Thursday, April 14, 2005
It's a long way back to Germany
I've just spent four days in the much larger than I thought it would be Berlin. While there I developed a crackin' new way of sightseeing, under the cover of night. After spending a bit too long in Cafe Zappata (A squat with a flamethrower inside) and hunting down a kebab the last s-bahn was long gone, so we opted to see all the sights under the cover of darkness, which had the added bonus of making me feel less like a tourist. We took in the scene at the Berlin Bears, the Brandenberg Gate, the Reichstag and the Sony Centre (Which was not lit up). The best part of this improvised tour was the TV Tower at Alexanderplatz, because being night we had the light up beauty to ourselves and the freedom to climb up to the base, most memorable. This meant that the second day I only had to do the tourist thing at Checkpoint Charlie, saving much embarrassment and allowing us to actually see the Merrillmemorial to the many people killed trying to kill the wall.
West Berlin was neglected in the visit, I was much more interested in the East as you can feel much more history around the place, with its DDR architecture and the various bulletholes, and many monuments and museums concerning war, the Gestapo, the Stasi , Holocaust, anti-semitism, war and various other heavy topics, Berlin is clearly a city which feels some need to amend the actions of Germanys past. I couldn't count how many museums Berlin had, but its going to take another visit to see more than I did this time, which was one. I tried the Musical Instrument Museum but if wasn't closed it was certainly doing a good impression, and not having the patients to queue to see the dome of the Reichstag I went to the next nearest museum, the Berlin Museum of Medical History. Everything was in German, but believe me, this is a very visual display.
It was a very short trip I must say, with more time spent walking around than anything, but it was worth it just the see a new city, travel further East than I have ever done previously and to get some experience to a place with such a troubled history with still apparent scars. I took in a few bars, most of which seemed to be squats with bottled bear and wide eyed hippies selling space cakes (Although I did find the oldest beer tap in Berlin), but I think it would take more time to find the cities better bars (Which I'm told are all in the East).
However, at the end of the day, perhaps because of loyalty, I think I'm still a Hamburger. Its more upmarket, perhaps even more friendly. I was amazed at how friendly Berlin felt despite its enormous size, but Hamburg just has an ongoing feeling of home (Perhaps because I lived there). In time however, I'm sure Berlin will catch up with its fellow city state, it'll just take me a few more visits.
West Berlin was neglected in the visit, I was much more interested in the East as you can feel much more history around the place, with its DDR architecture and the various bulletholes, and many monuments and museums concerning war, the Gestapo, the Stasi , Holocaust, anti-semitism, war and various other heavy topics, Berlin is clearly a city which feels some need to amend the actions of Germanys past. I couldn't count how many museums Berlin had, but its going to take another visit to see more than I did this time, which was one. I tried the Musical Instrument Museum but if wasn't closed it was certainly doing a good impression, and not having the patients to queue to see the dome of the Reichstag I went to the next nearest museum, the Berlin Museum of Medical History. Everything was in German, but believe me, this is a very visual display.
It was a very short trip I must say, with more time spent walking around than anything, but it was worth it just the see a new city, travel further East than I have ever done previously and to get some experience to a place with such a troubled history with still apparent scars. I took in a few bars, most of which seemed to be squats with bottled bear and wide eyed hippies selling space cakes (Although I did find the oldest beer tap in Berlin), but I think it would take more time to find the cities better bars (Which I'm told are all in the East).
However, at the end of the day, perhaps because of loyalty, I think I'm still a Hamburger. Its more upmarket, perhaps even more friendly. I was amazed at how friendly Berlin felt despite its enormous size, but Hamburg just has an ongoing feeling of home (Perhaps because I lived there). In time however, I'm sure Berlin will catch up with its fellow city state, it'll just take me a few more visits.
