Ich bin ein aderer Berliner day 4 13/6/15

Home today  so we must do what we can before boarding our train for Schonefeld airport. The flight is 10-15 so better set out about 7-00 latest.  One or two bits of modern history first. We can catch a bus to Checkpoint Charlie then on to the East side Gallery to see the remaining bits of the Berlin Wall. These carry their original political graffiti plus plenty that's been added later. Many of the images have now become iconic. I do have some original photos from 1993 so it will be intriguing to compare them after 22 years.

So onto the S bahn again. The weather is becoming very sultry and thunderstorms are forecast for later in the day. The East Side Gallery was painted by two groups of artists who came together in 1990 to decorate this surviving part of the wall from the East side. It could've have been done as long as the GDR existed. Several of the artists were of world renown It has not been free of controversy since. For example a 400 metre length was moved to give a better view of the Spree river from the new O2 Centre without the permission of the artists. Some of the pictures have been completely repainted. If you want to learn more about the gallery check out Wikipedia. I am now going to show you some pictures.  Where there are two, the first is a contemporary picture and the second a picture of a picture from 1993. 

By now the weather had become really threatening with black skies so we hurry back to the shelter of the U bahn. Back to the hotel to change shirts, pick up the luggage and have a relaxing drink before the bus trip to Alexandre Platz. We will have a bit of time there before the final train trip back to Schonefeld airport. 

There are lots of fun things to do in Alexandre Platz. You can shop in Kaufhaus or the ethnic market in the Platz. You can catch a tram which will take you anywhere in the old East Berlin. It was served by a very efficient public transport system which is just as well as there was virtually no private transport available. The tram network has not been extended.  There has been plenty of other things to spend the money on.

Another fun thing to do is to jump off the top of the Park Inn Hotel.  We saw several people do this.  Must be a stag weekend thing. We decided to give it a miss. 

So it's goodbye to them and goodbye to Berlin from us.

Ich bin ein aderer Berliner day3 12 /6/15

Today we plan a bird's eye view of Berlin. We are heading first of all to the Fernsehturm, or TV tower. At 368 meters it is Berlin's highest structure. It was built in 1969 as a Socialist-Realist monument to the technical prowess of the Eastern Block and couldn't be more in your face. The globe which rotates 365° every 30 minutes contains a restaurant in the middle and a viewing gallery with bar below. Now I remember this from 25 years ago with brother Jonty. It seems a lot smarter today, as does all the surrounding area. Now you see it,

now you see from it.

Yes, this does show the shadow of the tower from the tower. The next shot is a view of the Rot Rathaus. Sounds grim but simply means Red Town hall in English.

Here is a view down Karl Marx Allee. The huge Boulevard was laid out by Hermann Henselmann along with the housing blocks to accommodate the homeless heroes. To be fair he didn't knock anything down to create his utopian world. We did it for him.

This next picture is quite important for your geography of Berlin. It shows a lot and I will try to describe it to you. Enlarge it as much as you can. We will start at the bottom and work up. We are looking West from the old GDR.The church is the famous St Marien's. At the cross roads above the church you can see some pink pipes going over the road. These are the still functioning community heating schemes which pumped hot water to all the buildings. The road then crosses the River Spree next to the Berliner Dom  (Cathedral) and onto Museum Island. Pretty well all the buildings left and right of the Cathedral are museums. The road kinks right and becomes Unter den Linden up to the Brandenburg Gate just before the woods of Tiergarten. You can see the dome of the Bundestag just above the big building that looks like a giant TV screen. 

After lunch we visited the Cathedral. Built by the Hohenzollern dynasty (remember them?) to reflect their power and glory. They needed somewhere to worship and be worshipped, to marry and be buried.  Started in 1747,the building has been altered many times. What we see today is Neo-Baroque, finished in 1905.  Well actually finished again in1993 after 40 years restoration.  This is Berlin we're talking about. 

We paid to take the round tour which we didn't realise involved climbing the 385 steps up to the dome walk. This was quite a challenge for Helen but she "rose"to the occasion and was rewarded with some great views from the top. As we went round there were some little listening posts with doctrinal information which were great fun. Part way up we got this bird's eye view of a wedding taking place which was accompanied by some magnificent organ music 

All the family sarcophagi are in the crypt and it was my privilege to meet one of the late Hohenzollerns. Well that was enough to dine out on, in Berlin. So we did. 

Ich bin ein aderer Berliner day 2 11/5/15

An excellent night's sleep under our duvets. They are a bit like the food, heavy, hot, and, nourishing. I can remember blankets. Then we all got continental quilts until we all became continental and they frenchified to duvets. How about anglicising it again to cosy-cover. However I digress and we have a lot planned for today; Potsdamer Platz, the Jewish memorial, Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, river Spree cruise, Zoo in the Tiergarten, so let's go.

Recognise this chap? He's called Ampelmaennchen or the little traffic light man. When you see him you know that you are in the old East Berlin. He has become something of a cult hero. Here is his mate.

Potsdamer Platz is entirely rebuilt and now contains the Sony Centre  (shops and stuff ) many banks and hotels. There was also a Berlin Wall exhibition with re-erected bits complete with DDR border guard and flag.

 Walking down Ebertstrasse we pass this striking building. 

Just past this is the Memorial to the 6 million Jewish people murdered by the Nazi regime. Above ground is the 19000 sq meters of concrete blocks, below ground is an information centre. 

I'm sure that you recognise this next picture as the Brandenburg Gate 

I seem to have gained a shadow from the case on camera lens. The sun is very bright today. The tabloids would have said "Cor wat a scorcha" when we had them (scorchas that is ). The Reichstag is close, and here it is. Norman Foster's transparent dome is just visible in this shot. It is a great addition and people can walk up the spiral walkway on the inner surface with wonderful views

So much for C19 Prussian architecture, the real star of C21 Berlin is the contemporary architecture as befits a city re-inventing itself. I will let the pictures speak for themselves but you will see government offices, railway station, theatre, unifying bridges and modern palaces.

See what I mean? Helen and I do like a zoo and Berlin is a goodie. I think the two hour walk round should more or less see us off.

Just when we thought it was safe to go back in the water. ....

Well that's enough for today 

Ich bin ein aderer Berliner

Firstly I would like to offer you a little historical context by way of skeleton to support our observations over the next few days. Secondly I would like to point out that the title of this blog, with its reference to 1963 does not make me another jam doughnut!

The first references to Berlin appear in the mid C13 and by 1415 Frederick 1 the Elector for the Region of Brandenburg made the city his capital.  Subsequent members of the Hohenzollern family ruled in Berlin until 1918, firstly as Electors of Brandenbugh then as Kings of Prussia and eventually as Emperors of Germany.

After the defeat of Kaiser Wilhelm in WW1 the Weirmar Republic was declared. Berlin expanded and there was a flourishing of Modernist arts, music and theatre.  Such talents as Gropius, Laban, Brecht, Weill and Schoenberg who we still find challenging nearly a hundred years on.

Adolph Hitler filled the vacuum left by the decaying and economically ruined Republic and the Nazi Party ruled from Berlin, whist having a go at the rest of the world, between 1933 and 1945. At the end of WW2 the race for Berlin was won by the Russians who controlled the territory all around Berlin and some considerable way West.  The city itself was divided into four sectors, one for each of the victorious allies, USA, UK, France and Russia.  Effectively the western sectors became an enclave deep within Russian controlled East Germany.  This personified the Cold War especially when the infamous wall was built forming a tight ring around the western sectors in 1961.

1989 saw the fall of the wall as a result partly of  popular uprisings across the Soviet controlled eastern block countries.  Reunification of Germany took place in 1990 when Berlin again became the capital of Germany and the government met again in the Reichstag. Quite a century for Berliners. Read here what we make of it in 2015.

These trips always start in the same way. The plane flies at 13-40 so we work backwards to give us a deadline to leave the house. This time it's 8-30. At 9-15 we leave.  Good effort I thought. Smooth drive down to Stansted, park up and bus to the terminal. This is slowly getting better, the security checks are a lot quicker, but it still disappoints,  for example the toilets in the check in area are hopelessly inadequate and as a consequence in a disgusting condition.

It only takes an hour and a half to fly to Schonefeld airport.  Next it's public transport to the hotel. So, not so efficient these Germans. Several escalators not working, signage poor, reminds us of home really. All in all it takes about an hour to reach the hotel.

The Altberlin Hotel on Potsdamer Strasse. This place is quite old, though it's hard to tell in Berlin given the destruction of WW2. It certainly works hard at being old in a film set kind of way. There are even pairs of C19 style bloomers hanging up supposedly to dry in the courtyard /beer garden. You can get a flavour of the place from the photos.  Our room is really quite good with all the trimmings including kettle, espresso coffee machine and fridge. The only little problem is that there is no English breakfast tea. Plenty of herbals and green even gunpowder, so the quarter master is sent out on a mission to find supplies. On the way to a suitable shop he encounters this wall which is part of an S bahn station.  Presumably this must be the vestigial evidence of WW2 activities. Apart from all the rebuild and newbuild,this is the only surviving evidence that we saw. 

This last picture is in the bar /restaurant where we had our evening meal. Heavy,nourishing and Germanic. What else would you expect? I have a very ambitious programme planned for the next three days, it will be intriguing to see how much we can achieve. Watch this space.