Woohoo! My arm and leg have just triggered the scanner alarms at Berlin airport!
Conversation as follows:
Hallo
Hallo
*tweet, chirp, tweet*
I gesture towards my manly scars which are then scanned again with a hand held scanner...
*tweet, chirp, tweet*
Ahh, motorrad?
Ja, motorrad
Ohh, kaput?
Ja, kaput!
Tuesday 18 September 2012
Monday 17 September 2012
Berlin by bike
Hired a bike from the hotel. It’s about 10 quid per day. The bikes looked good, but it soon became apparent that mine had been involved in a fight with a bus and was generally unloved. The basket and bars were bent and scratched, brakes badly adjusted, chain slack, gears not indexed, the stand too short and the basket so loose that it kept spinning round. I bodged what repairs I could with a Leatherman, but it needed proper tools. Unloved bikes make me sad.
Headed south into Tiergarten and rode through the park. Passed a fat bloke sunbathing in the nip. That wasn't a pretty sight. The rest of the park is nice though. Stumbled across the Global Stone Project. Or Berlin-henge. The Africa stone was damn cool, but the Asia ones made better seats.
There are some spectacular sculptures in the park so it's worth taking a ride around. Worth noting that any trees left standing after Berlin was flattened during WW2 were cut down for fire wood. The trees that you see now, and there are thousands, were all planted after the war.
I headed towards the East Side Gallery with a slight detour en route to check out some of Berlins street art. The most famous is probably the spaceman by Victor Ash. It dominates the side of a huge building opposite an elevated railway line. It's awesome. I like.
There are a couple of other Ash projects in Berlin and they're all worth a little detour. He did one in support of minimum wage on the side of a huge building facing the parliament buildings. You can easily see it from the Reichstag dome. Which was obviously the whole idea.
Rode into Gorlitzer Park. I was told that this is real Berlin, away from the tourists. That maybe so, but it doesn't mean it's a particularly pleasant place. I mean, don't go there for a romantic walk or anything. The place has an interesting history but I wasn't gonna stop to read up on it. Sticking out like a sore thumb on my Best Western hire bike I buggered off. There’s a Turkish kebab shop on the north corner of the park. Apparently the best fast food in all of Berlin. I was told there’s always a queue, which indeed there was. I didn’t eat there but they were having a good turnaround.
There's loads of Turkish kebab shops in Berlin. In fact, it's difficult to find any good traditional Berlin food. I was reliably informed that one of the best places for authentic food is Max und Moritz, but this is actually run by an Irish guy. Nearly all the other restaurants are kebab shops. There are a few Italian restaurants, except all the Italians are actually Palestinians pretending to be Italian! I couldn't find a decent local brew either so I continually fell back to trusty Bavarian wheat beer. I did have some excellent food this lunchtime though. Cafehaus am Petriplatz across the road from Spittelmarkt U-Bahn station (near Museum Island). I think it is family run. Mother cooks all the food and brings it out to you. I had rabbit with braised red cabbage and potato dumplings followed by rice pudding with caramelised apple and cinnamon. The main was excellent. The rice pud was average, as was the espresso. My quest for decent coffee in Berlin continues.
Continuing to the East Side Gallery, I crossed the river on the spectacular Oberbaumbrücke (Oberbaum Bridge). I passed a tramp that was sat near me on the tube last night. He was still singing random crap and annoying strangers. He recognized me, but not before I recognized him and made my escape.
The East Side Gallery is a long section of wall that’s covered in street art. Proper graffiti. Some is run of the mill and a bit obvious, but there’s lots of emotion in some pieces. If you think of the time and context in which it was painted, some of it stop you in your tracks. It’s a long walk on foot. There were tour buses stopping nearby but a bike is definitely the way to go.
The other highlights and lowlights of my jolly little bike ride:
Checkpoint Charley
This just plays to the tourists. You can pay a couple of Euros to have your photos taken at the checkpoint with guys in guard costumes. It's somewhat disrespectful. Nothing to see here so skip this one.
Topography of Terror (Topographie des Terrors)
This was excellent. A free exhibition around a long stretch of Berlin Wall near the old Gestapo and SS headquarters. It discussed the history of Berlin from the early 20th century and the rise and fall of the wall. The propaganda stories were very interesting.
It talked about the persecution of Jews, gypsies, homeless and disabled people in Nazi Germany. Rather ironically, there were gypsies walking around the exhibition pestering you for money.
Nearby there’s also one of the few remaining watchtowers. It’s tucked away down a side road a few streets away so you need to look carefully and it isn’t signposted at all.
Hitlers Bunkers (Führerbunker)
This is now a carpark. Don’t expect anything more than an information board. The actual bunker, deep underground and heavily fortified, was blown up shortly after the war.
The Berlin Wall Memorial
A memorial site next to Nordbahnhof – a station that was is East Berlin but crossed by trains coming to and from West Berlin. It therefore became a disused ghost station for many years. There's a visitors centre but this had closed by the time I'd arrived at 6pm.The memorial is worth a visit if you're in the area though. I think the wall is reconstructed here rather than following the original path but you get a good idea of the layout, the construction and the death strip.
I got chatting to a lad from Israel while I was here. I don't think he quite got Berlin. He said there are walls and graffiti back home in Israel and Berlin is boring. He was looking forward to getting the train out to Hamburg tomorrow to spend a day or two at a big theme park. Apparently rollercoasters aren't boring like Berlin!
Headed south into Tiergarten and rode through the park. Passed a fat bloke sunbathing in the nip. That wasn't a pretty sight. The rest of the park is nice though. Stumbled across the Global Stone Project. Or Berlin-henge. The Africa stone was damn cool, but the Asia ones made better seats.
There are some spectacular sculptures in the park so it's worth taking a ride around. Worth noting that any trees left standing after Berlin was flattened during WW2 were cut down for fire wood. The trees that you see now, and there are thousands, were all planted after the war.
I headed towards the East Side Gallery with a slight detour en route to check out some of Berlins street art. The most famous is probably the spaceman by Victor Ash. It dominates the side of a huge building opposite an elevated railway line. It's awesome. I like.
There are a couple of other Ash projects in Berlin and they're all worth a little detour. He did one in support of minimum wage on the side of a huge building facing the parliament buildings. You can easily see it from the Reichstag dome. Which was obviously the whole idea.
Rode into Gorlitzer Park. I was told that this is real Berlin, away from the tourists. That maybe so, but it doesn't mean it's a particularly pleasant place. I mean, don't go there for a romantic walk or anything. The place has an interesting history but I wasn't gonna stop to read up on it. Sticking out like a sore thumb on my Best Western hire bike I buggered off. There’s a Turkish kebab shop on the north corner of the park. Apparently the best fast food in all of Berlin. I was told there’s always a queue, which indeed there was. I didn’t eat there but they were having a good turnaround.
There's loads of Turkish kebab shops in Berlin. In fact, it's difficult to find any good traditional Berlin food. I was reliably informed that one of the best places for authentic food is Max und Moritz, but this is actually run by an Irish guy. Nearly all the other restaurants are kebab shops. There are a few Italian restaurants, except all the Italians are actually Palestinians pretending to be Italian! I couldn't find a decent local brew either so I continually fell back to trusty Bavarian wheat beer. I did have some excellent food this lunchtime though. Cafehaus am Petriplatz across the road from Spittelmarkt U-Bahn station (near Museum Island). I think it is family run. Mother cooks all the food and brings it out to you. I had rabbit with braised red cabbage and potato dumplings followed by rice pudding with caramelised apple and cinnamon. The main was excellent. The rice pud was average, as was the espresso. My quest for decent coffee in Berlin continues.
Continuing to the East Side Gallery, I crossed the river on the spectacular Oberbaumbrücke (Oberbaum Bridge). I passed a tramp that was sat near me on the tube last night. He was still singing random crap and annoying strangers. He recognized me, but not before I recognized him and made my escape.
The East Side Gallery is a long section of wall that’s covered in street art. Proper graffiti. Some is run of the mill and a bit obvious, but there’s lots of emotion in some pieces. If you think of the time and context in which it was painted, some of it stop you in your tracks. It’s a long walk on foot. There were tour buses stopping nearby but a bike is definitely the way to go.
The other highlights and lowlights of my jolly little bike ride:
Checkpoint Charley
This just plays to the tourists. You can pay a couple of Euros to have your photos taken at the checkpoint with guys in guard costumes. It's somewhat disrespectful. Nothing to see here so skip this one.
Topography of Terror (Topographie des Terrors)
This was excellent. A free exhibition around a long stretch of Berlin Wall near the old Gestapo and SS headquarters. It discussed the history of Berlin from the early 20th century and the rise and fall of the wall. The propaganda stories were very interesting.
It talked about the persecution of Jews, gypsies, homeless and disabled people in Nazi Germany. Rather ironically, there were gypsies walking around the exhibition pestering you for money.
Nearby there’s also one of the few remaining watchtowers. It’s tucked away down a side road a few streets away so you need to look carefully and it isn’t signposted at all.
Hitlers Bunkers (Führerbunker)
This is now a carpark. Don’t expect anything more than an information board. The actual bunker, deep underground and heavily fortified, was blown up shortly after the war.
The Berlin Wall Memorial
A memorial site next to Nordbahnhof – a station that was is East Berlin but crossed by trains coming to and from West Berlin. It therefore became a disused ghost station for many years. There's a visitors centre but this had closed by the time I'd arrived at 6pm.The memorial is worth a visit if you're in the area though. I think the wall is reconstructed here rather than following the original path but you get a good idea of the layout, the construction and the death strip.
I got chatting to a lad from Israel while I was here. I don't think he quite got Berlin. He said there are walls and graffiti back home in Israel and Berlin is boring. He was looking forward to getting the train out to Hamburg tomorrow to spend a day or two at a big theme park. Apparently rollercoasters aren't boring like Berlin!
A day at the museum
Picked up a three day museum pass for €19. I didn’t want three days of museums but using a pass means you can skip the queues and waltz straight into any of the participating museums. The New Museum always has queues for tickets and you need to book an allocated time slot. No such fear with a Museum Pass. You can pick one up from any of the participating museums. If you don’t buy one, the Welcome Card gives you 25% discount for entry to most museums.
In order of attack:
Bauhaus Museum (Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin)I'd heard mixed reviews on this but I was keen to pay a visit. Some complain that it’s just a small room full of chairs while others bang on about it not truly supporting the movement. I really enjoyed it. It’s small, but really not too small. You can take in the permanent exhibition, the annual awards display and the shop in less than an hour. Which is exactly how it should be. There was some genius stuff there. I love the efficiency of it all. The chessboard and the charcoal life drawings were highlights for me. If you haven’t seen the chessboard, the pieces are about as simple as you can make them but each one is carved to suggest the moves it can make. I really liked that. There were some ingenious winners from the annual awards on display. The mobile hospitality unit was brilliant, as was the fridge sized food storage unit (no, it wasn’t a fridge!). The video showing the manufacturing process for the gravity stool was beautiful (do a search online) but the actual stool itself, although interesting, was more novelty than practical. Finally, pop into the shop and pick up some cool tat.
New Museum (Neues Museum)This is the mother ship and the queues outside reflect that. Skip straight past them with your Museum Pass. The Egyptian exhibition is amazing. The highlight is the bust of Nefertiti. A limestone and plaster bust created some 3,500 years ago but still looking startling despite receiving no restoration.
There are some early Egyptian displays, including a natty little 5,500 year old carving.
Pop upstairs to see the Berlin Gold Hat – a beautiful, yet not entirely understood Bronze Age astronomical device. It's not been completely deciphered yet. In fact, it's not quite understood how such a complex item was manufactured some 3,000 years ago.
Pick up a free audio guide before you enter the museum to get the best out of it.
Pergamon Museum (Pergamonmuseum)If I want a quick fix in a museum, I want things that are really old or really big. Those ancient builders certainly listened at school. Go here to see the enormous Pergamon Altar, Market Gate of Miletus and the Ishtar Gate.
The Pergamon Museum also contains the Museum for Islamic Art. Take a wander upstairs to see the astrolabe - a beautiful and amazingly intricate astronomical device.
Again, a free audio guide is included.
Jewish Museum (Judisches Museum Berlin)In all honesty, the building itself is far more engaging than most of the exhibition. Its floor plan is a broken Star of David. The building is designed to disorientate, which is very impressive but doesn’t necessarily lend itself to an engaging display. A lot of personal effects and stories are viewed through little glass windows which means you are constantly waiting for other visitors to move out of the way. The Memory Void contains big empty spaces to highlight the void left by the absence of Jews in Germany. This also contains the Fallen Leaves installation - a huge erie tower with 10,000 heavy metal faces on the floor that you can walk across.
The Garden is worth a visit – it contains the only parallel vertical lines in the entire structure. As you walk out from the uneven floors and walls of the main building, you’re immediately thrown off balance by the vertical columns and level floor outside. The effect was excellent and surprising. The Holocaust Tower is chilling and thought provoking – possibly the highlight for me. A huge angled tower with no light except for that shining through a small slit down one wall. Dark, cold and silent. I really liked the idea of the pomegranate wish tree upstairs, but the rest of the exhibition about early Jewish history and culture really didn’t do it for me. It did handle the history of Jewish persecution in the early 20th century very well though, although this section was too brief.
I also popped into the Bode Museum as I was walking past but the collections and sculptures just weren’t for me. This is one of the five museums on Museum Island (Museuminsel), along with the New Museum and Pergamon Museum. Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom) is also here. All are housed in amazing buildings in a beautiful area of Berlin. Rather than visit the Bode museum, I’d recommend you go to the park opposite the side of the Cathedral. There is (or certainly there was) a bar and deck chairs set up. You can grab a bottle of cold beer and relax in the sun and people watch for a while. I didn’t, but plenty of others did.
There’s a little bit of duplication with the museums too. You’ve got to remember that a lot of Berlin was annihilated during the war. Before it was completely rebuilt, the wall went up and the two halves remained divided for several decades. The two sides grew independently of each other and still feel a little disconnected.
In order of attack:
Bauhaus Museum (Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin)I'd heard mixed reviews on this but I was keen to pay a visit. Some complain that it’s just a small room full of chairs while others bang on about it not truly supporting the movement. I really enjoyed it. It’s small, but really not too small. You can take in the permanent exhibition, the annual awards display and the shop in less than an hour. Which is exactly how it should be. There was some genius stuff there. I love the efficiency of it all. The chessboard and the charcoal life drawings were highlights for me. If you haven’t seen the chessboard, the pieces are about as simple as you can make them but each one is carved to suggest the moves it can make. I really liked that. There were some ingenious winners from the annual awards on display. The mobile hospitality unit was brilliant, as was the fridge sized food storage unit (no, it wasn’t a fridge!). The video showing the manufacturing process for the gravity stool was beautiful (do a search online) but the actual stool itself, although interesting, was more novelty than practical. Finally, pop into the shop and pick up some cool tat.
New Museum (Neues Museum)This is the mother ship and the queues outside reflect that. Skip straight past them with your Museum Pass. The Egyptian exhibition is amazing. The highlight is the bust of Nefertiti. A limestone and plaster bust created some 3,500 years ago but still looking startling despite receiving no restoration.
There are some early Egyptian displays, including a natty little 5,500 year old carving.
Pop upstairs to see the Berlin Gold Hat – a beautiful, yet not entirely understood Bronze Age astronomical device. It's not been completely deciphered yet. In fact, it's not quite understood how such a complex item was manufactured some 3,000 years ago.
Pick up a free audio guide before you enter the museum to get the best out of it.
Pergamon Museum (Pergamonmuseum)If I want a quick fix in a museum, I want things that are really old or really big. Those ancient builders certainly listened at school. Go here to see the enormous Pergamon Altar, Market Gate of Miletus and the Ishtar Gate.
The Pergamon Museum also contains the Museum for Islamic Art. Take a wander upstairs to see the astrolabe - a beautiful and amazingly intricate astronomical device.
Again, a free audio guide is included.
Jewish Museum (Judisches Museum Berlin)In all honesty, the building itself is far more engaging than most of the exhibition. Its floor plan is a broken Star of David. The building is designed to disorientate, which is very impressive but doesn’t necessarily lend itself to an engaging display. A lot of personal effects and stories are viewed through little glass windows which means you are constantly waiting for other visitors to move out of the way. The Memory Void contains big empty spaces to highlight the void left by the absence of Jews in Germany. This also contains the Fallen Leaves installation - a huge erie tower with 10,000 heavy metal faces on the floor that you can walk across.
The Garden is worth a visit – it contains the only parallel vertical lines in the entire structure. As you walk out from the uneven floors and walls of the main building, you’re immediately thrown off balance by the vertical columns and level floor outside. The effect was excellent and surprising. The Holocaust Tower is chilling and thought provoking – possibly the highlight for me. A huge angled tower with no light except for that shining through a small slit down one wall. Dark, cold and silent. I really liked the idea of the pomegranate wish tree upstairs, but the rest of the exhibition about early Jewish history and culture really didn’t do it for me. It did handle the history of Jewish persecution in the early 20th century very well though, although this section was too brief.
I also popped into the Bode Museum as I was walking past but the collections and sculptures just weren’t for me. This is one of the five museums on Museum Island (Museuminsel), along with the New Museum and Pergamon Museum. Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom) is also here. All are housed in amazing buildings in a beautiful area of Berlin. Rather than visit the Bode museum, I’d recommend you go to the park opposite the side of the Cathedral. There is (or certainly there was) a bar and deck chairs set up. You can grab a bottle of cold beer and relax in the sun and people watch for a while. I didn’t, but plenty of others did.
There’s a little bit of duplication with the museums too. You’ve got to remember that a lot of Berlin was annihilated during the war. Before it was completely rebuilt, the wall went up and the two halves remained divided for several decades. The two sides grew independently of each other and still feel a little disconnected.
Berlin by foot
Took a walk around Berlin yesterday. It's huge. The scale of
things screws up your perception too. I started from the Zoological Gardens and
walked through Tiergarden Park. The Victory column in the centre is absolutely
enormous. The walk therefore took far longer than expected. Still, you can see
over into the zoo so I got to say good morning to some llamas and an emu.
There are two spiral walkways – one leading up and the other down. At the top of the dome is a viewing platform. A column of angled mirrors at the centre of the dome provides light into the chamber below, a huge revolving shield moves with the clock to control the amount of light, and the open eye of the dome maintains natural air circulation and cooling. I was completely in awe.
Stopped for a quick bite to eat at Cafe am Neuen See. By the
lake, obviously (to those of you who speak German anyway). Potato and sausage
soup and a mediocre espresso (I’ve yet to find a good one in Berlin). The soup
was surprisingly good though. Salty, as you’d expect, but it hit all the right
spots.
The park used to be a royal hunting ground. There’s a couple
of awesome statues near the cafe depicting victorious hunts which you’ve gotta
check out. Slightly less impressive was the stretch Trabant limo I saw driving
through the park. There’s a couple of Trabants still belching out fumes around
the streets of Berlin. If you’re really interested, there’s a Trabant museum
and hire shop at the other side of town.
There was also a juggler working one set of traffic lights
in the park with an ingenious pitch. She’d wait for the lights to go red then
step into the junction and do a little juggling. She’d time it perfect to throw
some clubs, do a little bow, remove her hat, and then skip through the
stationary traffic accepting any coins that were dropped into her hat. It was
kinda cute.
The Soviet war memorial lies between the Victory column and the
Brandenburg Gate. As you’d expect, it’s huge.
I called into the ticket office for the Reichstag building. It’s
free to visit the dome, but you need to book in advance. Two full days notice are
required for online bookings but you can join the queue at the ticket office to
book entry at short notice. I queued for about twenty minutes and just as I got
to the front they came round handing out instant passes to anyone who fancied
going straight in. This is a working government building so you need to clear
security. The usual airport type checks are performed. My backpack got
rescanned and they confiscated my whistle of all things! Completely forgot it
was in there - I clipped one in when I went walking in the Lakes.
Bear with me on this, but the Reichstag dome is amazing. It’s
another genius creation from the mind of Sir Norman Foster. The same chap who
designed the Millau bridge - beaten only by the Humber Bridge in a game of ‘bridge
Top Trumps’ with Catherine. The whole concept is of a transparent parliament. Anyone
can take the elevator to the top of the Reichstag and look down on government
sessions through a glass ceiling. Space permitting, members of the public can actually sit in on government sessions in the public gallery. I learned all this from the free audio guide, which runs continuously once started and is timed perfectly as you walk around.
There are two spiral walkways – one leading up and the other down. At the top of the dome is a viewing platform. A column of angled mirrors at the centre of the dome provides light into the chamber below, a huge revolving shield moves with the clock to control the amount of light, and the open eye of the dome maintains natural air circulation and cooling. I was completely in awe.
The 2nd coolest thing in Berlin
Grillwalkers! Mobile grills. These girls and boys walk around with their fancy contraptions selling filthy food to hungry folk like me. The kit looks like a jet pack. Well, a jet pack with an umbrella and a grill. Grill front, fuel behind, umbrella overhead. Sausage sangers on the go for a quid. Brilliant!
Sunday 16 September 2012
The coolest thing in Berlin
If only I ate smaller portions.
Saturday 15 September 2012
Ich bin ein donut
With jollies to kill and Airmiles to burn, I fancied a
little trip away. Berlin looked good for a solo trip and I only had to part
with a measly £27 for BA to take me there. Granted, it wasn't a direct flight
but the flight times were good and it was only a short connection via Heathrow.
BA is a revelation. They're how all airlines should be. You get a checked luggage allowance, snacks, drinks (hot and cold, including booze) and a proper old school service. Some other airlines consider it perfectly acceptable to sting you for such basics. They have a cracking little smartphone app that you can use to check-in online and then download an online boarding pass straight to your phone. If you're a technophobe then old school airport check in is free. They don't have credit card surcharges either, at least not when paying your Airmiles/Avios fees. All things considered, I was about £200 up against option B - a Jet2 flight from Leeds Bradford.
Landing in Berlin is a little confusing, especially when you're short on sleep and not fluent in German. The only public transport from the airport are buses. You can catch a cab obviously, but you'll spend 20 minutes sat in stationary traffic waiting to get out of the airport. Just squeeze on the first TXL bus that you can - they all head into Berlin. I jumped off at Beusselstrasse, as did everyone else, and changed for an S-Bahn (urban) train. The TXL terminates at Alexanderplatz if you need to go further east.
You can buy tickets from the BVG booth at the airport. If this is closed then there's a ticket machine outside near the bus stops. The guy selling tickets, despite having two credit card machines on his counter, was only taking cash. This is something I'd get used to - hardy anywhere in Berlin accepts credit cards.
You're supposed to activate your ticket when you first use it but the bus was too crowded to get anywhere near the machine. There's a machine near every door on the bus. I stamped it later that afternoon on an S-Bahn train station platform. Apparently most locals don't bother with tickets. There are no barriers at the stations so you can jump straight on any train or bus without a ticket. I was told by a local that you get occasional spot checks and he's seen every last person on the train gets stung with a €40 on the spot fine.
Checked into the hotel. Best Western Premier Moa. Very nice it is too. For reference, given that their website doesn't say, the nearest station is Birkenstr U-Bahn (underground). You can also use Westhafen U-Bahn or S-Bahn station if it’s easier. Not quite as close but it only adds a few minutes to your walk. I think it's a cooler station too, in it's own special way.
With hindsight, the best way from Tegel is the TXL bus to Turmstr U (not Turmstr/Beusselstr) and then the U9 U-Bahn one stop north to Birkenstr.
It's a new hotel and convenient enough for both the airport and central Berlin. The rooms have safes, amazing showers and very impressive electric curtains! Breakfast isn't included and the 'nominal fee' they mention on their website is actually €18. Which isn't very nominal in my books. The hotel is above a shopping centre though and the supermarket has a cafe that does coffee and breakfast if you fancy something quick and cheap.
There's also kiosks everywhere. We've used them in Munich but here they're all over, even on subway platforms. They sell beer, tabs and cheap snacks at all hours. €1 will net you a cold sandwich or a 'wurst mitt brot'.
I got showered and changed before heading into town. It's difficult to get your bearings at first. Berlin is flat, industrial and many buildings look the same. You can use the TV tower as a reference point. It is (was?) the tallest building in the EU so quite obvious. A symbol of GDR might, although as with all 'tallest structures' it claims it's prize by sticking a huge great aerial on top. This is probably acceptable for TV towers. Anyway, it's near Alexanderplatz station to the east.
Berlin is certainly not a pretty place, especially around the suburbs. It definitely has an old Soviet feel - there's lots of high rise flats, industry and graffiti. The tube stations are all the better for this though. The tiling and signs at most stations are from 50 years previous. Their decay just adds character. It made me smile but the lack of development was surprising. It felt like I'd taken a wrong turn at Westworld. You also get a full mobile signal in the subways. For someone who can't even get a signal at home I was very impressed. I really don't want to know how they do it though.
There's a public viewing platform at the top of the TV tower. You can pay to go up but I read a great quote along the lines of "Why bother? Berlin looks rubbish"!
The other thing that struck me was how dark it is *everywhere*. The hotel, bars and streets are all a few lumens down on normal. In fact, some of the street lamps are still gas. Very quaint, but a bit crap.
The centre (Mitte) around the government buildings is completely different. It's still dark, but the buildings are much grander. There's lots of glass and open space, as you'd expect in a capital city.
There's a lot of Buddy Bears around too. These are a bit like those painted cows that occasionally crop up in cities. Big plastic painted bears dotted around the city.
I sat and watched an AV display that was been projected outside the Reichstag building. It's a temporary installation showing the history of Berlin. It had footage of the wall coming down but surprisingly none of David Hasselhoff bringing it down with the power of Rock. A major omission I thought. They also showed JFK stepping up to give his legendary donut speech, but again they omitted the best part.
Berlin does appear to cherish that speech too. There were lots of advertising boards coming from the airport with 'Ich bin ein Berliner' tag lines.
Disappointed by the lack of attention they gave the installation I moved on to the Brandenburg Gate. It's bloody huge. The Victoria statue on top is super impressive. Despite a patchy history (it's been pinched by Napoleon, bombed, renamed and spun around a few times) it's now fully restored and looking good.
In front of the Brandenburg Gate it's perfectly obvious where the wall was built. There's very little of it left now but it's entire route is marked on the ground with paving and plaques.
Just south of the Brandenburg Gate, you can wander through the Holocaust Memorial. It’s kinda spooky at night. It’s unlit, or certainly it was when I was there, so it's really dark and imposing. It consists of thousands of big concrete blocks of different sizes and shapes and set at slightly different angles. Some of these blocks tower over you, others are much smaller. I unexpectedly bumped into another group of people and we all scared the crap out of each other.
Now in desperate need of food I took a wander away from the tourists. I ended up in a charming little restaurant called Weitzmann. It got a good mention in Time Out so I checked it out.
You probably wouldn't stumble across it. It's under some railway arches in what looks like a Soviet housing estate. I had an excellent pork schnitzel with fried pasta and gravy. Interesting, but delicious. 'Fusion food' perhaps? Beer came in porcelain tankards. They had a disco ball and lots of Village People, Wham and Queen playing. It was a tiny place but steady away. No English menus but the waitress spoke perfectly adequate English. A great find and definitely recommended. I ate at about 10.30pm but the kitchen is open until midnight.
Suitably fed I moved on and stumbled upon an excellent Irish bar called Lir. I'd normally avoid Irish bars in foreign countries but this place was exceptional. I didn't even know it was an Irish bar until I got chatting to the barmaids. It's way off the beaten track so the few Brits you tend to find there are ex-pats. It just looked like a cool basement bar and they had Bavarian beers. They also had a couple of local beers on tap but they did nothing for me. Weak and tasteless. I stuck to the bottled wheat beer. The girls behind the bar were really cool - an Australian and an Irish girl. I stumbled out at gone 2am and headed back to the hotel. The tubes run all night at weekends so no hassle.
BA is a revelation. They're how all airlines should be. You get a checked luggage allowance, snacks, drinks (hot and cold, including booze) and a proper old school service. Some other airlines consider it perfectly acceptable to sting you for such basics. They have a cracking little smartphone app that you can use to check-in online and then download an online boarding pass straight to your phone. If you're a technophobe then old school airport check in is free. They don't have credit card surcharges either, at least not when paying your Airmiles/Avios fees. All things considered, I was about £200 up against option B - a Jet2 flight from Leeds Bradford.
The Manchester connection to Heathrow was delayed by half an
hour. Thankfully, with less than an hour in the schedule to make the
connection, so was the Berlin flight. The cabin crew hunted me down and kept me posted. They said I
could take an alternative BA flight later that afternoon if needed.
Landing in Berlin is a little confusing, especially when you're short on sleep and not fluent in German. The only public transport from the airport are buses. You can catch a cab obviously, but you'll spend 20 minutes sat in stationary traffic waiting to get out of the airport. Just squeeze on the first TXL bus that you can - they all head into Berlin. I jumped off at Beusselstrasse, as did everyone else, and changed for an S-Bahn (urban) train. The TXL terminates at Alexanderplatz if you need to go further east.
You have to buy tickets before you travel. I bought a 5 day
Welcome Card for just shy of €31. It includes unlimited travel for 5 days (5x24
hours from activation) and also gives you discounts on various touristy things
to boot. I only needed 4x24 hours so could have saved a couple of quid with
separate tickets daily but didn't want to chew about buying tickets every day.
The transport system is integrated so one ticket covers all trains and buses.
Mine was an AB ticket (zones A and B) which covers Tegel airport and all of
central Berlin.
You can buy tickets from the BVG booth at the airport. If this is closed then there's a ticket machine outside near the bus stops. The guy selling tickets, despite having two credit card machines on his counter, was only taking cash. This is something I'd get used to - hardy anywhere in Berlin accepts credit cards.
You're supposed to activate your ticket when you first use it but the bus was too crowded to get anywhere near the machine. There's a machine near every door on the bus. I stamped it later that afternoon on an S-Bahn train station platform. Apparently most locals don't bother with tickets. There are no barriers at the stations so you can jump straight on any train or bus without a ticket. I was told by a local that you get occasional spot checks and he's seen every last person on the train gets stung with a €40 on the spot fine.
Checked into the hotel. Best Western Premier Moa. Very nice it is too. For reference, given that their website doesn't say, the nearest station is Birkenstr U-Bahn (underground). You can also use Westhafen U-Bahn or S-Bahn station if it’s easier. Not quite as close but it only adds a few minutes to your walk. I think it's a cooler station too, in it's own special way.
With hindsight, the best way from Tegel is the TXL bus to Turmstr U (not Turmstr/Beusselstr) and then the U9 U-Bahn one stop north to Birkenstr.
It's a new hotel and convenient enough for both the airport and central Berlin. The rooms have safes, amazing showers and very impressive electric curtains! Breakfast isn't included and the 'nominal fee' they mention on their website is actually €18. Which isn't very nominal in my books. The hotel is above a shopping centre though and the supermarket has a cafe that does coffee and breakfast if you fancy something quick and cheap.
There's also kiosks everywhere. We've used them in Munich but here they're all over, even on subway platforms. They sell beer, tabs and cheap snacks at all hours. €1 will net you a cold sandwich or a 'wurst mitt brot'.
I got showered and changed before heading into town. It's difficult to get your bearings at first. Berlin is flat, industrial and many buildings look the same. You can use the TV tower as a reference point. It is (was?) the tallest building in the EU so quite obvious. A symbol of GDR might, although as with all 'tallest structures' it claims it's prize by sticking a huge great aerial on top. This is probably acceptable for TV towers. Anyway, it's near Alexanderplatz station to the east.
Berlin is certainly not a pretty place, especially around the suburbs. It definitely has an old Soviet feel - there's lots of high rise flats, industry and graffiti. The tube stations are all the better for this though. The tiling and signs at most stations are from 50 years previous. Their decay just adds character. It made me smile but the lack of development was surprising. It felt like I'd taken a wrong turn at Westworld. You also get a full mobile signal in the subways. For someone who can't even get a signal at home I was very impressed. I really don't want to know how they do it though.
There's a public viewing platform at the top of the TV tower. You can pay to go up but I read a great quote along the lines of "Why bother? Berlin looks rubbish"!
The other thing that struck me was how dark it is *everywhere*. The hotel, bars and streets are all a few lumens down on normal. In fact, some of the street lamps are still gas. Very quaint, but a bit crap.
I think if you were of a nervous disposition then it could
be kinda scary in the suburbs. However I ended up walking home down pitch black alleys
around housing blocks at half two in the morning and didn't feel in the
slightest bit uneasy.
The centre (Mitte) around the government buildings is completely different. It's still dark, but the buildings are much grander. There's lots of glass and open space, as you'd expect in a capital city.
There's a lot of Buddy Bears around too. These are a bit like those painted cows that occasionally crop up in cities. Big plastic painted bears dotted around the city.
I sat and watched an AV display that was been projected outside the Reichstag building. It's a temporary installation showing the history of Berlin. It had footage of the wall coming down but surprisingly none of David Hasselhoff bringing it down with the power of Rock. A major omission I thought. They also showed JFK stepping up to give his legendary donut speech, but again they omitted the best part.
Berlin does appear to cherish that speech too. There were lots of advertising boards coming from the airport with 'Ich bin ein Berliner' tag lines.
Disappointed by the lack of attention they gave the installation I moved on to the Brandenburg Gate. It's bloody huge. The Victoria statue on top is super impressive. Despite a patchy history (it's been pinched by Napoleon, bombed, renamed and spun around a few times) it's now fully restored and looking good.
In front of the Brandenburg Gate it's perfectly obvious where the wall was built. There's very little of it left now but it's entire route is marked on the ground with paving and plaques.
Just south of the Brandenburg Gate, you can wander through the Holocaust Memorial. It’s kinda spooky at night. It’s unlit, or certainly it was when I was there, so it's really dark and imposing. It consists of thousands of big concrete blocks of different sizes and shapes and set at slightly different angles. Some of these blocks tower over you, others are much smaller. I unexpectedly bumped into another group of people and we all scared the crap out of each other.
Now in desperate need of food I took a wander away from the tourists. I ended up in a charming little restaurant called Weitzmann. It got a good mention in Time Out so I checked it out.
You probably wouldn't stumble across it. It's under some railway arches in what looks like a Soviet housing estate. I had an excellent pork schnitzel with fried pasta and gravy. Interesting, but delicious. 'Fusion food' perhaps? Beer came in porcelain tankards. They had a disco ball and lots of Village People, Wham and Queen playing. It was a tiny place but steady away. No English menus but the waitress spoke perfectly adequate English. A great find and definitely recommended. I ate at about 10.30pm but the kitchen is open until midnight.
Suitably fed I moved on and stumbled upon an excellent Irish bar called Lir. I'd normally avoid Irish bars in foreign countries but this place was exceptional. I didn't even know it was an Irish bar until I got chatting to the barmaids. It's way off the beaten track so the few Brits you tend to find there are ex-pats. It just looked like a cool basement bar and they had Bavarian beers. They also had a couple of local beers on tap but they did nothing for me. Weak and tasteless. I stuck to the bottled wheat beer. The girls behind the bar were really cool - an Australian and an Irish girl. I stumbled out at gone 2am and headed back to the hotel. The tubes run all night at weekends so no hassle.
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