September 25 – Day 73
After a recovery sleep-in after an afternoon/night at Oktoberfest, we headed to the train station to go to Berlin. The train is new and fast (~160km/h). We should be in Berlin by 6pm. After finding our way to the hostel, we had dinner at the restaurant next door, then went to bed. I didn’t even have a beer.
September 26 – Day 74
Today we did a free walking tour with ‘New Europe’. It started at the Brandenburg Gate, the only surviving Berlin gate. From here we could see the Hotel Adlon, one of Berlin’s top hotels, Embassies, and banks. We walked through the gate to the Holocaust Memorial – the one with thousands of concrete pillars. It is a strange memorial. It is certainly not something that anyone nearby can miss, which was part of the idea behind the design I think. Someone asked if there were any problems with graffiti, and the guide said they used a special paint that means paint can be wiped straight off. He also said that people eventually realised that this paint was produced by the same company that produced the pellets to be used in the gas chambers, which caused outrage when people found out. Apparently very few German companies survived the war without working with (or at least not opposing) the Nazis. From the memorial, we walked to the old HQ of the Luftwaffe, now the Ministry of Finance. It is a huge, ugly building – not many people like it, especially since it is where the taxes are paid. From there, we went and saw a surviving section of the wall, and continued on to Checkpoint Charlie. From there, we visited Gendarmenplatz, and St. Hedwig’s Cathedral, where two of Berlin’s 6.5 daily protests were taking place. Next we went to the War Memorial. The building has been a memorial for many years, but to different things. It is now a large room with the statue ‘Mother and her dead son’ at its centre. It has an opening in the roof, and takes on different feelings depending on the weather. It would be amazing to see with snow falling in the room. Next we were in the museum area, where we saw the Altes Museum and the Berliner Dom, which is very spectacular. This was where the tour finished. It was the best tour I have done so far, and I highly recommend the free ‘New Europe’ tours – I wish we had done more of them. We decided to see an opera, as the cheap seats are only 8 Euro. It was a German one – Der Rosenkavalier. We were able to move to much better seats before it started, but couldn’t really follow the story. On the way home, we stopped in at Marcus Brau, a small brewpub near Alexanderplatz. Their dark beer is good.
September 27 – Day 75
We started today at the ‘Topography of Terror’ museum, near Checkpoint Charlie. It goes into details about the SS and the SD, and is worth a visit. After the free tour yesterday, we decided to do the ‘alternative city tour’ today. The same guide was taking it, so we were pretty confident it was going to be good. The alternative tour shows a very different Berlin. We started at a building called Tacheles, a squat used manly by artists. Half of the building was torn down after it was declared structurally unsound, but the front is still used. The entire building – inside and out, top to bottom – is covered in Graffiti. I was amazed that a company could offer tours there. The OH&S laws must be a bit more relaxed in Germany. We saw a few other squats as we walked around, and others still while exploring by ourselves. One of them is owned by a bank, but has been occupied by squatters for about 20 years. The bank sold it to another company, which was a front for Eastern European gangsters who thought they could clear it out. After a number of luxury cars were torched, the gangsters started worrying about German law, and fled. The bank bought it back again, but doesn’t know what to do. Part of the reason for the squats is that it is still not known who owns some of the sites – while ownership is being determined, it is used by whoever wants to live there. Some squats are open for anyone to enter, others are not as open. One has a huge mural – tourist season should be hunting season. Others charge a fee, and sell things. I felt like it was intruding (especially in a huge group), and didn’t go in. The street art was really impressive. My favourites were stencils (especially by Xoooox). I also liked the ones by Alias. We also went into some courtyards where entire walls are covered in bright murals that look like they were painted yesterday. Where it is allowed, the art is almost always good. Where it is not, it is usually the graffiti that everyone hates. I got a bit sick of looking at the less appealing pieces, but most of the things we looked at were great. Next we walked along the East Side Gallery – the section of the wall where the famous art is. As it is 20 years since the originals were done, the artists have been invited back to touch up (or redo) their work. Most of them are now in as-new condition. We got to see a few artists painting when we were there, which was also great. Yaam, a famous squat, is now located on the wall, near the East Side Gallery. This is one that charges to get in. Apparently they serve some of the best chicken in the city. The tour ended across the bridge in Kreuzberg, where there is an amazing piece of art by Blu. From across the Spree, it looks like a giant pink face. Up close, you can see that it is made up of hundreds of individual human figures. It is one of the ones that artists were invited paint – there are a few in Kreuzberg. The tour was really great, it felt like we saw another side of Berlin. In Kreuzberg, we had a delicious Arabic meal before heading back to the hostel. We decided to go out for drinks – starting at Kulturzentrum Pfefferberg, an old Brewery (under repairs now, so pretty dead), then heading to Baiz, a proper pub with cheap beers and a good (if cold) atmosphere. After a few drinks we headed back to the hostel.
September 28 – Day 76
We went to the Jewish Museum this morning, but found out that it was a Jewish holiday, and they were closed, which was a shame. We got to see the outside though, which is impressive on its own. Next we went and saw a film about the wall. There were some interesting stories about escapes, and it was free to see, so it was worth it :) After, we went to Madame Tussauds, which opened in 2008. It is strange walking into a room full of people, then finding out it is actually empty. We went into the Reichstag (German Parliament) next. The glass dome is really amazing. It provides light to the parliament floor with an array of mirrors, and also has a heat exchange system – stale air leaves the building through a huge cone in the centre, heating air to be used elsewhere. It is definitely worth the wait to get in. From there we walked home, stopping at a bar on the river for drinks. Berlin is an amazing city. It feels very new, and everything seems to be happening now. There are no estblished norms – it feels like it is still a young city, even though it has been there for almost 1000 years.