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I had not planned to fall in love with Berlin.
As a
relatively unseasoned traveller, I entered the city under the influence
of the preconceptions spread by others who had clearly not been to this
wonderful city themselves. I had naively thought, for instance, that all
Germans were serious people who did not like to have fun and that German
cuisine consisted mainly of meat (and was therefore very unappealing to
vegetarians like myself). However, I ended up being blown away by
Berlin.
Looking around the city
Mel and I arrived in Berlin by train at the Zoo Station. Berlin is a
large city and the train system is essential for those travelling on
their own. It is a very user-friendly system. We found the tourist
information section, which was filled with youth hostel brochures, made
a couple of phone calls, and eventually made our way to BaxPax
Backpacker's Hostel. It was a newly set up hostel, complete with a
kitchen. We always prefer to cook our own to economise on food. We were
pleased to have made the transition from station to hostel with little
fuss.
After settling in, we began our introduction to Berlin by taking one of
the famous Berlin Walks tours. Of the many tour options, we decided in
favour of The Discover Berlin Walk because we hoped that it would give
us a good overview of the city. We were right. The tour was a fantastic
way to meet new people, see the main sights and learn some of the city's
history. It provided a useful introduction to many places that we would
be free to further investigate ourselves at a later point in time.
I was surprised to find that very little of the Berlin Wall that had
divided the East and West remained. It felt eerie to walk over land upon
which people had been shot for crossing less than 15 years ago. I could
only try to imagine the terror that they must have felt and their
desperation driving them to flee from the communist regime to enjoy
the life in the west that I have always taken for granted. While little
of the wall remains standing, tiny parts of it were widely sold as
tourist trinkets. I decided that I did want a little piece of what had
been such a monumental part of Germany's history.
As well as being a veritable source of fascinating escapee stories, the
Checkpoint Charlie museum physically marked the point that had been the
most well-known border crossing for escapees between the East and West.
It provided some entertaining stories about the lengths that people had
gone to in their attempt to flee the East. One of the stories described
an escape by means of a submarine in which a person had dragged himself
along the Baltic Sea and another told of an escape by hot air balloon.
The nightlife scene
in Central Europe
 The Reichstag (or German parliament) building
impressed me enormously. The building itself was topped by a magnificent
glass dome. Here, visitors had a great view of the city. The number of
construction cranes piercing the sky indicated the awesome amount of
construction that was now taking place as a result of the reunification.
The dome itself had been constructed directly over the heads of the
legislators whose leather seats I could spot far beneath me. It was
designed in this way so that the people would always be able to view,
and therefore keep in check, the legislators representing them.
I had been told that a visit to Berlin would be incomplete without a
trip to the Pergamon museum. I thoroughly agree with that sentiment. We
were prepared for some pretty impressive stuff but still our breath was
taken away. Sights that I would have only expected to behold in Egypt or
Rome had been re-constructed in Berlin for our viewing pleasure. I was
happy to spend hours wandering the museum, with the aid of audio
headphones providing commentary about the museum's artifacts.
During our stay at the hostel, we had noticed a "free laundry" sign that
we thought was worth investigating . Despite being skeptical at first,
the offer turned out to be legitimate! We soon learned that a group of
artists had created an artwork called "washing and communication" which
consisted of a mass of washing machines in one of the main squares of
Berlin. We could hardly believe our luck, discovering that there was
even free washing powder on offer. This was a real plus for a
backpacker!
We could not leave Berlin without checking out some of the nightlife. We
were keen to find an underground club and on the advice of a person from
our hostel, we caught the train to the Pfeffenberg Club. The entrance
did not look like much from the outside and we wondered if we had found
the right place. Sure enough, the music was pumping inside and we
couldn't get to the dance floor soon enough. The hours disappeared in a
flash and it wasn't until the wee hours of the morning that we left,
exhausted.
Berlin is a city of huge contrasts. It is an exciting place to be as it
nears the end of its transitional phase towards becoming a truly unified
city. While it does suffer from a war-torn past, this leaves us an
extremely rich history. I must add that the food is tasty and the people
here do know how to have fun!
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