Berlin in a day

My whirlwind experience in Berlin (minus the train station and airport, I spent a total of 38 hours in the sprawling city) was much different from my time in Prague.  In the Czech Republic, my goal was to wander around the city and try all the delicious beer and food, checking out the sights along the way.  In Berlin, I had a list of things to see, a limited time to see them, and lived a good deal away from them all.  It was probably this expedited (and efficient) attitude to sight-seeing that made the trip slightly less enjoyable than my Czech fairytale, but I suppose that’s the perfect way to do a German vacation!  With that being said, I still want to go back and stay a lot longer because there is exponentially more to do there than I, even with my crazy sight-seeing power-walking ways, was able to experience.

[View from top of Fr. Cathedral dome]

My initial thought riding the train into Berlin and the S-bahn out to my hostel: sensory-overload.  The German capital to a certain extent seems to be a city of contradictions, or perhaps a city with two sides, which, in a very literal and historical way, is true, but it can also be felt and seen as you experience the city as well.  Placed throughout are these magnificent structures of modern architecture—clean, steel lines, glass, angles (forgive my knowledge and vocabulary; architecture from the last 1500 years really isn’t my specialty)—but next to these modern landmarks are the cement block housing of a soviet city and at numerous spaces between all of these buildings are large, open green spaces—parks and plazas with trees and jogging paths, or paved spaces with more historic landmarks and museums.  The function or the purpose of the city was also hard to get a read on; in Prague, the dominant force of the city was tourism, but in Berlin so much else is going on.  Sure, places like the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate were cluttered with people, but those are also functioning parts of the city, where businesses and government are and there seemed to be an equal number of locals working and going about their daily routines amidst the busses of elderly people and the bicycle tour groups of young adults.  Even the neighborhood I was in (Friedrichschain) seemed to be an eclectic mix of local Berliners and international visitors or students, all gathered together at the cafes and bars.  The graffiti (yes, for some reason, I am fascinated by graffiti when I travel abroad—I have no idea why it is so less interesting to me in the states), even the graffiti was disparate.  As I walked along the East Side gallery (described below), there were the works of internationally renowned artists, who put up their graffiti on the east side of the wall onto which some random person writes “Jon was here”—seriously?!?  That’s your contribution to a historical landmark.  But I digress…

I’ll give you more of a briefing on the things I saw (and ate and drank) momentarily, but first a brief word on my hostel, because this was a truly interesting experience.  My hostel in Prague was in a great location and was quite large.  I believe it catered to small groups as opposed to lone travelers because they did little to point me in any direction on what to do and it was difficult to meet people.  I liked it all the same—good location, lots of space, comfortable bed.  My hostel in Berlin was a very different story.  It was in a neighborhood in East Berlin (a few stops outside the city center, but still a decent location, especially if you are traveling without luggage).  It consisted of a 3-bedroom/2-bath apartment with about 6 bunk beds crammed into each room.  The people there were mainly traveling on their own and it seemed like very few (if any) were there in sightseeing.  The impression I got was that most had come for the nightlife.  In fact my first evening there everyone was wondering where one of the girls was since no one had seen her since 5am that morning—this was the time that she was finally let into the dance club they had all been waiting in line for!!!  At this comment, I give myself away and say “how do people stay up that long?!”  To which remark the 34-year old Canadian says, “pills.”  Oh Canadians.  The people were from England, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and one other American.  The managers were very nice and they gave me a map with all the recommended things to do and see, plus there a list on the wall with recommended restaurants and bars in walking distance.  They also organized nightly outings, such as getting Indian food together one night.  I mostly stayed away from all this though.  I went out my first night to dinner with two other girls (one British, one Brazilian), but after that I decided I would rather be on my own and keep to my own (slightly rigorous) schedule.

So what did I do…

Sights:

The Brandenburg Gate: The original gate was built in the late 18^th century as part of a series of gates around the city.  In 1806, Napoleon took the quadriga of victory from atop the gate back to France.  The statue was restored after Napoleon’s defeat and the gate quickly became a symbol of Berlin and Germany.  In fact, it was in front of this gate, which during the division of Berlin existed in the “dead zone” between the East and West walls, where Reagan demanded from Gorbachev that the wall be torn down.

The Reichstag: The Reichstag (in this instance) refers to the German parliament building, which was built in the late 1800s.  It’s a pretty magnificent building that overlooks Republik Platz, next to Tiergarten.  It has a glass cupola, which was added to it in the 1990s, that supposedly provides one with great views of the city, but there was a line and security to wait through before entrance and I didn’t really have the time…so moving on.

The Holocaust Memorial: This controversial Memorial, designed and completed by Peter Eisenman in 2005, commemorates the murdered Jews of Europe.  The jigsaw/labyrinthine memorial has received some mixed reviews from viewers, but I found the monument quite moving and stunning.  As I walked through the lines of rectangular grey stelae, their height grew and the ground line rolled slightly up and down.  In the middle, at times, the lines of stone seem endless and the way that light moves across the stelae and through the alleyways was truly remarkable.  On the to-do list for next time is to sit out there all day and watch the sun pass over the memorial to see how the view of the monument changes. 

Gendarmenmarkt: This grand square a block off the main road of Unter Den Linden is aesthetically appealing…and why is that? Because it’s pretty much symmetrical.  On either side of the square are identical Baroque churches (Deutcher Dom and Franzoesischer Dom), both dating to 1705.  In between the two churches is a concert hall with a statue of the German poet, Friedrich Schiller, dating from ca. 1800.  The plaza is surrounded with townhouses and cafes.  I climbed the 230 steps to the top of the Franzoesischer Dom and had some pretty incredible views over the city.

From here, I wound my way up Unter den Linden, past Humboldt University, across a bridge to Museum island.  I walked past excavations that were taking place at Schloss Platz, revealing the lowest levels of the pre-20^th century palace structure, grabbed a local beer, enjoyed the green space and fountain of the LustGarten in front of the Altes Museum and then headed into the Berliner Dom.

Berliner Dom: A neo-renaissance cathedral built in 1895.  This magnificent and incredibly beautiful church features a number of cupolas filled with intricate mosaics depicting people and scenes from the Bible.

Pergamon Museum: Wow.  Just wow.  For me, words cannot adequately describe this experience.  To pay my entry ticket and walk into a room where the Great Altar from Pergamon is just there.  I mean, it’s just there—reconstructed with columns and steps and tourists and security guards and everything.  I was blown away.  I literally stopped to catch my breath for a moment.  The exhibition space is incredible and you have to hand it to the Germans—if they’re going to take something from a country, they are at least going to display it well…and give its own room (or two).  Another wing held more Hellenistic architecture from Pergamon and elsewhere in Anatolia.  The next room was also a breath-taking experience (for me) with the fully reconstructed Miletus Gate.  Now in this instance I wish the room would have been larger because it was difficult to take the full gate into one’s view in the limited space provided, but still a glorious sight.  A walk through the main entrance of the Miletus gates takes you back to ancient Babylon as it quickly transitions to the magnificently lavish Ishtar Gate, with bright blue Lapis Lazuli tiles, parades of golden lions, and brightly-colored yellow rosettes.  I have to say, I hate to see monuments taken out of their contexts—especially sites like Pergamon where so much else remains [during my visit there two years ago, it was very difficult to get a full picture of the Acropolis from only the footprint and drawn outline of the altar], but the brightness of the colors from the Ishtar Gate and the state of preservation of the sculpture from Pergamon and Miletus do show some of the benefits of housing these monuments in a controlled environment. 

From here, I was exhausted.  And my camera officially died!  In fact, not only did my camera die, but my phone died, which I had been using to take some shots (this explains the different qualities in my photos).  Still, I made it through the Altes Museum, which now houses in excellent exhibitions, Berlin’s marvelous Classical collection—Greek, Etruscan, and Roman—those pieces outside of the giant marvels housed in the Pergamon Museum.  The Altes Museum is spectacular—everything seems to be very well-laid out and it contains some real sculptural masterpieces (Berlin Kore, Enthroned goddess from Tarentum, etc.).  I also really enjoyed their Numismatics room, which I did not expect to; they had a section dedicated to ‘space represented on coins’.  Very cool.  Once I was museum-ed out, I headed down to a guidebook recommended bar, “Zur Letzten Instanz.”  Berlin’s oldest inn (1621) is somewhat hidden by a cemetery, down a cobblestone path, but the beer is phenomenal and the food is scrumptious.  I had a dish of roasted peppers wrapped in thinly sliced potatoes served on a bed of tomato chutney; perhaps not the most traditional of German cuisines, but delicious all the same.  There was a group of three Asian tourists there as well and they all ordered some sort of pork, which was served, huge, on a bone.  They (and I) all started laughing when three plates of this were set in front of them.  They all proceeded to take pictures, but, unfortunately, my camera was dead.

Wrapping up the day, I walked to Alexander Platz and took the S-Bahn down to the East Side Gallery, and here I had my favorite Berlin experience (ok, favorite after the Pergamon Museum, but I knew that would rock my world—this was a surprise.)

The East Side Gallery: This 1.3km long segment of the Berlin Wall is one of only two remaining sections of the once physical divider of the city.  As my hostel manager tells it, when the wall was up, people regularly put up graffiti on the west side of the wall, but no one was allowed to do so on the East.  After the wall came down, a number of international artists were invited to Berlin in order to put up the first ‘graffiti’ on the East side of the wall in 1990.  105 different paintings were put up all along this section of the wall and the themes range wildly from completely abstract to simplistic to uplifting to almost every style available.  It was incredible.  The wall runs alongside a fairly busy street with pedestrians, cyclists, cars, and busses.  I grabbed a beer and began my slow stroll along the far edge of the sidewalk trying to take in as much of the imagery as possible.  At first, I was a little put off by how difficult it was to view the wall; you could not stand more the 3 feet away because that’s where the sidewalk ended, but even then you were constantly negotiating your path with the other pedestrians and cyclists moving in both directions.  But after a few minutes, I got used to it and appreciated the fact that such a monument, such a statement was integrated so completely into the daily routine of people.  To add to this idea of possible disregard (or integration) were the scores of more recent ‘crappy’ graffiti that that people had scribbled on and over the artists’ works—names of people, mustaches on painted faces, cuss words, and all the typical graffito to be found around cities.  It did make me wonder how many people pass by (or even draw on) this wall everyday and do not realize what they are walking by.  I don’t want to say that it’s lost its meaning because it was a truly amazing experience for me—there were some images which actually caused me to tear up and others which made me want to desperately improve my knowledge of more recent history.  I found it effective.  It’s an interesting study in how a new/different approach to memorialization has been received.  It was moving.  But it’s also just another part of this eclectic city where people work near the Brandenburg Gate, and live on Gendarmenmarkt Square and relax in front of the Berliner Dom, just so do they wait at traffic lights in front of the East Side Gallery.  Unfortunately (as I’ve mentioned), my camera had died by this time, but I found the gallery so incredible that I’ve stolen some images from online to give you a sampling of what it is like.

I left fairly early the next morning for Istanbul, where I am now comfortably residing in my fantastic new apartment.  I begin my program with breakfast and orientation in the morning.  I promise to have pictures and stories up on this newest and what will be my most-lasting adventure sometime this weekend.  Please keep reading, share with others, and let me know how I am doing J  I am really enjoying myself here, but I think a big part of that has been in knowing that I can share my travels with my friends and family (and maybe a few strangers) back home.