Last day...

Well, it's been a whirlwind five days here in Berlin. I'm leaving in a few minutes for Tegel Airport to catch my Air Berlin flight to Frankfurt, and from there, the long plane ride back to Atlanta.

Berlin is a fascinating city - even though much of the city was destroyed in the second World War, the juxtaposition of the old and new, rather than jarring, seems to emphasize the continuity of the city. One need only to view the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, the "Gedachtniskirche" to understand.

It's been too short a visit. Berlin remains at the top of my list of cities that I want to visit again. I'll be back.

Architecture and Design

After reunification, the former east Berlin quickly became one of the biggest construction zones on the planet. Architects from all over the world flocked to the city to put their mark (and perhaps make their reputation). The work continues today and tall cranes and workers in hardhats, are visible everywhere. The Sony Center, near Potsdamer Platz is one of the most striking examples. Glass, chrome, half inside, half outside.

This site used to be a dreary, empty, square until after reunification, and has only recently been completed. Now the sparkling new mixed-use center draws residents and visitors alike while the nearby Ritz Hotel beckons well heeled visitors the world over.

The new Hauptbahnhof is a stunning site. Intercity and intercontinental trains pass through here hundreds of times a day with tracks on four separate levels heading in all directions. There are also dozens of shops and restaurants catering to travellers and non-travellers alike.

KaDeWe

...or Kaufhaus Des Westens.

This "Store of the West" is the largest department store in all Europe and is located on the famous "Ku'damm", short for "Kurfurstendamm". The store takes up a whole city block and has seven stories. The sixth floor is the famous food mall. It's unlike any food court one might see in the states. There are dozens of counters selling fine cheeses, liqueurs, spices, fish, meats, and anything else you might imagine.

Many people also have their meals there. I saw people sitting at a counter eating lobster and champagne and others just a few counters away nibbling on cheese and crackers.

The Reichstag

The Reichstag is a stunning example of the new Berlin. After first being burned, and then almost completely destroyed by Allied bombs during the second world war, it remained in ruins until 1964 when it was reconstructed but remained largely unused. During the time Germany was divided, the nominal capital of West Germany moved to Bonn. However, once Germany became 'whole', all parties agreed that Berlin should become the capital once more and the Reichstag was once again rebuilt. The original facade remains, "Dem Deutschen Volke", but now there is a new magnificent glass dome atop the structure in a nod to the original cupola and a funnel of mirrors within that reflects natural light into the legislative chambers below.

Der Ampelmann

Now that the wall is down, it can be difficult to tell whether one is walking in the former East, or former West. One way to tell - though this is changing - is to look at the lights telling you when it's ok to cross.

The symbol is either a green or red man. The Ampelmanner in the East seemed to sport a rather jaunty cap and a particularly determined movement.

Curry Wurst !

For anyone traveling to Berlin, one can't miss the Imbiss stands all through the city. Imbiss means 'snack' and that usually means the local favorite, 'curry wurst'. Essentially a fried or broiled sausage, cut into pieces, and covered with a healthy serving of ketchup and curry powder sprinkled on top.

However, usually a curry wurst alone isn't enough, so most people order pommes frites to go along with it.

Coming to Grips

Berlin is a city which surely seems to have come to grip with its past. There are reminders everywhere of the good and the bad. Close to the Brandenburg gate, for example, a small row of crosses with photos serves as a memorial to a few of the people, mostly young, who lost their lives trying to escape to the west. When I was there, a group of young schoolkids was there on a field trip.

The Neue Wache is another memorial. It's a quiet room, bathed in natural light from a hole in the ceiling. The sculpture is of a mother cradling her dead son in her arms. The inscription in front reads, "To the victims of war and tyrrany". Outside the memorial, a plaque elaborates that this is a memorial to all who have been persecuted because of their religion, ethnicity, orientation, weakness, and political convictions.


Elsewhere in the city, there are numerous other memorials and reminders. The German Historical Museum traces the history of the land from the Middle Ages, and doesn't hold back when depicting the time from 1933 - 1945.

The Brandenburg Gate / Das Brandenburger Tor

The Brandenburg Gate is one of the key symbols of Berlin, and is a gathering point for the city. Everyone goes there. During the Cold War, it was in a desolate no mans land, off limits to everyone except East German border guards carrying Kalashnikovs.

The gate sits roughly on the border between East and West even though it was fully enclosed in the East and Wessies could only look at it from a couple hundred meters away. The long boulevard passing through the gate is known as Strasse des 17 Junis in the West, and Unter den Linden in the East.


After the borders were opened, the Pariser Platz in front of the gate was the site of a huge concert with Leonard Bernstein conducting Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, the fourth movement of which is the famous "Ode to Joy"

At one point (so I've read), there were 14 of these gates surrounding the city. This is the only one left.

Die Mauer

The Wall is what most Westerners think of as the symbol of divided Berlin.

Even though it stretched for miles through and around through the city, it's not easy now to find many hints of where it once stood. After the events of 9 November 1989, it was attacked on both sides by anyone with a hammer or chisel and now, 18 years after the revolution, it's almost completely gone.

Fortunately, city leaders intervened before it was totally destroyed and managed to preserve a few sections. One of them has become an art gallery of sorts, although it too, is crumbling. There are a lot of tourist stands that sell small, chipped pieces of the wall for a few Euros but the provenance is obviously suspect since there's no way to determine if what's being sold is a true piece of the wall or just a small piece of concrete from anywhere else.

Elsewhere, particularily noticeable around the Brandenburg Gate, the city has placed a line of bricks embedded at street level to show where the wall once stood. Without looking at a photo from those times, it's almost impossible to imagine how different this city was back in 1989 and before.

First Impressions - Redux

Berlin is a huge city. I read in the NY Times that it's eight times the size of Paris. There are two main rivers that pass through the city, the Spree and the Havel. Not surprisingly, this is also a city of bridges and could certainly give Amsterdam and Venice some competition there. Unfortunately, I've only got a little less than five days, so I'll do my best to see the highlights, but I won't be able to spend anything close to the amount of time I would like to spend. There's so much history - both good and bad - here, but it's all interesting to me.

Of course, everyone knows the history of Berlin since the end of WW2 when the city was divided. Surprisingly, there seems to be a hint of nostalgia (or "Ostalgie") for the old days. No one really wants to return to the way it was, but some memories are rose colored. One can take various tours that focus on life in the days when the city was divided. There are also a lot of tourist shops that sell former DDR memorabilia, museums dedicated to the old days, and even a driving tour in one of the old Trabants that were so prevalent. There's even a GDR Museum that focuses on what life was like in the old East.

In the former West, as money and capital flowed and life began to return to normal, children were taught English in their schools. Hence the level of English spoken by the "Wessies" is reasonably good. However, this isn't quite so true in the former East Berlin. There, instead of English, schoolchildren were taught Russian. In hindsight, they probably wish they had thought that through a bit more.

First impressions of Berlin

The four hour ride seemed to pass quickly. The rails are smooth with none of the 'clickety-clack' sensations that you might imagine. I didn't doze in spite of the overnight flight, but probably could have done so without too much trouble. The seats are large and comfortable and the other travelers seem to be mostly business men and women clicking away on their laptops or reading the newspaper.

Naturally, it is cool here, but not terribly cold. Berlin is in northeastern Germany, not too far from the Polish border, probably less than 100 miles or so. I'm willing to accept winter travel in Europe in exchange for fewer crowds, little or no lines at sites and (slightly) cheaper expenses. With the dollar faring so poorly against the Euro, that's especially important.


Since I'm traveling solo, my accomodations are decidedly humble. I'm staying in a small pension in a area called Charlottenburg. It's only 50 Euros per night with a typically tiny room, but it's clean and warm and the proprieters are quite friendly. They say it is a short walk to the banks of the Spree, but I haven't seen it yet.

Riding the rails...

I'm in Germany now, riding the train on a four hour journey.

The long flight from Atlanta to Frankfurt was surprisingly quick, we had a huge tailwind which cut an hour off the long flight.

Along with those outside Paris and London, Frankfurt's airport is one of the primary gateways for international arrivals and departures in Europe and it's also one of the largest and busiest. Inside, besides the usual restaurants and shops, there's also a movie theatre, casino, dry cleaners, hairdresser and more.

It's interesting to look around the other gates and see other flights arriving from or departing to to other destinations that one doesn't see in our own airport.

There is not one, but two train stations here at the Frankfurt airport, and these aren't light rail metro stations either. These are multi-track stations with trains arriving and departing every few minutes from all over the continent. For those familiar with the Marta station at the Atlanta airport, just put those thoughts out of your head. There is no comparison.

My flight arrived at 0740 and my train was scheduled to leave at 0852. I obviously had to clear customs, and whatever other security checkpoints they had, so I needed to hurry to figure out where I needed to be.


Needless to say, I undertook a mad dash to find the correct platform (Gleis) and right train. The Frankfurt airport is huge and unfamiliar, and even though I have passed through here several times before, I haven't been here recently enough to remember it very well. This is also the first time I'm catching a connecting train, rather than another flight.


I also had a bit of uncertainty because even though my German is ok, I obviously don't get to practice it much. I had booked all my rail travel through the Bahn.de website. There's an English portal, but the actual booking engine is all German. I breathed a sigh of relief once I boarded the train and found seat with only minutes to spare. German trains are almost always punctual, and if I missed this train, I would have had to purchase a whole new ticket at much higher expense and then wait for the next train.

I'm excited to be here. Except for the airport, it's the first time I've been back in Germany since I was an exchange student too many years ago.


If I can figure out how to get the USB port to work on this computer, I will add a photo or two later.

Next stop, Berlin.