Berlin
We begin on the train, after crossing the border into the former East Germany, at a town called Schoena. Here is where RailEurope, an American company that sells Eurail passes and tickets in the United States, gets huge marks from me. The woman who sold me the tickets did us a favor by selling me a three-country pass that covered our journey except for the parts in Czech Republic, because CR isn't in the Eurail system (none of the former communist countries are, except for Hungary). So our tickets were techincally for Prague to Schoena, and then our pass would cover the rest of the trip. Saved us money and annoyance!
Before reaching Dresden, and after Schoena, we had this cool-looking scene, but once more, I have no way to identify it. Heidenau? Pirna? I don't know. I had a road atlas of Czech Republic with me, but it didn't cover this area. But regardless of that, consider that we're travelling through the former East Germany; 20 years ago, Americans could not have been here. It struck us that we were in a place that none of our parents could have seen even if they wanted to. We were behind the former Iron Curtain, and the history was not lost on any of us.
We didn't see much of Dresden, but there was a significant stop at the station, where I chose to take this shot. Cool-looking, modern building that was built after the collapse of communism, I would guess. But aside from that we didn't see anything in Dresden that impressed us - not surprising for the former East Germany, which is still suffering from the years of dilapidation caused by the communists.
As we crossed the German countryside, it began to rain. Off and on, but enough to create this rainbow, which lasted long enough for me to get several pictures of it. At one time it was so intense that the secondary arc was visible also, but I was unable to get any shots of that. Rain would become a recurring theme for the next several days, though this was the only time during our stay in Germany that we saw it.
Upon arrival in Berlin - Zoologischer station - we were lucky, totally by coincidence, that our hotel was three blocks from the train station. Swissotel in Berlin is awesome, and it wasn't all that expensive; I'd definitely stay there again. We dropped our bags and got ready for dinner, and before we got there we saw that just around the corner from our hotel is the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedachtniskirche, one of the few unrepaired sites of WWII. Destroyed almost entirely by Allied bombs in 1943, only the west tower remains. Most of the city's buildings were repaired after the War, but this is left as it was, a reminder of what happens when you have a leader who thinks they can spread their policy all over the world without consequence.
We actually got to Berlin when it was almost dark, so the pictures are now on the next day. We were up late the first night; it was 7am when Kevin and I got back to our hotel. But while everyone else slept late, I was out the door by noon to check out the city. It was very busy, a typical monday with tons of people in this city of over 3 million. And we were near the Europa Center, not far from the Mercedes building with its rotating logo atop the roof.
The Berlin subway - the U-Bahn is what everyone calls it because its full name is unpronounceable even for Germans - is one of the more complicated public transportation systems in the world, but runs efficiently to the point that it's worth figuring it out. Since one ticket works for both the U-Bahn and the S-Bahn (more of a regional system), it's OK to go to street level from one to find a station for the other. Totally unlike New York, where you would have to pay again to reenter the system.
One of the great symbols of Berlin's renewal since 1989 is the Potsdamer Platz, a large area combining commerical space with a massive shopping mall. This area was bisected by the Berlin Wall in 1961, and indeed the U-bahn station here became one of several “ghost stations”, a term applied to subway stations in the East Berlin sector that were sealed off because trains running on tracks through them were coming from West Berlin. So an S-bahn ride on the S1 line, for example, would take you from Anhalter in the West, to Freidrichstrasse in the East, which had a border checkpoint, and then up to Bornholmerstrasse back in the West; but the whole ride was in East Berlin. And part of the ride would have been under the Potsdamer Platz; I have a postcard showing its sealed-off U-bahn station.
After the Potsdamer Platz, I went back to the hotel to wake Kevin up so we could check out the city. We left Greg and Peter still sleeping while Kevin and I went to the Brandenburg Gate, that famous landmark that was the site of Ronald Reagan's famous speech where he says “Mr Gorbachov, tear down this wall!”. It's not the only reason the gate is famous, of course; Hitler used to march his troops through the gate just to show them off. During the Cold War, the Gate was housed entirely within the Berlin Wall, so although it was in East Berlin, even easterners couldn't visit it. The change that the vicinity has undergone since 1989 is nothing short of breathtaking; and there's still contruction going on today.
The Quadriga that sits atop the Brandenburg Gate faces into what was East Berlin. Napoleon stole it when he took Berlin in 1806, but it was later recaptured and returned to its rightful place. The statue represents the winged goddess of victory, although originally she was the goddess of peace - holding an olive branch. When that was replaced with an iron cross, the statue became a symbol of Prussian military superiority. Recognizing this, the communists removed the statue for a number of years when they were in power, and today the statue is in its traditional place atop the Gate.
Just another view of the Gate. This is from the West side; the Berlin Wall ran through the spot where I took this photo, albeit on the outside. The wall was sufficiently tall enough to have blocked the view of the Gate from here, so that West Berliners wishing to look at the gate would have to be far enough from the wall that they could see over it. Somewhere near here is where Reagan made his speech, for which there were speakers directed over the wall so that East Berliners could hear him.
Just north of the Brandenburg Gate, and always on the west side of the Wall, is the Reichstag building. Seat of government throughout the Weimar Republic and the Nazi era, and again since the reunification of 1990 (during the communist era, West Germany's capital was in Bonn), it too is full of history. Hitler set fire to the building in 1933 and blamed the Germany Communist Party for it, giving him an excuse to enact emergency laws that soon led to his taking over as dictator of Germany - much to the chagrin of most Berliners, who never gave the Nazis more than 31% of the vote in any free election.
Bombed heavily by the allies in 1945, the park and building were a mess at the end of the war. But complete restoration has now made it a beautiful place to see, and as you can see from this picture there are plenty of people around enjoying the scene. The artist Christo once wrapped the entire building in fabric as an exhibition not unlike his display in Central Park last summer. And now the building's interior has been completely redesigned, although I didn't get to see it because the line to get in was too long. So we started walking around the Tiergarten.
When we first entered the Tiergarten, I remarked how the trees all looked like they were maybe 50-60 years old, and all about the same age. Later we found postcards that showed up why: the Allied bombing raids totally destroyed all the trees that had been here, so they were replanted just after the war ended. Now the trees are tall and lush, and hidden among them is Carillon, a tall bell tower that rings extravagantly at noon and 6pm daily. And it's on the way to the tall monument that you'll see in a couple more pictures.
Sometime around this point is when I decided I fell in love with Berlin. The history, the energy, the layout, the architecture - whatever it is, I really came to love this city. Look at all the pictures you've seen so far, and realize that I could have spent another 3 days here finding more things to see. Maybe in that sense it reminds me of New York, and that's why I'm so drawn to it. I wish we had spent a weekend there!
Also in the Tiergarten is the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, the House of World Cultures. Berliners like to refer to it at the Pregnant Oyster for the roof's unusual appearance. The building was designed by an American, part of an exhibition in 1957. The roof collapsed partway in 1980 and was reinforced in 1989, and now serves as an arts center and concert hall.
Another monument to German military might, the Siegessaule is located in the heart of the Tiergarten, in the middle of a roundabout called the Grosser Stern. The statue at the top was originally in front of the Reichstag building, so the Nazis moved her here and raised the colummn up a few more feet to its present height. Supposedly you can climb to the top of it, but I didn't see anyone doing that, and I don't think either of us were inclined to try it.
To say the Germans are excited about hosting next year's World Cup is a vast understatement, and to no surprise. Soccer is Germany's top sport, and so for them to host the event is nothing short of stupendous. Germany last hosted in 1974, so they're ready. This clock counts down the time to the Final, which will be on July 9, 2006. In the background is a memorial erected by the Soviets to honor the Red Army soldiers who died in WWII, but more specifically to those who fought in the capture of Berlin in April 1945. All the words are in Russian; it is clearly not a German monument.
What would a trip to Berlin be without a shot of the Mercedes logo that spins around on the top of one of their buildings all day and night, lit up at night just in case you missed it during the day. Which is hard to do from where we were located, really. It served as a very good guidepost for us as we explored the area for the day we were there, because it seems like you can always find it.
One of Berlins's most famous streets, and formerly part of East Berlin, is Unter Den Linden, which runs east from the Brandenburg Gate towards the Schlossbrucke. The linden trees were planted in the late 1600s and are of course periodically replaced. Despite the massive amount of construction going on right now, the boulevard maintains its beauty and will only be better when the cranes and orange construction flags are removed.
And it was at this point that it became too dark for more pictures. We returned to the hotel, and found that Greg and Peter never got up in time to see anything! But we did have dinner at a good italian restaurant near our hotel, and went out late again. The next morning we had to be sharp and ready to go for checkout, and another morning train - on to Copenhagen!
Proceed to Denmark and Copenhagen
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