Oh, Berlin. This is a city for artistic souls if ever there was one. Matt and I spent a lot of time trying to work out a way to do a successful day trip here, which was incredibly ambitious of us as Berlin is quite far from Munich. We had just watched Babylon Berlin on Netflix and were determined to make it work. Before our trip we researched the heck out of the German Rail Pass, a rail pass for non-European travelers. We decided to get a 4-day pass that we could use any 4 days of one month, on all DB lines. We used this for the first time on our trip to Berlin, and the cost of that train just about covered the cost of the pass for us both!
We visited Berlin on the 4th of July, 2018. Since 2017 we've made it a priority to be out of DC on the 4th and it's lovely. The history of Berlin shines through its recovery, and they seat it center stage. It felt a lot like visiting Hiroshima, another city who wears its tragic past visibly as a warning to the future. The hope, vibrancy, and life of Berlin was evident everywhere we went. And we went just about everywhere in that one day! We purchased a day pass on the metro once we arrived, and it cost about 7 euro to ride all public transit all day. Now this is a good transit system. Also, there's tons of other good options for people who will be there longer than one day, or traveling in a group of up to 5. Germany is great for this!
We started out on the bus, a hop-on hop-off bus that basically travels around Berlin and hits a lot of the sites. We saw Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church right away, as it is very close to the central station. It's a ruin from WWII that they keep as-is, and it's known around Berlin as "der hohle zahn," or "the hollow tooth." Also on the bus we drove by Museum Island, a place we chose not to visit in our one day but would love to go back and spend days on, as well as Humbolt University (the oldest in Berlin), and some sort of routine-looking castle that looks more like a large house. We rode until Alexanderplatz, which features prominently in Babylon Berlin, and there we got off to look around. The plaza is huge and sprawling. There are three train lines that run through it, two above- and one under-ground. Matt really wanted to ride the U-Bahn, so we went underground here to ride up to a sweet little gluten-free bakery called Jute Backerei just off Eberswalder station.
After much fortification, we traveled on. We took the U-Bahn back to Alexanderplatz and saw an incredible fountain. We found the bus again and rode a little ways back toward the host of government buildings that include the Reichstag, the Chancellor's house (nicknamed the washing machine because Germans think it looks like one), and another legislative building. Apparently the Chancelor's residence is called "Bundeskanzleramt."
We walked around the area and found the Brandenburg Gate nearby. This is a relatively imposing structure commemorating an 18th century restoration of Prussian rule during the early Batavian revolution (of which I know nothing). It was the former city gate, which says a little something about how large Berlin has become. When we visited, it was under some severe construction, so we were only able to get middling pictures.
Walking around we also ran into several monuments. One in particular seemed dedicated to hubris, a great angel-topped tower that commemorates another Prussian victory from 1864, famously moved by Hitler right before his defeat to its current location (a great place for his parades, he thought). Most others are reminders of the genocide and racism that ran rampant during national socialism. Both of us particularly connected with the simple memorial wall and pool pictured below, which commemorates the Sinti and Roma people. The other image at the bottom left is the Holocaust memorial. That is incredibly powerful as well, as it is columns of stone that are at varying levels and varying heights, which makes you feel sometimes dwarfed and sometimes towering as you walk through the maze.
This is a good Berlin primer, but it is by no means an exhaustive account, even of what we did in one day. Of all the cities I've visited recently, Berlin ranks as one of the most interesting, artistic, and welcoming. I recommend a long visit as soon as you can make it over!
We visited Berlin on the 4th of July, 2018. Since 2017 we've made it a priority to be out of DC on the 4th and it's lovely. The history of Berlin shines through its recovery, and they seat it center stage. It felt a lot like visiting Hiroshima, another city who wears its tragic past visibly as a warning to the future. The hope, vibrancy, and life of Berlin was evident everywhere we went. And we went just about everywhere in that one day! We purchased a day pass on the metro once we arrived, and it cost about 7 euro to ride all public transit all day. Now this is a good transit system. Also, there's tons of other good options for people who will be there longer than one day, or traveling in a group of up to 5. Germany is great for this!
We started out on the bus, a hop-on hop-off bus that basically travels around Berlin and hits a lot of the sites. We saw Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church right away, as it is very close to the central station. It's a ruin from WWII that they keep as-is, and it's known around Berlin as "der hohle zahn," or "the hollow tooth." Also on the bus we drove by Museum Island, a place we chose not to visit in our one day but would love to go back and spend days on, as well as Humbolt University (the oldest in Berlin), and some sort of routine-looking castle that looks more like a large house. We rode until Alexanderplatz, which features prominently in Babylon Berlin, and there we got off to look around. The plaza is huge and sprawling. There are three train lines that run through it, two above- and one under-ground. Matt really wanted to ride the U-Bahn, so we went underground here to ride up to a sweet little gluten-free bakery called Jute Backerei just off Eberswalder station.
For anyone who suffers from a gluten intolerance, allergy, or celiac disease, it can be next to impossible to travel anywhere outside of your home and find decent, let alone truly safe, food. This bakery is entirely GF, and in many cases vegetarian and vegan. We ate delicious little sandwiches and bought some bread for the road. I actually purchased a loaf of German bread that I ate over the rest of our visit. It made me rethink my offer of moving to Munich in favor of moving to Berlin!
After much fortification, we traveled on. We took the U-Bahn back to Alexanderplatz and saw an incredible fountain. We found the bus again and rode a little ways back toward the host of government buildings that include the Reichstag, the Chancellor's house (nicknamed the washing machine because Germans think it looks like one), and another legislative building. Apparently the Chancelor's residence is called "Bundeskanzleramt."
We walked around the area and found the Brandenburg Gate nearby. This is a relatively imposing structure commemorating an 18th century restoration of Prussian rule during the early Batavian revolution (of which I know nothing). It was the former city gate, which says a little something about how large Berlin has become. When we visited, it was under some severe construction, so we were only able to get middling pictures.
We also hopped the U-Bahn and rode to Potsdamer Platz. This was important to Matt because the station comes up in David Bowie's "Where Are We Now?" released in January 2013. The song opens with the lines, "had to get the train / from Potsdamer platz / you never knew that / that I could do that." It's a beautiful song about life lived and things lost, and it was a special surprise to surface from the station and see pieces of the Berlin wall waiting for us. It affected me deeply to see the Berlin wall, and we didn't even get to the area where it stood specifically. I saw the art, the humanity, superimposed on the hard, impersonal concrete. Something meant to keep people and ideas separate now unites us for the better.
Walking around we also ran into several monuments. One in particular seemed dedicated to hubris, a great angel-topped tower that commemorates another Prussian victory from 1864, famously moved by Hitler right before his defeat to its current location (a great place for his parades, he thought). Most others are reminders of the genocide and racism that ran rampant during national socialism. Both of us particularly connected with the simple memorial wall and pool pictured below, which commemorates the Sinti and Roma people. The other image at the bottom left is the Holocaust memorial. That is incredibly powerful as well, as it is columns of stone that are at varying levels and varying heights, which makes you feel sometimes dwarfed and sometimes towering as you walk through the maze.
This is a good Berlin primer, but it is by no means an exhaustive account, even of what we did in one day. Of all the cities I've visited recently, Berlin ranks as one of the most interesting, artistic, and welcoming. I recommend a long visit as soon as you can make it over!
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