cheapo airline Ryanair via Stansted. Chris and I had got the coach from Stratford (only £7 and dead quick n easy).

East End boy in a West Berlin town...

We got a taxi from the airport as there were four of us. After a quick shower and change we were straight out for a few drinks. Can't remember much more apart from somehow I broke my glasses by taking them off to do something. . .

Hugging my first German bear.
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With a splitting head the next morning I stepped out of bed and straight onto my prescription sunglasses. Bah.

Before breakfast, Chris and I had discovered the biggest pink sex shop we've ever seen - it was like Asda. We had breakfast in some caff by Ka De We (West German 'Harrods') and got bus 100 to the Brandenburg Gate (where 'Wall!' became the shout of the day). We seemed to walk for miles, taking in quite a bit of the wall then the Holocaust Memorial (see pics). The Memorial was a bit sobering and is incredibly frank in the way it describes the forces and actions by many which led to the attempted extermination of a several different peoples (homos too - don't forget). and the Siegessaule and the park and woods (typical poofs) before heading back to the hotel for a snooze.

Breakfast the first morning. Hungover like hell.
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Off out later for a more sedate evening of dinner and drinks (me in the dark, wearing dodgy sunglasses).

Day two (Sunday) we got the metro to have a look at Checkpoint Charlie. Next to it there's this museum, started by this bloke back in 1961 when the Wall went up. He was just into the West Side (American Sector) and had a fabby view so he thought he'd exploit it, I suppose. The museum was really interesting and it was huge - there was such a lot to see, and such a lot for me to get my head round. I realised that there was an awful lot that I didn't know about the history of the division of Germany, of Berlin and life behind the Iron Curtain. There was a futher exhibition nearby, on the site of the torture chambers by the wall. Very graphic, brought another lump to my throat.

Breakfast day one - bad hangover.
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The evening involved MORE drinking. Found this rather trendy club/bar with the most amazingly dark darkroom. Two slings and everything! Shame we were the only ones in there :o(

On Monday we took the S-Bahn to Potsdam - the seat of the German royal family way back when. Potsdam is just into the East, and the communists obviously also thought it was wonderful as they nearly creamed themselves when they got hold of it and moved all their top brass in (even Putin had a stint in Potsdam when he was a KGB officer.

More bears. They're obsessed.
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It was probably Potsdam that brought down the last Kaisers in 1918 - while the country was at war and on its knees, they were busy spending millions (of marks) building a new palace here. Also at Potsdam, Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt met to agree how to carve Berlin up, in 1945 (with its own consequences for those who ended up on the wrong side of the division).

Last night in Berlin - back to some of the haunts of the first night (I'd purchased daily-wear contact lenses by now, so much happier).

Rainy Brandenburg Gate. Much smaller than I anticipated.
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Last day, we took the train again back to the Brandenburg Gate - that symbol of unity. We also queued for ages in the most fantastic hailstorm to go up to the dome of the Reichstag. Looking at pictures of the Reichstag immediately after the war, they've done an incredible job!

A long walk into the East took us to Alexandersplatz - and what a difference. Not half. Very.

The flight back wasn't until about 10pm and all I can say was that we were completely done in. Thank God Matt and Steve gave Chris and I lifts back to our respective homes.