Berlin

Ok I know this took a while, sorry folks here is Berlin, I am going to change my style this time. Rather then a long chronological ramble I will have themes for the what I did in the city but first I will give general and brief intro:

So in order to get the reasonably cheap flights to Berlin I had to make a 6:25 flight from Aalborg. Unfortunately there is only one bus running at that hour and if I miss it I miss my flight to Copenhagen and Berlin and if I make it I have to run through the airport and security etc because there is very little time before the flight. Due to the nice weather I decided I would bike to the airport especially because I only had a backpack because my trip was only from tuesday til thursday. So I had an nice early morning 12 km ride to the airport made my flights and by after a little gamble with the train 10:45 I was in downtown Berlin.  It was cold when I left Aalborg so I was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt but in Berlin it was 28 C (83 F) Without a street map, I decided to wander using my instincts to guide me and I was very successful. However now I will talk about what I saw based on "themes."

"Historical/ Famous Buildings"

I managed to find my way to the Reichstag (German Parliament) which was one of the few beautiful grand older looking buildings in Berlin. Most of the buildings were new and there were no sections of similar buildings or houses like in Copenhagen or Stockholm because they were all destroyed by WWII or more likely during the Soviet rule of East Berlin. In fact most of the old main part of the city was in East Berlin and the Reichstag was included as well as the Brandenburg Gate and the Berliner Dom. These are some of the few old majestic buildings left in the city that were rebuilt (Reichstag) or survived the war. In fact in many places across the city they were still excavating remains and foundations of old buildings. I also saw the famous statue (Siegessäule) that lies 1.5 km down the road from the Brandenburg gate and Bellevue, the Whitehouse of Germany...

Reichstag- the glass dome on the top was recently rebuilt and is now a restaurant for the public

The Brandenburg gate entrance to one of Berlin's old causeways that is now just a nice street to walk on that cuts through the city

Berliner Dom- a beautiful old church at the other end of Unter den Linden (the road the Brandenburg Gate is on)

Siegessäule, which stand proudly in the western part of Tiergarden which is a beautiful garden that lies in West Berlin

Bellevue, the house of the Prime Minister

"The Wall"

In the early afternoon I checked into my hostel, and I got a street map that had all the inner city attractions listed on it which was very useful. I took the subway over to Checkpoint Charlie. Checkpoint Charlie is now a histroical tourist attraction and all the military establishments on both sides have been removed yet it was still nice to learn about the intense day to day struggles that went on there. In fact WWIII almost started when the US and the USSR started lining up tanks on either side of the border crossing as a result of a minor political standoff. Afterwords I went to the only part of the wall that has been unaltered in anyway since 1989. It was pretty cool. However the really interesting part of the wall that was now a museum, they had rebuilt and reinforced some sections to make it a permanent exhibit was on the other side of the city so I saw it on Wednesday. The wall was more than I thought I would be, it was in fact two and sometimes three or four walls that were separated by kill zones (no man's land) that could be several hundred meters wide and were gaurded by men in towers and outposts. In fact East Berlin was more of a Fortress/ jail then a city. Many of the kill zones still have not been developed and are just fallow scars that cut the city. The wall was very destructive in part of the city. It was built across roads and through cemeteries and neighborhoods. In fact much of the wall was just the facade of old buildings that were torn down after the wall was complete and became part of the no mans land but the first floor of the wall was still the front of the building. This changed when Gorbachev came to power in 1985 and he rebuilt the whole exterior wall to look like it does today.

Checkpoint Charlie from the American side looking into East Berlin, 22 years ago there would have been tanks, barricades, and barbed wire here

The last untouched part of the wall that is now a part of an outdoor museum

The wall exhibit that shows what it looked like 25 years ago, not the tall wall, guard tower, barbed wire fence and the short wall, in fact this section was built atop an existing cemetery and they just :moved" the graves....

Part of the kill zone that is just nothingness right now near Nordbahnhof

They are now rebuilding the wall, as a memorial to what happened and the 136 confirmed dead because of it(1000s were wounded and many people are still unaccounted for as dead, wounded, or alive)

Over 300 streets were closed because of the wall, this is the only street in Berlin that is still obstructed by the wall and as part of the memorial will remain that way

Transportation

So due to the fact that the city was cut into chunks the transportation system is organized (as per typical german engineering) but at the same time slightly awkward. For one there is no central part of the city or city center, like Times Square in New York city or Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. I have a feeling that the trains and subway system from before the war are in use today because the city is well connected. However it is interesting to see which stations are new connections from east to west and which clearly are only in one part. The trams for instance generally only exist in east Germany. Also there are looks of great cars driving around, however the drivers are neither as patient, passive or friendly as their danish counterparts. I will say that the central train station (hauptbahnhof) was so huge it was crazy I mean central station has a lot of tracks but it is nothing compared to the multi story train station/ mall that towers over the border of east and west Berlin (yea it is very new, most likely a connection between the networks of the two parts of the city.

Inside the Mercedes Benz store, a classic...

The top station at Hauptbahnhof which had both local trains and commuters bustling through

Food

So like in the other European countries I have been to "street meat" is both good and popular. In Berlin there are many carts and stands that sell Bratwurst and my new favorite Currywurst along with small buns. They are both cheap and delicious. I saw several guys who were selling them from grills that were a backpack that held the gas and extra food and a grill in front with all the condiments, that must be a tiring job, but there they were. Also I was told a great place to get "the best Kebab every" as well I was told it is the best city for Kebab in Europe. So far both were true. I went to that place which conveniently was right near to my hostel. I also saw another place with a huge line even though it was a tiny little kebab stand. So I got in line and it was even better than the first. America we need to sell these things they are cheap and fantastic and so much healthier than subway etc...

Hostel

My hostel was absolutely fantastic. It was cheap and fun and full of interesting people. They offered so much to do for the young traveler on a budget including free walking tours but I had already done my own self guided tour so I did not part take. They also offered pub crawls and had suggestions about music scene etc. But I really enjoyed hanging out in the common area with the other world travelers and meeting people from all over. And best of all they had 1/2 liter german and czech beers on sale for one euro from 8-10 every night... Thank you East Seven Hostel for a great stay and if any of you who read this ever go to Berlin and are staying in a hostel go here, the staff are great and it has a great environment.

So that is in short what I did in Berlin, I hope you liked this new format. If not I can change to the old one or maybe I will try something new next time... I find this whole blogging thing is all about trial and error