Berlin - A very interesting city

At about 9pm on Friday 8th we boarded a sleeper train for Munich, from where we transferred to another train through to Berlin. The four of us ended up in a 4 person couchette as the more private alternative was just too expensive. Our Eurail pass does not cover “sleepovers”. It was a bit crowded but after a few Glavas and Cointreaus we didn’t care and all eventually had a good nights sleep. We transferred at Munich about 7am and travelled in real German luxury for the next 5-6 hours before pulling into Berlin Hauptbanhof. We were in first class admittedly (thanks to Eurail) but the luxury of this train had to be seen to be appreciated.

We found our way to our pre- booked apartment in East Berlin (in the Mitte district) by tram, travelling through what appeared to be somewhat grungy urban surroundings, thinking that our choice of location (via internet) may not have been as good as it could have been. We soon changed our mind on that score. The apartment was great, certainly not luxurious but it definitely had loads of character, with the only real negative being a very small and solitary bathroom. As soon as we got out on the street and started wandering we knew the grunge was superficial and that we were in fact in a very vibrant and happening city. The grunge is understandable when you consider that this area was well behind “the wall” just 20 years ago. We were told there was not a shop, café or pub to be seen anywhere near our apartment in those days. Today almost every second building in Kastanienallee Strasse (our street) was a bar, café or restaurant. Our first impression of Berlin from our wandering through the Mitte was that it is a young person’s city. Over the next 3 days the number of people of our age (in fact over 40) that we saw within the vicinity of our apartment could have been counted on one hand. We were later to find out that Berlin is in fact a relatively poor city, with a high unemployment rate (17%) and a disproportionately high student population. It is also a cheap city to live in by ECU standards, and therefore attracts many young people either to study or to further their artistic endeavours. This particularly applies to the East Berlin side, hence the absence of oldies from that part of the city. A tour guide told us that commercial rents in the centre of Berlin are 15% of the equivalent in London.

Over the next 3 days and nights we were to discover that Berlin is a fascinating city, and that we needed far more time to really appreciate it. With such an amazing recent history, since the emergence of the Nazi party under Hitler in 1933, including the smashing down of the wall just 20 years ago, it could not be anything but interesting. Again due to our limited time we linked up with two local tours, one a hop-on/hop-off bus and the second a walking tour with Terry (which we should have done on the first day so that we could better appreciate the city later). We had read about Terry’s walking tour on the net, and were determined that if we did nothing else in Berlin we would do it. Terry is an eccentric 74 year old Brit who has lived in Berlin for a significant part of his life, including the period of occupation and the subsequent tearing down of the wall in 1989. He has served with the military, and the British diplomatic corps in Berlin previously and for a period of time was the official Berlin guide for senior military personnel. His intimate personal knowledge of Berlin is quite extraordinary, and as an ex-history teacher, his ability to tie it all together and deliver it in an entertaining way is fantastic. His tours typically last from about 10am until as late as 8 or 9 pm, whereas most similar walking tours we have seen advertised in Berlin (and other cities) are for just 2-4 hours – his energy is something to behold. We most strongly recommend this tour to anybody visiting Berlin, and that it be done as early as possible during the stay as it sets the scene brilliantly for what will be experienced later.Apart from Terry’s tour, the highlights (of many) in Berlin were probably the opportunity to visit the magnificent dome over the house of parliament (the Reichstag) designed by Sir Norman Foster to replace the one burned in the great fire of 1933 (which was the final catalyst in Hitler gaining complete control of government in Germany), and to use the new Hauptbahnhof train station built for the soccer world cup a few years ago. Both buildings are triumphs of architectural design and of German engineering. The several funky cafes and restaurants we found were also a highlight of our time in Berlin, with prices noticeably cheaper than Vienna.

At risk of sounding repetitive we want to come back here one day with more time credits.