Part II of III of my inter-railing adventure with my Dad.
Entering Berlin with a spring in my step I quickly found our
hotel the wonderfully welcoming Industrie Palast right near Westkreuz Station.
Housed in a recently converted warehouse the Palace is vibrant and high-tec,
serving both hostel and hotel budgets and featuring lots of high ceilings. I
dropped my stuff and headed off on adventure.
I saw the East Side Gallery which
uttered yet more truth and made me think of Marika Rose’s theory of Joy, ‘In
the beginning there was freedom’, noted the shrapnel damage on the Berlin
Library (and thought of Gabe Moshenska), rode the U6 and marvelled at how the
Berliners could convince the playmobil to fix their trains, ate my first
Currywurst in Charlottesburg and wrote some postcards with my back to the
Berlin Wall, watching the setting sun.
It was a good day and a great
introduction to the Garden City.
(Berlin Underground Playmobil Pixies! & Berlin from the Oberbaum Bridge)
Waiting for my now half deaf dear little daddy
to return, on the other hand, was a bit nerve-wracking and I was glad for such
distractions. Shortly after 11, having made passing references to Waiting for
Godot to my sister and having just ordered a latte, dear little Daddy arrived.
After an in-house breakfast Dad and I hit Berlin in the
blazing sunshine. We walked the round about way to Checkpoint Charlie having
checked out some little harbours on the way. And once again ruminated on how
Dad’s current affairs is my history lesson. After a little snack we walked past
the site of Hitler’s bunker, passed the British Embassy, and along Unter den
Linden, laughing at all the little boys having their photos taken near posh
cars, by the same token dodging the Turkish ladies ‘raising money for the
disabled’.
We stopped for lunch at the Hackescher Markt, where I sat in
a funky 70’s hanging seat and ate my second currywurst of the trip, and
persuaded Dad to do the ‘Berlin Beer Bear’ pose for a photo. We were surrounded by
all kinds of artisan goods are available for the right price, which was
slightly out our price range.
After the market we headed back to Untern to eat
icecream and then do the Reichstag Tour. The Reichstag Tour was recommended to
me and is genuinely one of the best things in Berlin. You do have to book in
advance, but its free to book online, and you will be subjected to an airline
style security check. Once inside and carefully herded in your group of 20 you
climb the height of the Reichstag in a futuristic silent lift. Armed with your
in-ear headpiece you are then free to climb the elegantly designed Reichstag
Dome. The audio-guide keeps movement round the dome regulated, the information
was relevant and detailed to just the right level. Joan would be chuffed at all
the ways they tried to make it eco-friendly and it offers great views of Berlin
on a sunny day like ours was. Although you cannot escape history in Berlin, the
Reichstag Tour celebrated significance in a way that was really thoughtful.
Also its free!
(Reichstag Tour - note cloudless sky, awesome walkways, German flag)
After the tour I wanted to visit the Holocaust Memorial
because I learned lots about it last year on my MA and was interested to see
the way people interacted with the space. From what I saw I imagine the purists
would be angry along similar lines to Diana’s park. I visited the Holocaust
Museum at the park anxious to find out more about the history of the memorial.
I didn’t find out anything.
But the exhibition is very moving; as with
everything in Berlin its on a mammoth scale, and makes the most of multiple
media to make its point. I really didn’t like the dark reflective rooms. But
they have done well to create room for reflection and also for people to come
together for positive change.
(Brandenburg Gate on a summer's evening)
On Sunday we discovered more of Berlin, we had a go at
Museum-Island, but having booked little in advance the queues just seemed too long.
Appreciative of the pretty architecture instead we plumped for Berlin Dom.
Being built in the early 20th century might put people off visiting
the Dom but having an interest in German Cathedrals (from last year) it seemed
like an obvious choice. There was an audio visual guide which seemed to be a
programme built on Nintendo handsets – an interesting choice when I was
thinking about PR at Aachen Cathedral. Dad discovered the iPad whilst seeing
people taking photos on them. I remembered what it was I liked about both
Luther and Christians. And we had yet another opportunity to get up high on the
Cathedral Tour. This time there was nothing between us and the sky on yet
another glorious Berlin summer day. I enjoyed seeing all the green spaces but
my feet hurt and it was really hot so we quickly made for the cafe at the
bottom, complete with ‘Heaven Cake’ which was heavenly!
Tune in on Wednesday for Part 3 - Hamburg then home!
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