Mighty Berlin
Trip Start
Mar 05, 2008
1
77
107
Trip End
Jan 11, 2009
Berlin,
Germany
Saturday, October 4, 2008
We had a really nice day in Leipzig. We got up earlier than we had for a couple of weeks because it wasn't as cold ... and it was just as well, as we needed all the time we could get!
The trip through the old town was good - the buildings were awesome. We saw the Old Town Hall, the market square, the Old Stock Exchange building & the main cathedral. But the definite winners of the day were the 2 museums we saw, continuing our WWII journey.
This time it was the exhibition showing how the GDR (East Germany) came about after the war, the growing dissent to the Russian ruling style, and the protests that finally brought the return of democracy & Berlin back together. There was also a temporary exhibit explaining the major scandals from German history (thanks to the media!)
The second museum was about the Stassi or Secret Police, and how they went about spying on people to ensure that they weren't 'detrimental to the Socialist cause'. From their crude disguises and hidden cameras, all the way to bugging phone calls & stealing people's mail ... it all sounds a bit childish, but it had dire consequences for many, as they were often arrested on trumped up charges & made to sit through rigged trials (or got no trial at all!), before being packed off to some out of the way prison - or even worse! The biggest things about the Stassi was that they were recruiting everyday people as informants to spy on each other - the work mates, their friends & their families! Naturally, all this finally came to an end when people power eventually reigned supreme, the Wall came down, and democracy returned.
After Leipzig, we headed to Berlin. We drove all the way into the city looking for a campsite that didn't exist (thanks Jane/Kate!), then had to drive almost 30km back out the way we'd come, to find the next closest one!
By the time we got there it was getting dark & starting to rain, so we cooked & ate in the tent (Yes mums, we were careful!) We were chatting away & I kept saying to Ian, "I'm sure there's someone out there ... in the car", but he kept saying, "no the light would have come on". So we finished up & he got out of the tent & looked in the car ... our chockie bickies had been raided, as had our rubbish bag (which was now outside on the ground)! As I came out of the tent I saw a fox slinking away. He'd got in via the boot (which we left open as a b it of a verandah). The little turd! Don't worry, the car was shut up tight as a drum after that little episode!
What a horrible day in Berlin ... it poured all the previous night, then continued to rain ALL DAY. So the plan for the first day in Berlin was simple ... any & all museums!
We still managed to get pretty wet, but our first stop was the Natural History Museum. What an interesting place that was. It covered the history of Germany from right back at 900BC, and while some parts rang bells for us and clarified what we already knew or had learnt ... other parts actually seemed to leave us more confused.
We ventured quickly upstairs to the temporary exhibition of political satirist caricatures of Albert Szyck - they were really good ... and actually quite cheeky!
We were at the museum for well over three hours, so when we left we had a quick lunch break, before venturing (through the rain, yet again!) to the original Check Point Charlie, then to the Check Point Charlie am Haus (the m museum). It was extraordinary, the lengths people were going to, to flee the GDR, the ways they were being dealt with, and why it all needed to happen in the first place?! We got to see a few pieces of the original wall at both museums, but were hoping to venture to the largest remaining original section tomorrow, if the weather is slightly kinder to us!
All that praying must have worked ... because it was a much better day the next day! We packed heaps in ...
Schloss Charlottenburg (the old palace built for the 1st queen of Prussia)
Reichstag Building & dome cupola (we had to go back after 7pm when the line was shorter, but up the top had really good views of Berlin)
Holocaust Memorial (2711 concrete blocks of various heights covering a massive area in the middle of the city)
Brandenburg Gate (quite disappointed, as it was all cordoned off. Probably for the unification celebrations tomorrow)
Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedachtniskirche (a church, or what's left of it, in it's WWII bombed state. Now it poses as a memorial, but it was amazing to actually go inside a bombed building, rather than one that had been rebuilt)
Berlin Philharmonie Building (the philharmonic, all gilded in gold)
Topography of Terrors Exhibition (more photos and info on the original sites of the Gestapo & the SS buildings which are now being excavated)
Potsdamer Platz (rebuilt with some amazing new modern buildings, eg Sony Centre)
Hauptbanhof (the new, even awesomer? central train station. It's all modern & flash, without being really sterile)
... and then still had time to go to the movies! We went and saw the new George Clooney movie, Burn After Reading. It was typical Cohen Brothers, and very funny. Brad Pitt is absolutely hilarious!
Star Update ... it was actually Tilda Swinton that we saw in Venice, and not Cate Blanchett - I knew her ears weren't big enough to be Cate's! Just as well I didn't ask 'Cate' for a photograph, huh?!
