Berlin
In my last post I shared some of the feelings I felt riding into Berlin. This post describes what I’ve been doing over the last few days in the city, and shows off some of my photos!
On my first day in town, after how much I enjoyed the Prague walking tour (and due to the huge number of recommendations from friends) I wanted to do the free walking tour of the city. This lasts 4 hours, and one of the guides cruised past the hostel to pick us up.
I’ll keep the descriptions short as there’s a lot to get through.
We took the subway to the Brandenburg Gate where the tour started.
After a description of the area surrounding the gate (it’s where the Western embassies are), we headed to the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe (that I rode past the day before). It was a quick but good visit.
Next it was on to what most be the most famous carpark around. I knew what it was as soon as I saw it- the carpark above Hitler’s bunker (which has now been closed off and is probably flooded).
The next point was the former Luftwaffe headquarters and the headquarters of the Soviet administration in East Germany. It’s a rather imposing building..
A visit to one of the remaining sections of the Berlin Wall and a walk past Checkpoint Charlie (which seemed pretty fake) were next.
We walked past some more big buildings (that I wasn’t too happy with the photos of), and ended up at the Berliner Dom- the Berlin Cathedral. This was the end of the tour. I, like everyone else in the world, recommend you go on the free tour- my guide at least was really knowledgeable and helpful.
I spent the rest of the afternoon walking to the East Side Gallery. This is a 1.3km section of the Wall that’s still standing and acts as an gallery of artwork. It was really good. I took quite a few photos, but you’ll have to check out Smugmug for the rest of the photos.
On the way back I took some more photos of the Berliner Dom, and processed them in HDR.
So that’s Day One in Berlin! Day two saw me wandering around in 30 degree heat sweating profusely. I booked my train ticket, went to the exhibition underneath the Holocaust Memorial, went to the dome of the Reichstag (parliament) and visited the Terror of Topography- a museum about the torture of the SS and Gestapo.
Reichstag:
Underneath the Holocaust Memorial.
Inside the Reichstag Dome with it’s big sunshade, spiral ramp, open top and mirrored middle. (Most of these are HDR)
The Topography of Terror outdoor exhibit documenting the rise to power of the Nazi Party.
Overall, I’ve found it to be a pretty intense few days in Berlin. It’s really hard with all the negative history to forget the positive stuff. Berlin is a city that exudes vibrance. It’s as if it’s still celebrating reunification, which was only 22 years ago- less time than I’ve been around! The city (and Germany more widely) has a lot of dark history in its closet, but it seems to be embracing it and moving on.
My time in Berlin and Germany has been great- the Germans I’ve met (with the exception of the woman who sold me my train ticket) have been really friendly and welcoming to their country. It’s so well set up for cycling and tourism in general that it’s almost too easy.
Oh, a comment about my bike. I found a broken spoke the morning I rode to Berlin and took it to a bikeshop to get it fixed. They found that all of the spokes on the drive-side of the rear wheel were in a really bad way and needed to be replaced. The possible explanation they gave was that the chain went over the top of the cassette and hit the spokes.. When I got the new wheel in Zurich they didn’t put a plastic protector between the cassette and the spokes- that’s what I’m blaming at the moment!
Today was supposed to be a quiet day chilling out at the hostel, writing a blog post and doing some work to try and pay for the expensive few days I’ve had here (the bike cost 40 euro to get fixed and my train was 60, plus 4 nights in the hostel).. I suddenly got a facebook message from one of my friends, Sarah, saying she was in Berlin on a stopover that got extended and that we should catch up! Coincidentally she was just around the corner and I had a great time hanging out with someone I know. In fact it was so enjoyable that we forgot the time and the last I saw she was struggling to find a bus to the airport- I hope she made her flight to Norway!
So from here I take the train to Hannover tomorrow. I then ride towards Groningen in the north part of the Netherlands where I meet a friend Hilary to ride down to Amsterdam.
Here’s a map of the photos!