2023 in Germany (Berlin)
On July 11, 2023, after a stopover in Iceland, I took an afternoon flight from Keflavík (KEF) to Berlin (BER), Germany:
This made it my:
- 2nd time in Germany
- with a previous visit to Munich in 2014
- Germany was my 11th unique country
- 1st time in Berlin
- 1st time in former East Germany
- 1st time driving in Germany and in continental Europe
- driving an East German "Trabant" no less!
Basis
I've wanted to visit Berlin since I was very young for at least a few reasons:
- World War II and the Cold War fascinate me
- No shortage of historic sites that mark these important world events
- Soviet influence still lingers in parts of East Berlin
- Soviet war memorials still rise decades after the USSR collapsed in 1991
- Rammstein (an industrial rock band) comes from Berlin
- built my trip around this concert
In addition to all those related reasons:
- Giant pandas lived in the Berlin Zoo for icing on the cake
Arrival
I arrived at Berlin-Brandenburg (aka Willy Brandt) Airport (code: BER), a relatively new facility which opened in late 2020 (of all times) after several years of development hell. I read that the construction of airport was completed for several years but red tape stopped it from opening.
In the end, BER looked great and new. Of course, as with most European cities, BER had public transit connections direct from the terminal. Train announcements in German sounded almost entertaining and novel. Aside from the Internet, I hardly hear German in Canada, much less blaring from a loudspeaker!
For someone with my interests, I would spend 6 days in the city as Berlin had so much to offer! Even though I detest the average city due to the homogenization of cities thanks to globalism, I needed time to soak in all the historic places.
Quite honestly, even 6 days wasn't enough!
Visit
Most people can get through Berlin in a day. In fact, some people take a 2-3 hour train ride, both all the way from and back to, the nearest cruise port in Rostock. In a few hours, they can visit all the "must-sees":
- Berliner Mauer (Berlin Wall)
- the Cold War border between West and East Berlin
- while Berlin lay entirely within the borders of East Germany, an enclave of West Germany (West Berlin) existed, surrounded by a wall and other barriers
- Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate)
- the quintessential symbol of Berlin
- Checkpoint Charlie
- a Cold War border crossing between West and East Berlin
- Reichstag
- the German parliament that stood the test of different governments
- Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
- 2711 large concrete blocks (no significance to that number) on a city block that offer quiet contemplation
- Führerbunker
- the grounds on which Hitler officially died
All of those lie within walking distance to each other. So, one can visit them all in the span of a few hours. Still, there's always more to see that would require the use of public transit and many more hours of time. My itinerary went as follows:
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I visited the first three sites in the early morning since they were open-air, close to each other, as well as to avoid crowds:
- Checkpoint Charlie
- Brandenburg Gate
- Führerbunker (the site of)
- Hop-on, hop-off bus
- Potsdamer Platz
- transit hub
- Gendarmenmarkt
- concert house and cathedral
- Alexanderplatz
- public square with a world clock
- Karl-Marx-Allee
- East Berlin boulevard formerly known as Stalinallee
- East Side Gallery
- the side of the Berlin Wall with street art
- Lustgarten
- public park where people lie on the grass and philosophize
- Unter den Linden
- East Berlin main street
- Hauptbahnhof
- central train station
- Siegessäule
- victory column
- Kurfürstendamm
- West Berlin main street
- Kaufhaus des Westerns
- West Berlin downtown mall
- Currywurst
- curry + fries + sausage ("Berlin fast food")
- Potsdamer Platz
- Olympic Stadium
- a separate guided tour of the venue of the 1936 Olympic Games
- I would also visit later in the week for a concert
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- Treptower Park
- a park with a large Soviet war memorial and tower
- Trudelturm
- an apocalyptic cylindrical structure on the cover of a Rammstein album
- Museuminsel
- an island of museums, including
- Bode-Museum
- Altes Museum (old museum)
- Neues Museum (new museum)
- Deutsches Historisches Museum (German history museum)
- an island of museums, including
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- Soviet war memorial (near the Reichstag)
- Reichstag tour
- Hitler story bunker
- an old WWII bunker that now houses the story of the infamous ruler
- Stasi museum
- a museum about East German espionage
- DDR museum
- a museum about life in East Germany
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- Bike tour of northern Berlin
- several fragments of the wall
- some memorials about the tragedies of a divided city
- Dark Matter (art installation gallery) in the evening
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- Spree River cruise
- Driving a Trabant vehicle through the streets of Berlin
- Rammstein concert at Olympic Stadium!!!
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- Berlin Zoo to see the giant pandas
- East Side Gallery (in further detail)
- Berlin Wall museum
- Berlin Fernsehturm (TV tower)
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- Berlin Airport lounge
- got upgraded to business class!
- Brief stopover in Keflavik, Iceland
- Connecting flight to Toronto
Reflection
I loved every moment of the trip. I know that going back to Berlin might not have the same level of novelty that this trip would. In any case, I would still enjoy a re-visit to cover some other places I did not reach, such as some modern art museums and historic sites. Just like in my own city of Toronto, there's always something that a city like Berlin has to offer.
Honestly, I could spend another week in Berlin!
Tips
The supermarkets
- the baked goods (Backwaren)
- buy them the night before and enjoy a low-cost breakfast (under a Euro!)
- all baked goods are priced differently (by a few Euro cents) so each cashier has to identify them individually by memory or with a picture index
- the cashiers scan item barcodes FAST FAST FAST FAST
- self-checkouts don't exist for the reasons above
- alcohol is extremely cheap in supermarkets and consumable anywhere
The transit
- No fare gates with a complete honour system but:
- plain clothes ticket inspectors do appear on public transit
- not only should you have a ticket but you must validate it before going on board
- they don't make any exceptions for tourists
- Vehicles make a distinctive ear-worm of a chime before announcing the station
- Contrary to the stereotypes of German punctuality, trains often arrive late, so don't rely on them to get anywhere on time!
- Air conditioning might not exist even in summer on some vehicles
The cycling
- You can get fined for making a video while cycling (I did not but some others did)
The language
- 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 more beautiful day still)
- "Guten Tag" or "Hi"
Other things
- Some stations are not accessible or, even when they have elevators, they might not work