[The following post is from the archives of my In Search Of Incredible blog, originally published on 10 October 2016]

 

7 December 2015, Monday

Today, we have a full day to explore Berlin. First up, we visited the Berlin Wall, or what’s left of it anyway. At around 9am, we left our apartment and walked to the nearest train station at Heinrich-Heine-Straße.

Taking a train in Berlin is easy. There are two types of train lines – the U-Bahn and the S-Bahn. The U-Bahn is the (mostly) underground network serving the city centre, while the S-Bahn serves the suburban areas. The U-Bahn has 10 lines altogether, labelled U1 to U9, with the oddity being U55, which is actually an extension of the U5 line and currently only has three stations – Brandenburger Tor, Bundestag and Hauptbahnhof (the main train station in Berlin).

After buying your ticket at the machine, you must remember to validate your ticket at one of the small yellow and white booths at the platform before boarding the train. There are no fare gates at the station so it’s really up to your own integrity to pay for the ride. Don’t be a fare dodger!

With regard to the fare, there are three tariff zones: AB, BC and ABC. All of the major sights are within zone AB, including Airport Berlin Tegel TXL. A one-way ticket for AB zone costs 2.70 Euros (S$4.10) for adults, while the reduced fare is valid only for children aged 6 to 14. Alternatively, you can buy a Day Ticket (aka Tageskarte) for only 6.90 Euros (S$10.50) for AB zone, and you can take unlimited rides from the day of validation till 3:00am the following day.

But before we go any further, first, a brief history lesson. The Berlin Wall (aka Berlin Mauer) was up from 1961 to 1989, physically separating East and West Berlin for 28 years. At the end of World War II, Germany and Berlin were divided into four zones, each administered by one of the allied powers – the U.S., Britain, France and the Soviet Union. East Germany was controlled by Soviet Union and the Soviets set up a communist-aligned state. By 1961, 3.5 million East Germans had left for the west, leaving behind a great brain drain. Thus, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) party built the Berlin Wall to halt the migration of East Germans to West Germany.

The total length of the Wall is 155km long, out of which 43km lies in Berlin. The rest of the Wall separates West Berlin from the surrounding East German countryside. The concrete walls were 3.6m tall and lined with 302 watchtowers, with armed guards keeping watch day and night. It is estimated that between 136 and 209 people were killed when they tried to get over the border during the 28 years of the Wall’s existence.

In the second half of 1989, reforms in the Soviet Union led to weeks of civil unrest and large numbers of East Germans fled via Eastern European countries. On 9 November 1989, it was finally announced that travel restrictions to the West would be lifted. Germans from both sides of the Wall gathered in huge numbers and began chipping away at the wall almost immediately. However, it wasn’t until June 1990 when the actual demolition of the Wall started, beginning in Bernauer Straße and around the Mitte district. Today, only about 2km of the Berlin Wall remains, as a memorial to one of modern history’s most significant events.

There are a few places to see the Berlin Wall today. The first is at the Topography of Terror Museum (aka Topographie Des Terrors) located at Niederkirchnerstraße 8, at the border between the Mitte (East Berlin) and Kreuzberg (West Berlin) districts. This is where the former headquarters of the Gestapo (the official secret police of Nazi Germany) was located. Here, a 200m section of the Berlin Wall has been preserved with all traces of destruction.

A more popular option to view the Berlin Wall is at the East Side Gallery located at Mühlenstraße in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg. It is called a gallery because the Wall, which stretches for 1.3km here, is adorned with 105 paintings by artists all over the world. It is the largest open-air gallery in the world, and the colourful paintings provide an attractive photo opportunity.

For a more sombre and authentic experience, we chose to visit the Berlin Wall at Bernauer Straße instead. From Bernauer Straße U-Bahn station, we emerged on ground level at Brunnenstraße. This is the start of the 1.4km long former border strip. At this spot, there are some information boards and a large copper 3D map of the area. You won’t actually see the Berlin Wall here because the concrete walls have long gone. In its place are steel rods demarcating the former position of the Wall.

We strolled down Bernauer Straße road and soon reached the Berlin Wall Memorial and Documentation Centre. It is a grey building with a 4-storey viewing platform that overlooks the open-air memorial grounds on the opposite side of the road. Here is where you will see the 60m section of the wall, with its steel rod enforcements exposed on one side. This is also where you can see the ‘Death Strip’, the no-man’s land area patrolled and guarded by soldiers ready to fire at any intruders. Today, the ‘Death Strip’ is a peaceful green patch of grass.

At about 10am, we finished our Berlin Wall expedition and moved on to the next big attraction – Brandenburg Gate. We took the S-Bahn train from Nordbahnhof and alighted at Brandenburg Gate station just three stops away.

Brandenburg Gate (aka Brandenburger Tor) is Berlin’s most iconic landmark and it is the location of many of Germany’s most significant events. It was built between 1788 and 1791 and it was a gateway for human and vehicular traffic entering the capital. At the top of the gate is the Quadriga, a chariot drawn by four horses and Viktoria, the goddess of victory, driving the chariot.

During World War II, Brandenburg Gate was damaged but thankfully, not destroyed. When the Berlin Wall was built in 1961, the Gate was closed as it was in the middle of the ‘death strip’. On 12 June 1987, U.S. president Ronald Reagan gave a speech in front of the Gate and he famously uttered the words, “tear down this wall!” When the Berlin Wall finally fell, the official ceremony to mark the reunification of Germany was held at the Gate on 3 October 1990. Today, the Gate is near the finishing point of the Berlin Marathon, which is one of the 8 World Marathon Majors on the race calendar. And when Germany won the FIFA World Cup in 2014, the football team held their victory rally in front of the Gate. Indeed, the significance of Brandenburg Gate cannot be overstated.

Today, Brandenburg Gate is closed to vehicular traffic and the area in front of the Gate, Pariser Platz, is now a pedestrian zone. When we arrived, we saw a huge Christmas tree perched in front of the Gate. Otherwise, the Gate showed no trace of festive decorations and stood regally as it normally did.

From Brandenburg Gate, we took a short walk northwards towards Reichstag, the building housing the Bundestag, which is the parliament of Germany. The Reichstag building also has a storied history behind it. It was completed in 1894 and housed the Parliament until 1933, when a fire damaged the building. It was again damaged by air raids during World War II. It was disused during the Cold War period because the government of West Germany had established its base at Bonn instead. Even though the Reichstag building was geographically within West Berlin, it was deemed to be too near the East Berlin border, just metres away from the Berlin Wall.

It was only after Germany reunified in 1990, and after the Bundestag held a debate in June 1991, when it was decided that the government and parliament would return to Berlin from Bonn, that the Reichstag building was put back to its former use. The building was reconstructed and renovations completed in 1999. The biggest change was the addition of a huge glass dome on the roof, a nod to the original cupola of the 1894 building.

The glass dome is open to visitors and it provides a panoramic view of the city. It is open from 8am to 12 midnight daily (last admission at 10pm), except for certain dates. Admission is free but advance registration is required. If you did not book in advance, you may still try your luck by walking in to the Visitor’s Service centre to check if there are free slots available. However, the slots will be at least two hours later. You can check out the official website for more information.

For our visit, we did not make any prior booking so we just took some photos in front of the building. In hindsight, it would have been worth a visit because I’ve seen the pictures from inside the dome and they look amazing.

After the brief Reichstag sojourn, we did a U-turn back to Brandenburg Gate, and walked along Unter den Linden. The name Unter den Linden means “under the linden trees”, where linden is the British name for lime trees, but it is not related to the lime fruit. Anyway, Unter den Linden is Berlin’s most elegant boulevard and it is so named because of the linden trees that line the boulevard.

Unter den Linden is 1.5km long and it runs from Brandenburg Gate at Pariser Platz to Schlossbrücke bridge, which marks the transition to Museum Island. Along the way, there are many notable buildings, such as the State Library, Humboldt University, the State Opera building and St. Hedwig’s Cathedral. There are also many souvenir shops eager to earn your tourist dollars.

At about 11:35am, we adjourned at a restaurant called Nante-Eck for lunch and coffee. We didn’t do any research on it beforehand and just chanced upon it as we walked along the street. Sis and SJ were craving for some pock knuckle and I was dying to have some of Germany’s famous sausages. I ordered the Berliner Currywurst, which is one of Berlin’s specialty dishes and it cost 8.90 Euros (S$13.50). Sis and SJ shared a portion of the Berliner Schinkeneisbein (13.00 Euros / S$19.70), which was cured knuckle of pork, with sauerkraut, served with mashed peas and potatoes.

My currywurst smelled and tasted good, but it was quite a small portion and more like a snack than a main course. For sis and SJ’s dish, they were expecting a roasted and crispy version (like the one at our local Marché restaurant) but it turned out to be quite different as the pork knuckle was boiled and pinkish in colour. I just did a Google search and realised that when it says “cured”, it means “boiled and simmered in broth for several hours”, so the menu wasn’t lying. It was quite different from what we expected but it still tasted good nonetheless. After lunch, we continued walking down Unter den Linden.

The Berlin State Opera house (aka Staatstoper Unter den Linden) was still under renovation so we didn’t get to see the building in its full glory. Located just behind the opera house is St. Hedwig’s Cathedral (aka St. Hedwigs-Kathedrale Berlin), with its distinctive huge green dome. I enjoy visiting cathedrals so we went in to have a quick look. I thought it would be packed with visitors, but to my amazement, there was no one inside at all. Perhaps everyone thought that it was closed for renovation too, like the opera house. The hoardings nearby and the giant construction crane just in front of the building gave the impression that it was closed too.

St. Hedwig’s Cathedral was consecrated in 1773 and it was modelled after the Parthenon in Rome. It is one of the most unusual cathedrals I have been to, mainly because of its shape. Unlike most other cathedrals, which are rectangular and long, St. Hedwig’s is round, taking the shape of the dome above it. It is certainly much smaller than the other cathedrals.

In the middle is a large opening with a staircase that leads to the lower church, which houses the circle of eight undercroft chapels. The church windows are also minimal in design, unlike the elaborate and colourful stained glass windows of other cathedrals like the Notre Dame in Paris or Il Duomo in Florence. It was very peaceful and quiet inside and a nice respite from the hustle and bustle of the street outside. I’m so glad we popped in for a visit.

Here are some random sights as we walked along Unter den Linden:

As we reached the end of Unter den Linden, we found ourselves on Museum Island, which is the northern half of a small island located in the middle of the Spree River. It is so-called because it houses five renowned museums – Altes Museum (Old Museum), Neues Museum (New Museum), Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery), Bode Museum and Pergamon Museum. Collectively, the museum complex is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. We didn’t enter any of the museums though.

Also on Museum Island and located just beside Altes Museum is the imposing Berlin Cathedral (aka Berliner Dom). Standing at a height of 115m, it is simply massive and dwarves everything else around it. It is everything St. Hedwig’s Cathedral is not. As impressive as it was, many parts of its exterior were grimy and it looked like it could do with some cleaning though. We didn’t enter the cathedral because there was an admission fee of 7 Euros (S$10.60) so we just took photos outside. In case you’re interested to visit, the entrance fee includes access to the dome walkway, where you will have a splendid view of the city, so it may be pretty worth it after all.

We continued onwards and soon reached the Berlin TV Tower (aka Berliner Fernsehturm). At 368m tall, it is the tallest structure in Germany and one of the most prominent landmarks in Berlin. The TV Tower is located near Alexanderplatz, and from there, we took the train to Potsdamer Platz. There, we stopped by at a café for a coffee break first in order to rest our feet before exploring further.

The first thing we saw at Potsdamer Platz was a huge snow tubing slide built just beside the main train station exit. It was about 60m long and people could climb to the top before sliding down on a rubber tube. It certainly looked quite fun. There was also a Christmas market with the usual assortment of food and craft stalls, contributing to the lively atmosphere. Potsdamer Platz is actually more of a modern commercial district, so there wasn’t much for tourists like us.

In the evening, sis and SJ went back to the apartment first because sis was having a slight fever so I carried on by myself. I went to visit another Christmas market at Gendarmenmarkt, located near three train stations – Stadtmitte, Französische Str. and Hausvogteiplatz.

Gendarmenmarkt is a tourist attraction in its own right. It has been dubbed Berlin’s most beautiful square because it is surrounded by a trio of beautiful buildings, the Konzerthaus (concert hall), a French and a German cathedral. In November and December, the square is taken up by the WeihnachtsZauber Gendarmenmarkt, which means “Christmas magic at Gendarmenmarkt”. Unlike most other Christmas markets, it charges an admission fee of 1 Euro, which according to the website, is for the stage program and charity projects.

The market wasn’t very big but there was a good atmosphere here. A lot of emphasis had been placed on aesthetics and there were lots of Christmas trees and fairy lights all over the place. There were even a couple of real-life angels on stilts spreading the Christmas cheer. The stalls here seemed to be catered to a more upmarket crowd and there were proper seating areas for people to consume their food. In front of the Konzerthaus, a choir performed carols and I paused to listen to them, even though I couldn’t understand what they were singing because they sung in German. Nevertheless, the whole setting was very magical and it was an enjoyable affair.

I then went back to Alexanderplatz to soak in the last of the Berlin Christmas spirit before heading back to the apartment to pack up, as we would be moving on to a new country tomorrow. That’s about it for Berlin. Next up, Prague!