I had trouble convincing everyone in my family to go to Berlin. Part of the problem was a pesky travel agent who told my Mom and Diana that there was no reason to go there, that only the southern portions of the country were scenic. I knew that it wasn’t going to ‘beautiful’ there, but still was desperate to make the trip (having arrived too late in Germany when I visited in 2008 to see Berlin with the Wileys). Basically, the bulk of what was on my bucket list could be found in Berlin. Admittedly, this had more to do with American history – or at least things that Americans had been involved with. Thankfully, eventually I was able to sway everyone into making the trip, even if it wasn’t scenic and it was roughly six or seven hours away from our home base in Trippstadt. By the time it was over, I think everyone concurred that it was a most important city to tour.
We had left Rothenburg ob der Tauber at about 11:30am on the morning of Wednesday, October 3, having lunch at a McDonald’s along the way as we headed north. Bryan got us safely to Berlin by about 6:30pm. After we found a place to park, unloaded our van, and chose our rooms, we were ready to head out once again. In order to minimize snoring exposure, Bob stayed in a room with Bryan, Erine, and me – while Diana & Tom roomed with Mom. Our lodging for the night was the Plus Berlin Hostel & Hotel. Our accommodations were of hotel quality (at least for a European hotel), but we got to experience the ‘hostel’ experience a little bit by checking out some of the common areas of the building where TVs and ping-pong tables and stuff could be found. There were tons and tons of young folk staying there, most of them seeming to be part of touring groups of some sort.
Our accomodations during our stay in Berlin
Our group had gotten some good exposure to the train systems in Munich, so it was easier for all of us to understand and navigate the two in Berlin (the U-Bahn and the S-Bahn). We purchased our tickets for the next day and took a gamble that no one would check our tickets for our first and only train trip of our first night there, then grabbed the U-Bahn at the Alexanderplatz station, made some simple train switches, and ended up at the Kurfürstendamm station. Within a short walk from here was the Hard Rock Cafe in Berlin, my 43rd Hard Rock location overall. This was my second Hard Rock of the Germany trip, and fourth of 2012.
We got the Hard Rock around 7:45 and had to wait for about 20 minutes for our table. We roamed into a gift shop next door and I picked up a magnet that had a piece of the Berlin Wall attached. Once we were seated, I went with the Mushroom & Swiss Burger, but decided to skip the beer and just go for a ice-cold American Coca-Cola. As thanks for taking me around Germany, I bought Bryan and Erine’s meal. We browsed a few of the Hard Rock exhibits as you can see below, and left around 9:45pm. After we made it back to our station and then walked to our hotel, it was nearly 11pm. I certainly had no problem crashing that night, and if anyone was snoring it didn’t bother me this time.
Bryan in transit
Life in a Berlin subway with Erine and me
My 43rd Hard Rock Cafe
Entering the Berlin Hard Rock
Proving my location
A double whammy: a set of KISS dolls that were owned by the Sex Pistols’ bassist Sid Vicious found in the gift shop
One of the more interesting displays at the Hard Rock, aparently without meaning
Mom & Bob join me in front of the sign
The Hard Rock eats were as swell as always and anywhere
Six nice photos of John Lennon by photographer Dezo Hoffmann
“Solo” – #123 out of 1000 pieces of the Berlin Wall Art Collection, this one obviously a guitar
Thursday morning, we got up and hit the pavement bright and early. I didn’t bother with breakfast, but some of the other did. I was anxious to start soaking in the many historical sites of the city – and possibley get soaked myself. Sadly, it was a dreary day threatening rain and I opted to gamble and not carry an umbrella. Our group headed out around 9am toward the train station (this time legally), and caught the next series of trains to the Unter den Linden station at Pariser Platz. We had realized when we were in Rothenburg that Wednesday, October 3, was German Reunification day, celebrating the day the Berlin Wall opened up and East and West Germany were reunified. This might have explained some of the crowds in Rothenburg, but it certainly explained why the Brandenburg Gate had been gated off around a stage. The day before we arrived at the Gate, there had been a giant street festival and concert under the gate. This made it a little difficult to get nice pictures of it, and also made me completely miss the plaque that had been put in place commemorating Ronald Reagan’s “tear down this wall” speech – which had been laid just FIFTEEN DAYS earlier! I didn’t find this out until I got back home and Berlin was just a memory.
The unique looking BASF building we saw on the way to the train station. Looks like there’s not much supporting the upper half
One bad apple
In any case, the Brandenburg Gate – where Reagan had delivered the speech 25 years earlier – was still quite impressive. It was originally a city gate built around 1730, but was later rebuilt and completed in 1891 as a sign of peace commissioned by Frederick Wilhelm II of Prussia. It had suffered a great deal of damage during World War II, but was fully restored in the early 2000’s. It was used as one of the major gates between East and West Berlin and has been the site of speeches from John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. It was also featured prominently in the film Faraway, So Close! So clearly there were multiple reasons to be interested in seeing the Brandenburg Gate.
The Brandenburg Gate
One block north of the Brandenburg Gate sits the Reichstag building. This historic location had been completed initially in 1894 as the political seat of the German Empire. The building caught fire in 1933, which gave the Nazi regime a pretext for suspending the rights of the German citizens. The Nazis themselves never used the Reichstag as the seat of the Third Reich. The building became further damaged by allied air raids during World War II. In the early 60’s the building was restored and after the German reunification, it once again became the home to the current Germany parliament.
There were no opportunities for tours of the building, but with proper passport identification, we could sign up for a tour of the impressive glass cupola, with the only problem being that Erine didn’t bring her passport (as she had given it to the hotel for security) and the waiting list was several hours. We made the decision to reserve a spot on one of the night tours at 9pm, with instruction to show up a half-hour early. We took some photos of the Reichstag in the daylight and then pressed on southward by foot toward Potsdamer Platz down Ebertstraße, seeing a few more important things during the short walk.
The Reichstag, a first glimpse
The first thing we came upon was the American embassy, which although not all that exciting merited a photo. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe was on the next block over and consists of 2711 concrete slabs arranged in a grid. Although the number of slabs in itself doesn’t mean anything, according to the architect, the memorial was designed “to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere.” Walking amongst them, it easy to get the sensation of being swallowed into a “supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason.”
The American Embassy
The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
Our group scatters among the stelae
Lost within
One of the most important locations that I wanted to visit was the site of Adolf Hitler’s Führerbunker, because not only did Hitler stay here, this is where he blew his brains out. This was a good thing – and needed to see where it happened. The area had been left unmarked since 1945, with the constant German fear that it would become a Neo-Nazi shrine, but with so many visitors wanting to see it, they finally put up a sign on the location in 2006. There was nothing left, the above-ground portions of the building having been destroyed in 1959, with the underground bunker not excavated and largely destroyed after reunification in 1989. But here’s where it all happened…
The location of the Führerbunker, where the evil of Adolf Hitler saw its end
As we got to the area of Potsdamer Platz, which had developed from a trading post in the 1600’s and developed into a booming city center akin to modern day Times Square in New York City. After the war, this area – which became divided by the Berlin Wall – fell into disrepair. It wasn’t re-established as a mecca until after reunification in 1989. Most of the actual shops and buildings were of little interest to me (with one exception, as you’ll see below), but it was an interesting area where one started to get the feel of what the area looked like when the Berlin Wall was up. This was because there were a series of Wall slabs sitting on the actual locations where the wall had been.
There was also a gentleman dressed as an East German officer who would stamp your passport with an East German stamp and pose for a picture with you for a Euro. Naturally I took advantage of this – and the other photo ops in the area.
Slabs of the Berlin Wall in their original location
Faux East German officer
There was a line all around the city indicating where the Berlin Wall once stood
Straddling East and West Germany in Potsdamer Platz
Mom and Bob have the same idea
Diana tries to decide where her allegiance lies
One of them was the Boulevard der Stars, an obvious copy/homage of the Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard, but featuring German film personalities. They have something we don’t though: “star gazers” through which you can see hologram-like images of the celebrity standing atop their star. I browsed the stars, looked though the viewers, and naturally took photos of several of the German stars who meant something to me.
Taking a gander through the Star Gazers
This is what one could see
The star of Director Ernst Lubitsch
The star of Emil Jannings, who won the very first Academy Award for Best Actor in 1928
Across from the walk of fame, was the Museum für Film und Fernsehen (Museum of Film and Television). Originally, I had hoped to visit the nearby town of Potsdam and see the original Babelsberg Film Studios, which is the oldest large-scale film studio in the world. Also in Potsdam is the Filmmuseum which looked like something worth visiting (and was highly recommended by my friend Peter). Unfortunately, since I was unable to secure a tour at Babelsberg, a trip to Potsdam would have only been for the museum. And since we found another museum – and a quite good one – right here in Berlin, we skipped Potsdam.
We entered the museum not long before noon. The self-guided tour included a walk through German (and other European) cinematic history and milestones of film in the film industry, including props, photos, costumes, and other memorabilia, as well as film propoganda that was created during the Nazi period. Overall, I think everyone in our party enjoyed the museum and we stayed in there for roughly an hour. Although photos weren’t permitted, I was able to sneak a few.
Under the influence of ‘dope’. Diana commented after this picture that she loved to watch me ‘work’.
The mighty fine Museum für Film und Fernsehen
Metropolis sighting in the gift shop
The opening display in the museum. It put me in mind of Disney-quality stuff.
Emil Janning’s original Oscar and Certificate, an invaluable collectible
The film museum was part of the Sony Center and we looked around in there for something to eat for lunch, but didn’t find anything to our liking. So we decided to depart Potsdamer Platz and find another restaurant where we could kick back for a bit and plan out the rest of our day. Besides, it was starting to rain.
Overview of the Sony Center
The trademark Sony Center Roof
The excursion through Berlin will continue…
Another great posting. I appreciated the “Faraway, So Close!” reference.
Potsdamer Platz has clearly changed a lot…
Peter
May 29th, 2013