2023 in Germany (Berlin)

after a 3-day stopover in Iceland, it came time for a flight from Keflavík (KEF) to Berlin (BER), Germany on July 11 (my first time going to Berlin):

why Berlin?

wanted to go to Berlin since my childhood and school days for:

• its World War II and the Cold War tales
  • more than enough hubs to get a "3D" feel for these shaky times
• its Soviet background still lingers in East Berlin
  • Soviet war markers still rise long after the USSR fell in 1991
  • buildings will look "Soviet"
  • a street still bears the name of "Karl-Marx-Allee" to this day
• Rammstein (an industrial rock band) comes from Berlin
  • built my trip around this band's show at Olympic Stadium, which housed the 1936 Olympics

also:

• 🐼 "big bear cats" lived at the Berlin Zoo

incoming

arrived at the Berlin-Brandenburg (aka Willy Brandt) Airport (code: BER) on the afternoon of July 11, after a flight to keep in mind forever:

• kind of a new sky ship harbour that opened in late 2020 (of all times) after many years of "development hell"
• building was already done by 2012
• fire handling setbacks stopped this flying hub from opening for 8 years
• so, even though this hub "broke ground" in 2006 it still looked new!
• in the end, BER looked roomy and worked well:
  • wide hallways gave everyone lots of wiggle room
  • sounds were kept low with a feeling of stillness
  • straightforward "public transit" links to the downtown

must-sees

most can get through Berlin in a day, even coming from a ship hours away, merely to see:

• Berliner Mauer (Berlin Wall)
  • the Cold War line between West and East Berlin
  • while Berlin lay wholly within East Germany, a bit of West Germany was carved out to make West Berlin, rounded up by a wall and other traps
• Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate)
  • the token of Berlin, the must-see of must-sees
• Checkpoint Charlie
  • a Cold War crossing between West and East Berlin
• Reichstag
  • the German building that has housed many "kinds of thought"
• Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
  • 2,711 gray stone blocks that offer still thought
    • the "2,711" has sadly no true meaning
• Führerbunker
  • the grounds in which Hitler died (now a row of housing)

all of those lie not far from each other - by foot and without fees!

deeper dive

had the following for a more fulfilling trip to Berlin:

day 1 (2023-07-12)

saw the first three sights in the early morning since they were "open-air", close to each other (also came long before the "crowds"):

• Checkpoint Charlie
• Brandenburg Gate
• Führerbunker (the site of)
• Hop-on, hop-off bus
  • Potsdamer Platz
    • a common outdoor meeting hub
  • Gendarmenmarkt
    • "men-at-arms market"
  • Alexanderplatz
    • another common outdoor meeting hub with a "world clock"
  • Karl-Marx-Allee
    • East Berlin street once known as "Stalinallee" (after Stalin)
  • East Side Gallery
    • the side of the Berlin Wall with drawings
      • some high end, some low end (and ugly)!
  • Lustgarten
    • a park for lying on the grass and thinking things through
      • Lust means closer to wholesome "fun" than "lust" in German
  • Unter den Linden
    • East Berlin's main drag
  • Hauptbahnhof
    • the "Grand Central Station" of Berlin
  • Siegessäule
    • a "winning marker" from 1873
    • marks the time the Prussian Germans beat Denmark in a war
  • Kurfürstendamm
    • West Berlin's main shopping hub
  • Kaufhaus des Westerns
    • West Berlin's building of shops
  • Currywurst
    • Berlin's best fast food of curry + fried "earth-apples" + sausage
• (a break from all the sightseeing)
• Olympic Stadium
  • late afternoon look at where the 1936 Olympic Games happened
    • (would later come here for a Rammstein show!)

day 2 (2023-07-13)

• Treptower Park
  • large Soviet war markers!
    • worth the hour-long S-Bahn ride from downtown
• Trudelturm
  • a doomsday-like roundhouse building on Rammstein's "Zeit"
• Museuminsel
  • the "museum island" which had the:
    • Bode-Museum
    • Altes Museum ("old museum")
    • Neues Museum ("new museum")
    • Deutsches Historisches Museum ("German history museum")

day 3 (2023-07-14)

• Soviet war memorial (near the Reichstag)
• Reichstag tour
• Hitler story bunker
  • an old WWII bunker that now houses things about that dead man
• Stasi museum
  • about East German spying (on their own East Germans)
• DDR museum
  • about life in the DDR (East Germany)

day 4 (2023-07-15)

• "two-wheeling" in northern Berlin
  • along what is left of the Berlin Wall
  • the sadness of a Berlin split into two
• rest in the afternoon as it reached 36 C (96 F)
• Dark Matter
  • a craftwork show of "shapes + shadows + sounds" in the evening

day 5 (2023-07-16)

• a short sailing on the Spree River
• driving a Trabant through the streets of Berlin
• 🔥 Rammstein show at Olympic Stadium 🏟️

day 6 (2023-07-17)

• Berlin Zoo to see the big bear cats 🐼
• East Side Gallery
• Berlin Wall Museum
  • kind of a "trap" if you're not into the timeframe
• Berlin Fernsehturm (TV tower)
  • last big meal at a restaurant with some Schnitzel and beer

day 7 (2023-07-18)

• Berlin Airport lounge
  • upped to "business class" on Icelandair
• short stop in Keflavik, Iceland
  • got my most-liked vodka: Eldurís
• flight back home to Toronto

looking back

going back to Berlin will never have the same height of this trip:

• the first time look at all the spots haunted by the "old fights" and Soviet background
• the Rammstein show at likely the best spot (Olympic Stadium)
  • likely never to see a show like this again in Berlin

nevertheless, Berlin will always have something new to give!

some tips

the shops

• the food shops with its baked goods (Backwaren)
  • buying them the night before for a cheap, but good, breakfast
• the workers there scan all the things FAST FAST FAST (SCHNELL SCHNELL SCHNELL)
• no self-checkouts (in 2023 at least) make lines long
• beer and other "fun" drinks are cheap, but good (50 Euro cents for a tall one)

the rides

• no fare gates at the S-Bahn + U-Bahn + Haltestelle stops:
  • "plain clothes inspectors" do show up from time to time so buy the fare!
  • not only should you have a fare slip, but you must also "validate" it before going on board
  • they don't care if you're "new in town"
• the S-Bahn and U-Bahn don't follow the "stereotypical" way of German "on-time-ness"
  • they often show up late, so don't trust them to be on time
• sometimes riding the underground (or overground) will feel hot in the summer, as they still have older wagons

the words

• In Berlin, they don't say
  • "Guten Tag" or "Hi"
    • instead they say: "Hallooooooo"
  • "Auf widersehen" or even "bis später"
    • instead they say: "einen Schöner Tag noch!" (a sweller day still!)
• they still say
  • "Danke"
  • "mit Karte bitte"
    • ("with credit card, please")