Restless? Maybe. Maybe not. But in Europe, you just can't sit at home for long... before packing for yet another journey.
Our tickets to yet another experience of our lives. =)
Europe's so connected, it's hard not to love the transport system. And so... we're off on another train journey to the once divided, now reunified capital of Germany :)
Thought it's nice to include a snapshot taken from within the comforts of our train cabin... Last stop before we exit Poland to enter Germany. 2 more chops in the passport! Whee! :)
Berlin HBF. :) Have I mentioned how I love the florists in Europe? Tulips by the dozens. Colors galore.
We stopped here a moment just to gasp at the place we came to conquer. (But of cuz... we're only going to see a small small part of this big big city.)
Directions to this hostel was pretty straightforward. Found it w/o much trouble, much to our relief. Looks almost posh, doesn't it? hehe well 1. the hostel occupies only the ground floor corner... 2. this hostel ach included in its description: "we welcome all gays and lesbians." hm throws doubt as to whether non-les/gays are welcomed. Anyhow, this is where we stayed for 2 nights without any incident :) Oh.. but the owner asked if KL's the capital of Singapore... sigh we're honoured.. but no... not us...
No beds for a change! I like this arrangement! No problems of beds creaking when you return late or leave early. :) Cool and cosy. And clean cuz only house slippers allowed.
This was just the view outside our hostel. It's one of my favourite sights in Europe...
So we wanted to first head out to find Mauermuseum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie.. and kinda overshot on the metro cuz it's a lil complicated to navigate at first... After getting used to things, we find that ach it's qte straightforward... there's the u-bahn and the s-bahn. s-bahn are main stations while u-bahn is more extensive and underground. And it's not fully connected yet cuz barely 17 years ago, Berlin was East Berlin and West Berlin with separate transport systems... They're still trying to link it up. U-bahn takes a lil more time. :) Connecting a city... Years ago, people can't even imagine getting to the other side...
But I digress... we overshot. So we alighted at this station to switch lines. :) And this was what we saw. After all, Berlin's supposed to mean swampy area or sth like that - so says our tour guide. (Hehe yep we're backpackers... we'll explain the tour guide bit in e next entry. =P)
Before long, the glorious weather gave way and it actually began to drizzle... twin & I wisely decided to backtrack to get an umbrella... Yeah. then it started to pour... and the winds started to blow very hard...
And our umbrella started to show signs of weaknesses... We swear it's new. And it's kinda cheap. Er besides the point... but sheesh, it got twisted... irreversibly. (It's not abt being cheapo, my dears... many other umbrellas on e streets were twisted and spoilt too... heh the winds are unfriendly. Seriously!)
Commercialization again. Checkpoint, Chat point...
Topography of Terror. This is where you can find the last preserved bits of the Berlin Wall. Cuz with the coming down of the wall, people with chisels and hammers just cannot be stopped. Everybody wants a piece of history in their homes. Tourists are no different I guess... judging from the number of alledged pieces of Berlin Walls sold in souvenir shops.
It was to be a brief visit cuz this open-air exhibition housed @ e former Gestapo quarters closes @ dusk... and dusk is especially early in Winter...
It took Germany quite some time to decide to come to terms with history... that includes their tinge of darkness... Erasing the past and all unpleasant memories... a rather human thing to do. And after all, that's what we are. Looking at the thriving tourism capitalizing on the recent shocking histories... I guess we're moving on.
Judges (2 from each Allied country) for the Nuremburg trials, trying the war criminals and organizations from World War II.
Twin brought up sth interesting... and that's - the Russians are elusive. Both Russian judges had (life unknown) after the trial. Wonder what became of them...
Topography of Terror @ dusk... Time to leave... We came back here again though... to watch the snapshots of history with audioguides. But that'd be another entry..
For now, we move on to Checkpoint Charlie. On this side, you see a picture of the Russian soldier. The sign says "You are leaving the American Sector."
On the other side, the picture is of an Allies soldier. The sign reads "You are entering the American Sector..."
We're skipping all e food cuz that got sufficiently covered in e previous entry.. I think readers are satisfied... cuz I had more people telling me to start exercising.. haha Noted... my dears.
So the dark dark picture above... is of us standing outside Haus am Checkpoint Charlie, the museum that started out as 1 1/2 rm @ the Checkpoint C... where the founder - Rainer Hildebrandt maintained this space w records of successful escapades over the Berlin Wall.
Some of the quotes...
"We're closing Berlin off. We're going to roll out barbed wire and the Western allies are going to stand there like dumb sheep."
- which was really what happened when one day, the Soviets decided to roll barbed wire around the borders and gauge reaction from the allies. They built the wall when they got no active resistance...
"The wall not only embodies the split in Europe but in the entire world."
"Walls aren't built for eternity."
It's not difficult to guess which side said what. But this wall was one of the saddest, yet strength evoking pieces left from the war and history. So many couples, family, friends separated. Nearly 200 people died from trying to escape to the other side of the wall (East to West). They tried tunnels, hot air balloons, car boots, luggages... and just blindly running over, across the death strip of mines and sand traps... Others forged travel papers.
Many succeeded.
Many others failed.
Some received help.
Others didn't.
The GDR guards had a duty. Most were unwilling to hurt their comrades. Their job... is almost painful.
Well anyway, we spent some 3 hours in the museum. It was quite exhausting absorbing story after story. But it gives as good a sense as it gets - of the situation then. We'll never truly understand the desperation and anxiety... but the smiles from the photos of lovers reuniting after having successfully braved the wall... genuinely priceless.
Yeah. This was in the Fernsehturm @ AlexanderPlatz. It's the TV tower with the debatable architectural merits. I think it's just tall - like many other TV towers. In any case, we didn't feel like we'd like to pay to take an elevator... so this bear is all you get. You see this a lot in Berlin... I think it's a promotional thing.. but I find it slightly... unpleasing to the eye.
But that's just me. If you like more of it... please visit
http://www.galenfrysinger.com/berlin_street_bears.htm
The Fernsehturm by night.
With this, we end our day.
Hm yeah... sounding a lil tired. Not because we didn't enjoy Berlin. We sure as hell did, but.. yeah lots of readings to do now...
So many trips planned ahead...
Krakow, Romania...
Italy, UK, Czech for me...
London, Paris & duno where else for twin...
Maybe Slovakia even - at the end...
Time to do readings to make sure credits get transferred. :)
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