Berlin der eins
I wake up late, but still manage to make breakfast, pack and get on the train headed for Berlin. Its a 5 hour journey, and I'm particularly impressed by some of the small German cities we pass, there was one along the river near Dresden that really sticks out, but I can't recall its name.
Pull into Berlin late in the evening, decipher how to ride the S-Bahn trains, and a few stops, and several minutes later I'm walking to my hostel. This may be the best one yet. Its certainly one of the cheapest (14 euro's a night), awesomely centrally located right underneath of the TV tower in East berlin, and insanely clean and secure. The rooms look very Ikea (which I think is common of most newer European hostels anyway), and I'm really glad I found the place.
I head out for a walk and purchase really cheap, yet really tasty fish and chips, that come in a paper cone and are drowning in tartar sauce. I walk over to the museum island, through the Karl Marx park, and stop to relax for a while at the TV tower. The thing that first strikes me about the area is how new all the buildings are (I think almost all where built after the wall came down). There's lots of glass, its very clean, and the people seem to be happy, smiling, and very laid back. Stop at the hostel bar, and chat with another Aussie named Pam who works in a hostel in a small town in Austria. We had both decided to do a walking tour the next day, so it was a fairly early night.
My first full day in Berlin, I get up, eat bacon and eggs and am in front of the hostel ready to meet the rest of the walking group. There's only 3 of us, myself and Pam included. Our third companion is a fellow canucklehead from Vancouver, is my age, wonderfully sarcastic, and about 2 months into her big European adventure. We walk to a nearby coffee house, meet our guide and about 30 other tourists from other hostels/hotels. Our tour guide is insanely enthusiatic, and actually works as the director for some theatre house in Edmonton, when not escaping to tour people around Berlin. He's extremely knowledgable and completely loves this city. He keeps the information flowing, but still cracks jokes and keeps everyone entertained.
We start the tour by walking through east berlin and past some older buildings that are still bullet and bombshell scarred from the war. We walk into a former squatters area that now thrives with graffiti artists (whose work is now UNESCO protected). We make our way to the Reichstag, and learn about the rise of Hitler and the third reich. We cross into west berlin through cobblestone and copper markers showing where the walls stood not 16 years earlier. Now in west berlin, we move through to federal palaces, see the air-lift, and march on towards the Brandenburg Gates. Our guide recounts the JFK "I'm a jelly donut" line, shows us the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his kid out the window, and from there we move onto the newly completed holocoust memorial. Its a site of much contrevorsy as one of the top ranking nazi officials was killed in his bunker that actually shares the site, and the 2700 monuments of varying size were protected in a special anti-graffiti paint that was manufactured by the same company that used to make the cyclone gas used in some of the chambers 60 years ago. Our guide takes us to the site where Hitler's bunker was and where he commited suicide (its now a parking lot!). From there we walk to a place where part of the wall still stands (I'm surprised to find its only 3 meters tall), and into checkpoint charlie (complete with a local dressed in military uniform infront of a couple of sandbags, that the American tourists practically line-up to get pictures with). Quick drink/lunch break and the tour marches on to Humboldt university, a roman looking plaza, past museums and the former east berlin parliament. Our guide has trouble holding back the tears as he explains all the events that lead to the fall of the wall. Tired, but filled to the brim with amazing sights and important historical knowledge 6 hours later, we join our guide for a pint at a nearby bar.
I chat with Jordan (the Canadian) and Pam, and we decide to head out to the Jewish museum, then the topography of terror exhibit (its about the gestapo and the SS). The jewish museum is really good, and we all learn a lot, but we realize that we have to rush if we want to make it to the other exhibit and grab dinner. After dinner, we reach the outdoor exhibit only to find it closes earlier than we had thought. So we all head back to the hostel, have a few drinks then its bedtime for all of us.
Pull into Berlin late in the evening, decipher how to ride the S-Bahn trains, and a few stops, and several minutes later I'm walking to my hostel. This may be the best one yet. Its certainly one of the cheapest (14 euro's a night), awesomely centrally located right underneath of the TV tower in East berlin, and insanely clean and secure. The rooms look very Ikea (which I think is common of most newer European hostels anyway), and I'm really glad I found the place.
I head out for a walk and purchase really cheap, yet really tasty fish and chips, that come in a paper cone and are drowning in tartar sauce. I walk over to the museum island, through the Karl Marx park, and stop to relax for a while at the TV tower. The thing that first strikes me about the area is how new all the buildings are (I think almost all where built after the wall came down). There's lots of glass, its very clean, and the people seem to be happy, smiling, and very laid back. Stop at the hostel bar, and chat with another Aussie named Pam who works in a hostel in a small town in Austria. We had both decided to do a walking tour the next day, so it was a fairly early night.
My first full day in Berlin, I get up, eat bacon and eggs and am in front of the hostel ready to meet the rest of the walking group. There's only 3 of us, myself and Pam included. Our third companion is a fellow canucklehead from Vancouver, is my age, wonderfully sarcastic, and about 2 months into her big European adventure. We walk to a nearby coffee house, meet our guide and about 30 other tourists from other hostels/hotels. Our tour guide is insanely enthusiatic, and actually works as the director for some theatre house in Edmonton, when not escaping to tour people around Berlin. He's extremely knowledgable and completely loves this city. He keeps the information flowing, but still cracks jokes and keeps everyone entertained.
We start the tour by walking through east berlin and past some older buildings that are still bullet and bombshell scarred from the war. We walk into a former squatters area that now thrives with graffiti artists (whose work is now UNESCO protected). We make our way to the Reichstag, and learn about the rise of Hitler and the third reich. We cross into west berlin through cobblestone and copper markers showing where the walls stood not 16 years earlier. Now in west berlin, we move through to federal palaces, see the air-lift, and march on towards the Brandenburg Gates. Our guide recounts the JFK "I'm a jelly donut" line, shows us the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his kid out the window, and from there we move onto the newly completed holocoust memorial. Its a site of much contrevorsy as one of the top ranking nazi officials was killed in his bunker that actually shares the site, and the 2700 monuments of varying size were protected in a special anti-graffiti paint that was manufactured by the same company that used to make the cyclone gas used in some of the chambers 60 years ago. Our guide takes us to the site where Hitler's bunker was and where he commited suicide (its now a parking lot!). From there we walk to a place where part of the wall still stands (I'm surprised to find its only 3 meters tall), and into checkpoint charlie (complete with a local dressed in military uniform infront of a couple of sandbags, that the American tourists practically line-up to get pictures with). Quick drink/lunch break and the tour marches on to Humboldt university, a roman looking plaza, past museums and the former east berlin parliament. Our guide has trouble holding back the tears as he explains all the events that lead to the fall of the wall. Tired, but filled to the brim with amazing sights and important historical knowledge 6 hours later, we join our guide for a pint at a nearby bar.
I chat with Jordan (the Canadian) and Pam, and we decide to head out to the Jewish museum, then the topography of terror exhibit (its about the gestapo and the SS). The jewish museum is really good, and we all learn a lot, but we realize that we have to rush if we want to make it to the other exhibit and grab dinner. After dinner, we reach the outdoor exhibit only to find it closes earlier than we had thought. So we all head back to the hostel, have a few drinks then its bedtime for all of us.
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