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I think the relaxation of the previous night caught up with us all. We all had a good sleep in. But the urge for coffee became so overwhelming that we sort out breakfast. We decided to head to the area around the Brandenburg Gate. Here we followed a random road through the Tiergarten and found The Berlin Pavilion.
This was a cafeteria style eatery of self serve breakfast. However all the hot food was 10 mins wait, so we settled for cakes and coffee. And I mean cakes plural for each of us. Hey, it's hard to walk past cakes in Germany, they kind of jump off the tray on to your plate. We sat at a table next to a group of bored teenagers. They looked just the same as bored teenagers all over the world. We finished our breakfast then decided between hiring bikes and going on an open top bus tour. The bus won out as Chris had never been on a tour of this nature and we frankly didn't really have the energy for bicycles. We bought the hop on hop off ticket and essentially used the bus to get around.
We started at the Reichstag building. The outer facade is still intact but the inner dome was destroyed by a fire many years ago. It was rebuilt after the cold war in glass to help celebrate the reunification of Germany. Glass signifies transparency of government and the path around the dome signifies the people are always above the government looking over their shoulders.
Staying in the government quarter we passed a few more modern government buildings and the 'lovely' American accented commentary continued to explain each building. Of particular interests was her description of the Carillion. Apparently a large bell tower played in a similar way to a piano by striking keys. Funny, there is something in Canberra called a Carrillion that does the same as this. The tour was proving a pain so we decided to get off at the next attraction. This was Schlott Bellevue, an 1800s built small palace once used by the German royalty and them became the home of the Chancellor and now a ceremonial place for foreign dignitaries, however the stop was not labeled here for this bus and we were carried through another kilometre or so and out the other side of the Tiergarten to the shopping district attraction. Ho hum yawn and off the bus.
We then faced a walk back to Schlott Bellevue and the Victory monument. But it was a really nice walk through the Tiergarten which seems to attract the same pass times as Hampstead Heath in London. Let's say a very cosmopolitan park with some very secluded areas. We reached the Victory monument and paid the price to go to the top. €3 each and too many steps to count. Each step smaller than the previous as the column gets narrower as it gets higher. But at the first landing we exited to view the stunning mosaic walls that tell the story of the three battles Germany won in close succession. One over Prussia, one over Denmark and I think the last over Napoleon but I am not sure. Anyway the walls were beautiful. And to add drama, the machine gun damage to the columns has been left. Not as obvious as some of the temples in Cambodia, but I felt it important to see the damage as a reminder of the destruction of war. Nobody wins a war; it is a degree of losing. We returned to the spiral staircase of death and made it to the top. Chris powering ahead and giving us a good 5-7 seconds rest each time we caught up. At the top there was a great view around Berlin. It is a very flat city so it is possible to see as far as the pollution will let you. It is not that Berlin is particularly polluted, but if you get above any city the pollution becomes more obvious than at ground level. We could see our apartment from up here and some of the other landmarks we had visited earlier.
We found ourselves across the road from the Altberlier-Biegarten. How bad could this be? given we had dinner at the sister restaurant last night. And it was a good choice. More German noodles with mushroom sauce and a bottle of wine to share. No strudel this time. After lunch we stumbled across another one of those travel moments that comes about only because we left the tour. It was a brilliant Christmas shop. A very traditional European Christmas shop full of hand made ornaments, nutcrackers; candle driven wind mills, and Santa themed stuff. Even more in this shop than the Santa Village in Finland. After walking through the street level of the shop, which is more general German house decoration there is an ascending slow spiral path around a massive turning white Christmas tree up to the 'Christmas Room'. Here we were in a dream land of Christmas decorations. We spent a good deal of time here and bought lots of souvenirs and gifts, some for each other, including a large solid wood skiing Nutcracker for me from Chris. A good solid heavy bag filling boxed and numbered hand made Nutcracker. The key word here is 'heavy'. I love it, but Chris, you bought it you work out how to carry it. Easy, put it in Darryl's bag. This worked for most of us and there is has traveled happily so far.
From here we walked on a little further, added the Berlin Starbucks mug to the collection and onto the ruins of the cathedral. This was a stunningly beautiful cathedral that was near completely destroyed during WWII when the allies bombed Berlin extensively ultimately bringing the war in Europe to an end, but the damage all over Berlin and many German cities is extensive and still very present. Anyway, the ruins have been reinforced to protect what is left. An interesting structure from the outside and lucky Chris suggested we get off the bus here to have a look. The real beauty is inside. The mosaic wall and ceiling of the small remaining part of the church are exquisite. Incredible detail and colour in the tiles and with the exception of the obvious cracks that have been reinforced, some survived the war, in fact the many wars that have affected Berlin physically. And absolute must see in Berlin.
From here we rejoined the buses with the live commentary by the Swedish German lady with the Border collie. Her commentary was a little difficult to listen to. With the first bus we chose English from the menu and put headphones on. But this time she was speaking English, German and Deuschlish (a terrible combination of both). We jumped off again 2 stops later at the Berlin Wall. One of my bucket list.
It was everything I thought it would be. A very moving and sometimes chilling experience reading the stories about the rise of the Nazis party, their fall and the subsequent rise of the communist party and division of Berlin and Germany, through to the eventual tearing down of the wall. There is no doubt that the Jewish people suffered the most. But Romany gypsies were also targets for the gas chambers and Hitler actually managed to completely wipe out the culture of the Soma Gypsies by killing them all. Homosexuals were also targeted and beaten violently with few who were arrested, surviving and escaping. You walk along the east side of the wall in what was 'No Mans land' reading real life accounts of the this period in Germany from the 1920s to 1989 when the wall was torn down. The silence of the crowds there reading and taking in the significance of this place. Perhaps there would be no wall in Israel today if Jewish children and all children for that matter were made to come here. The truly frightening similarity between Adolph Hitler's rise to Chancellor and Donald Trumps rise in American are palpable in the air here. Donald Trump is following Hitler's techniques almost to the letter and gaining control almost like clock work. Mien Kempt may be retittled Mien Trump. Being at The Wall is ominous for where we are going again if Donald Trump were to become the American President.
In complete contrast, when we found Check Point Charlie, I was both amazed and shocked that this other Cold War land mark had become so totally postcard driven. Actors in American uniforms stamping fake passport pages with original visa stamps while posing with drunken bachelor party's and hens nights. Group peddled beer bus tours and tacky souvenir shops everywhere. I knew the check point building was relatively small, but so disappointed that it has become little more than a backdrop to drunken photo shoots next to fake guards trying some pathetic recreation of the fear that centred on this small white timber building.
The East German Trabis have become up market trendy tour cars, some made into blinged up stretch limos, some brightly painted and others converted. I suppose there is an irony in the complete transformation from communist car to capitals tour taxi. We decided to buy a model each of our favourite as a souvenir of this place. They are displayed in the shop windows like real models. But inside they are all mass produced in China. More fakes. Also, the other massive rip off is 'pieces of the original wall'. Post card pieces, book mark pieces, key rings, plastic display stands, bl***y snow domes with 'original' wall fragments. I appreciate the wall was massive. But it came down 25 years ago, and at the time pieces were being taken away. Millions of tourists buying millions of wall fragments they have to run out at some point. More like millions of tourist spending millions of Euros on pieces of spray painted cement being produced in the basement of the same Chinese sweatshop making Trabi car toys. Such a contradiction of effects. The Wall is a truly moving and solemn place and Check Point Charlie is a plastic painted joke making light of a terrible time in German and world history.
By the time we had finished with the Wall and Check Point Charlie we had missed the last bus to hop on. We were not told they finished at 4 and it was now 6. So we found our way to Wilhelmstrasse and walked back to the apartment. But not without dinner at the Altberliner-Wirsthaus from last night. Same staff, same great service.
Overall Berlin was a fabulous city. Would make me want to learn German and move there. Chris is keen too. Das ist gut, me tinks. (I already speak fluent Deuschlish).
Written by Rod
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