Welcome back to When Wine Calls “The Winter Grape Tour” of the UK and Europe.
I had not been to Berlin since 1986 while Pauline had never visited Berlin. When I was last here the wall was still in existence, and I remember standing on the west side at Checkpoint Charlie and looking through the wire fencing over at the eastern side and remarking how the scene was like something back in the 30’s with dull grey buildings everywhere compared to the vibrant and more modern west side.
So, it was with an inherent anticipation that we landed in Berlin and headed for our apartment located close to Checkpoint Charlie but interestingly located on the eastern side. The exterior of the building was bland as was the apartment block across the road and indicated that nothing much had changed in the interim period but luckily the interior of the apartment hotel had been modernised with a Scandinavian style fit-out which made it very comfortable.
Portia had been to Berlin in more recent times and offered to be the guide for the two nights we would be there which worked well as so much has changed since 1986, the wall having come down in 1989 and I wanted to see as much of this change as I could with only one day to explore. In Pauline’s case it was all new with nothing previously to compare with, so it was interesting to see the city through her eyes in comparison with my memories.
We had arrived late in the day so with darkness upon us the first stop was an Irish Pub across from our apartment to get a hearty meal and for me, a Guinness. Pauline and Portia had, of course, bubbles. While Irish Pubs are everywhere in Europe it is still strange to be hanging out in one in Germany with German staff, but it served our purpose.
After dinner we were keen to walk around the corner and reacquaint myself with the actual Checkpoint Charlie hut located in the middle of the street. On the way we passed by a local bar displaying a very amusing sign outside.
When we arrived at the hut, now with the wire fencing and wall down and McDonalds (of course) with souvenir shops located immediately across the road, it was a strange but also very poignant time as we took the obligatory photos. I said to Pauline that when we get back to Australia, I should get out my photos from 1986 and compare the dramatic changes that we were now taking in.
The next day we wasted no time in heading out to walk as much of the city as we could, visiting first some Christmas Markets where I also observed these large pink pipes snaking high above and over the streets.
In checking them out I discovered that the water table in Berlin is shallow and so when they are undertaking building works throughout the city, they must tap into these pipes to take away the excess water from the site. We also noted these in Munich where they are coloured green and blue, but I was not able to establish what the different colours represent. Certainly, a talking point in the city for tourists though as I have not come across anything like that in other parts of Europe and not sure that it adds to the aesthetics other than being simply necessary.
From there we headed to the Topography of Terror (located on the site of the former Gestapo headquarters where parts of the wall still exist), the famous Brandenburg Gate at the entrance to the city built in 1791 as well as the nearby Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, then it was a taxi over to the Berlin Wall Memorial and East Side Gallery (display of conserved graffiti painted on a large length of another remaining section of the wall to celebrate its demise) and finishing up at the unbelievable Jewish Museum.
The Jewish Museum opened in 2001 and is the largest in Europe covering over 3500 square meters. Initial thoughts when we first entered was that it appeared to be all about the architect Daniel Libeskind and the concepts behind the very contemporary designed building but that turned out not to be the case as we headed deeper in with underground and adjoining sections seemingly going on forever and we then realised that we had not allowed enough time to take in the full extent of the exhibits on display covering the history of Jews in Germany from the Middle Ages to the present day – it is quite an amazing place to visit with areas in the museum that had only a crack in the ceilimg for light reflecting what it would have been like for so many Jews during those terrible days.
When we came out of the Museum it was very late in the day with darkness having descended and while it had ended up being an exhausting day it certainly was worth the effort and left you with indelible reflections on this terrible time in history and its impact on the populous throughout Europe and the World and not to be forgotten. This is a must do activity when visiting Berlin and you could easily spend a whole day there so allow yourself plenty of time to fully appreciate the exhibitions.
Following dinner, we headed back to the apartment, and I requested the concierge arrange a taxi for the morning to take us to the train station for the trip to Munich. My view for what we call “travel days” is to plan the logistics such that you have plenty of time to get to the train station or airport in case of unplanned issues and so I arranged what I considered was a reasonable pick-up time with the concierge. He just laughed at the time I had selected saying that it was far too early which then also got Pauline and Portia adding their thoughts into the mix.
Nevertheless, I stuck to my plan (although I did yield 15 minutes in the final pick-up time) and the next morning we arrived at the station only to find that hundreds of farm workers had arrived on various trains and were flooding out of the terminal to head to a point in the city to protest. The station was chaotic as they all came streaming out of the terminal and my only thought was “I wish I could have gone back to the apartment with pictures to show the concierge to support my argument last night”. However, with Pauline and Portia not in agreement with my approach on arrival times I thought better of it and instead went looking for a place for breakfast prior to the train arriving, not that what was on offer was anything to get excited about.
While our time in Berlin had been short it was certainly a city worth visiting and so different from many other European cities with their Old Towns. However, it was now off to Munich where we will catch up with more of our family party on our way to Austria for Christmas.
Join us as we discover what would have to be the best Christmas markets in Europe – until then.
Bruce & Pauline
When Wine Calls 
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