BRR ! Traveling weekend after weekend to places with different climates really can throw you off. After a warm sunny trip to Portugal, I traveled back into time to a cold snowy winter. Berlin is infamously known as the divided capital split between the Allies after the second World War as well as their late night club scene and loveparade tragedy.
All in Attendance: Pat, Mario and Kristen
We left from Basel airport quite late in the night. Upon arrival, there was a metro delay of 45 minutes (WHAT?) so we stomp our cold feet at the metro station and ate kebabs which made the whole situation slightly bearable. After a late check in at Goldmarie (6 euros a night) on the east side of Berlin near Ostkreuz station, there was little more we could do than go out to nearby bars and have a few drinks. I think it's funny to tell you that the only map our hostel could provide us was the "LGBT Friendly map" for all the gay clubs, darkrooms, strippers, (etc) that a tourist could want.
We went to kaufbar which was a nice bright place to start the night and made our way along the streets looking for other places too. The main drink I had in Berlin was a mate-vodka which is vodka mixed with this curious Club-Mate soda. Mate-vodka > vodka redbull
Next stop: Alexanderplatz. There we saw the modest but nice St. Mary's Church and the eye sore television antennae. After accidentally wandering into an extremely posh neighborhood, we walked pats the very extravagant Berlin Dom.
Mass was in service so options to take a peak inside were put on hold. Instead, we took our frozen bodies over to the nearest currywurst shop and got a snack while warming our frozen feet. Currywurst is basically a German sausage covered in a sauce that is 99.5% ketchup and 0.5% curry powder and 100% fast-food satisfying.
We went to see the Brandenburg gate which Hitler used as a Nazi party symbol during the second world war. Nearby is the German Bundestag (aka their parliament). They recently switched to mandatory reservations for guided tours. Unfortunately we didn't make one. Essentially (unless you are hungry for German politics) the main thing to see inside is the crazy glass tornado which I ripped off from another website here.Nearby to all of this is also the Holocaust Memorial/Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. It is designed to induce an uneasy and confusing atmosphere but I didn't need to plagiarize Wikipedia to really tell you that. You feel it when you're there.
What to do now but stomp our cold feet over towards something warm. We went to the Topography of Terror which is a free museum that tells the history of the Nazi regime (in English and German). I feel like you're so far away removed from it all in Canada that it doesn't really feel real until you visit these museums, concentration camps, memorials, etc.
Following our historical touristy noses, we set out for a visit to Checkpoint Charlie - an old Berlin wall checkpoint that separated the east and the west. Cue: awkward giant picture of Soviet and American soldier installed right next to it. Next to the checkpoint are people dressed up in army uniform that will stamp the passport of any enthusiastic tourist with a souvenir fake visa - is that even legal?
We tried to go see the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche/Memorial Church but it was under construction. Unlike other places where a stack of scaffolding is your obstruction from viewing a building under construction, the people in Berlin bring it to a whole other intense level. We couldn't see any of the church at all because it is completely encased in a makeshift wall. (see photos here that I also ripped off of somewhere on the internet). PS. The eye-sore column right next to the church is a bell tower.
What I saw vs. What it was suppose to be
Of course we tried to get into Berghain aka top club in the world with the strictest door policy ever. We didn't get in - I blame our bulky traveling wintercoats but we had fun elsewhere instead in a club that was under a busy restaurant.
The next day we went to the Pergamon Museum.Highlights include the Ishtar Gate. We also visited the Charlottenburg Schloss which was nice but some rooms were of in dire need of a revamping while others were over-the-top intricate.
We took our flight from Berlin Schönefeld (scheduled to be replaced by Berlin Brandenburg Airport in 2012) to Basel airport and took the train home.
Things I learned:
- Heating pipes are above ground, painted bright pink and even go over the streets and sidewalks - how's that for urban planning?
- They sure love currywurst
- Beer is significantly cheaper than water in Germany
- You can see the different between East and West Berlin in the architecture
- German bakeries
- The inviting "big city" feel
- Go to Berghain
- Go in a warmer month
- Go to the fuckparade and say hello to techno viking
