Katy and I went to Berlin for the weekend to celebrate her birthday - unfortunately, the weather was not wonderful but the city is really very cool indeed and certainly one we will revisit when the sun comes back to this part of the world - staying in the former east Berlin, which is the centre is probably the best advice and it has definitely changed since I went through the wall in 1984 at the age of 6. We stayed in a great little hotel just near Alexanderplatz with its famous world clock and also the start of one of the Christmas markets including a giant whirlygig!
East Berlin has its own quirks - from ghost U-bahn stations that have 2 names from pre-wall and post-wall - when in between times the West Berliners crossed through East Berlin on closed metro trains to get to work, to the different pedestrian crossing symbols - a slightly rotund man in a hat walking across the road who is now seen as a cultural icon - there were protests throughout the city when the council attempt to harmonise him with the standard West Berlin man after the fall of the wall.
Obviously, the wall, even though it has now come down, looms large over the recent history of the city and has an impact that is hard to imagine as it is no longer there, aside from a few pieces that, after 20 years of souvenir hunters and no maintenance, have started to crumble away.The Brandenburg gate is now surrounded by elements of american cultural invasion - Dunkin' Donuts, Starbucks and also the massive new US embassy and yet was, until 1989, right on the front line of the Cold War, hidden just behind the wall itself.
One of the most striking sites, aside from the wall is the Monument to the Murdered Jews of Europe - incredible piece of sculpture - I am not sure that anyone was able to explain the thought process behind its development or what it stands for but that said, it is a breathtaking piece of work - with over 2 thousand concrete blocks of different heights arranged in a space between the Reichstag and Hitler's bunker where he committed suicide - I imagine the positioning is symbolic because the Reichstag was where so much of the hatred from the NAZI regime became law and the bunker is obviously where it came crashing down around itself but I dont know for sure.We had a 4 hr guided walking tour of the city which is a great way to discover it all as it is not a big place to walk round and so to cover all the sites by U-Bahn would hav meant jumping on and off trains every 2 minutes.
