Berlin. (Holiday entry #3)

The train trip from Prague to Berlin was quite pleasant. We were in one of those compartments like in an Agatha Christie story. They are quite cool. As we travelled through the Czech Republic and then Germany, we were fascinated with all the allotments we saw that had little huts as well, kind of like little houses for the Seven Dwarfs. Except that there are obviously a lot more then seven. There were vast areas of allotments, all with dinky little houses. Male bonding villages I guess! (No photos, sorry.) There was also quite a bit of snow lying around.


We finally arrived at the very flash railway station in Berlin. It's quite new, and most impressive. Easy to negotiate too, despite its size.

Once again Ms/Madame/Fraulein Malins had things in hand and got us to the hostel. I might add at this point that I hadn't realised that she speaks fluent German as well as French! A bit of a bonus for moi! I did German at school for one year and have a bit of an understanding of how it all works, but I really can't speak it. Louise has many talents and needs to do something to display them! I don't know what, exactly. I must also add here, and I told her I was going to say this, that she has some male genes and won't ask for directions! Hmmmph!!
Anyway, we found Inn Berlin which was more of a hostel in the classic sense than the one in Prague. But just fine. Although we had loft beds! That is, we both had to sleep in a top bunk! But it was OK. When we arrived, there was a wee spot of German stereotyping to have a chuckle over. Before even showing us our rooms, the chap in charge sat us down and gave us a crisp lecture about the transport systems, attractions, restaurants, etc etc. He had maps spread out and the whole thing was very informative. But too much information! WE HAVE WAYS OF MAKING YOU HAVE A GOOD TIME HERE! It was actually quite useful, and we were appreciative of his efforts, but it was too much at once and most of it went over my head.
That night we ate out at a local family owned Croatian restaurant which he recommended. And in fact we ate there every night! It was very good indeed and we really liked the people there.
On Thursday we decided that we would start the day with a free walking tour. These operate all over the place in tourist haunts. Free, but of course you give a generous tip depending on how much you think it was worth. We got the train from our local station, Wollankstrasse,
to Unter van Linden Railway Station, which took us to the Brandenburg Gate. This to me just really cries out "Berlin"!!
Louise was quite affected by seeing it again, as she was last there in 1990, just after the fall of the wall. We hung around waiting for a walking tour, but just about froze to death, so decided to do the double decker bus tour instead. It wasn't cheap, but was actually quite good at giving an overview. And as I'm a big picture person.... (I like details, but only after I've got the big picture you understand. :-))We saw so many things and places which just resonated with interest and history. After that we went to the Jewish Museum. I have to reserve my judgement here. It was interesting, but not quite what I expected, and in an ultra-modern building which might have just been trying a bit too hard. I don't know. I suppose my mind was a bit fixed on what happened in the 20th century, and I wasn't all that bothered about looking at Jewish history going back to the year dot. Sorry if that sounds awful. We walked round a bit more but I think they were the two main things we did that day.
On Friday morning we went straight to the Reichstag
so that we didn't arrive in the middle of the day and strike the very long queues. As it was we waited for an hour to get in, sometimes in the rain. Apparently in the summer the queues can be so long that people wait for 5 hours to get in. Lordy lordy! We were looking forward to seeing inside the Parliament, and seeing the new dome which has been built on top. Well, all that queueing, and it was only the dome we got to see! We hadn't realised that at all. We thought we would get to wander round the building and see things in action. Certainly the dome - designed by an English architect, was most impressive, with a snail-like walkway winding up to the top from where you can apparently peer down through the middle and see into the debating chamber. Louise said you couldn't see anything. I wouldn't know! I walked up the walkway for about a third of the way, but couldn't go any further. My head for heights - well, lack of one - let me down again I'm afraid. But it was interesting to watch people and admire the sculptural aspects of the construction.
We had lunch and poked around a souvenir shop. We then went to take photos 'on' the wall. The whole route of the wall is marked out in bricks, and so we took turns at taking photos of each other on the wall. At which point we had a serendipitous moment. A chap came past with a bunch of people, and offered, in a lovely Irish accent, to take a photo of us both together. He then invited us to join his Walking Tour! Louise is a bit more cautious than moi, but I just sensed that this fellow was going to be good value, so bustled her into agreeing, and off we went. It was still pretty cold, but warmed up as the afternoon went on. Well, the Walking Tour was the highlight of my time in Berlin. Cal - for that was his name :-) - was just terrific. He had a great knowledge and sense of history, was objective and compassionate, had a great sense of humour and sense of the occasion. He is an actor/writer/director, originally from Belfast, and has been living in Berlin for three years. He just shows up on Fridays where the usual walking Tours leave from, and grabs a maximum of 10 people. Some of the tours have up to about 30 people, and I think it would lose a lot with such big numbers. Also, one of the young girls we met in the hostel in Prague had been on a walking tour in Berlin and had found it really boring. So we were really lucky to meet Cal I think. It was a good group of young people, too. We stopped again at the Reichstag, and this time got quite a bit of history to mull over. We next went to the Holocaust Memorial.
This is just a series of concrete blocks of the same size and shape, but laid in different ways, and on slighly undulating ground. The sensation when walking through was a little disconcerting - a need to get out of there really. Which was no doubt the intention. Well, I guess with all all arts works you interpret them in your own way. Apparently the blocks are starting to wear and crack, but that seems appropriate somehow. We went to the spot where Hitler's bunker was, and heard some more historical detail. Cal said that for those who doubted that Hitler was dead, he had a Hitler and Elvis Tour for 10 minutes the following morning! Other places we saw included Checkpoint Charlie, one of the Border Crossings in the days of the wall. It's pretty touristy now. Says me, a tourist! Actually, it's not the original Checkpoint Charlie hut, which is in a Museum. Something to see on my next visit perhaps! And we saw a famous chocolate shop, and churches, and a piece of original wall. The wall has to be protected now from people picking at it to get souvenirs, so it's something of an irony that the wall has a protective fence around the bits that still stand.
In a specially set-up building, we saw a beautiful sculture of a mother with a dying child, which was quite poignant, and finished off at a splendid looking church which took on an almost irridescent quality, as, just as we arrived, the sun came out!
And that was the tour. 3 hours long. I think I was fairly generous with my tip, but I really enjoyed Cal's personality, knowledge, and ability to tell a great story. You don't always get that! Louise and I decided to go and have a drink and Cal came with us, and took us to a 'local' not too far way. A bar not normally frequented by tourists, in other words. He even persuaded me to have a Berlin beer, and it was rather nice. We sat chatting for quite a while, before Louise and I slowly wended our way back to the hostel, via the Croatian Restaurant.
And that was pretty much that. The next morning we got the train to the airport (and saw inspectors catch 5 people in our carriage who hadn't bought tickets - 40 euro fine each!)and we flew back to Brussels. We went for a wee walk up town before tea, then had an early-ish night as we had to be up at sparrow-fart the next morning. My train to Poitiers left at 7.30am. And now I'm back, and into things again. Well, just uni this week as the lycee is still on holiday. And I'm looking ahead to my next holiday too! :-) It was a wonderful week. Lots of history, heritage, beauty and a great sense of occasion. I'm so glad I had the chance to see all those places. Ypres, and the Flanders area in general, was somewhere really important for me, and I found it quite emotional and significant. Prague was quite beautiful and I really liked it there. But if I could go back to just one of the places, it would have to be Berlin. It was full of tourists but still seemed real. We all know what happened there, and yet it didn't feel menacing. It just helped to put history into some sort of context I think, and there is still so much more I would like to see. The Olympic stadium, for example. Some of the galleries and museums. So I need to go back!