Wanderlust

"Ladies, don't touch me," a VIP tour of the German Parliament, being serenaded on the U-Bahn to 'Oh When the Saints Go Marching In' and other tales from Germany's capital. 

I think it's fairly safe to say that I've taken the whole 'lust-for-wandering' thing pretty seriously so far this year. North, south, east or west, Germany has beautiful and interesting towns and cities around every corner, just waiting to be discovered by little Miss Clarke and her chums. This week's adventure, the one, the only...Berlin.

 A visit to Berlin and all the wonders it holds becomes like a rite of passage when living in Germany. It absolutely has to be done in order to feel like you've done the whole 'German-thing' properly. Living on the outskirts of a capital city myself, I was keen to see how Germany's answer to a Hauptstadt would compare to my beloved London. All I can say is, it didn’t disappoint.

 Unfortunately enough, my camera chose this weekend to pack up and die on me, so I was restricted to a mere 27 photos that I could muster from a disposable camera purchased hastily en-route in Frankfurt station. I felt like someone from the 1990s, having to wind on my camera, wait ages for the flash to fire up and squint through the camera's peep hole every time I spotted a photo opportunity. Wie peinlich! And you can forget about trying to get panorama views. So the photos here may have been pinched from Hannah, Emma and Sarah, but hopefully my own ones will turn out ok once I eventually get them developed.

Though the journey up to Berlin lasted an exhaustingly long 6 hours, there were no delays and no being abandoned in a random town, so all in all a very successful trip. Well done, Deutsche Bahn, keep up the good work! Once we'd checked into the youth hostel, there was just enough time for a beer in the bar before heading up to Bedfordshire, ready to face some hard-core sightseeing on Friday.

So Friday, 9 am, out we went for a jam-packed day of sight seeing. First pit-stop, breakfast, natch, at the Back Factory which easily sells the best chocolate croissants my mouth has ever tasted. Then onwards into the centre of Berlin for a trip to the DDR Museum; a museum dedicated to, you guessed it, life in the German Democratic Republic before the wall came down. Everything you can think of to do with East Germany, from the cars they drove, to the music they listened to, to the flats they lived in, even to the prison cells that inmates had to endure is documented inside this museum. Normally when you go to museums, you are looking at artefacts that have been preserved for hundreds of years, giving you a peep into a completely different world. It’s weird to think, however, that the separation of East and West Germany and the wall that so harshly divided them for so long only really happened just outside my lifetime. So, once we’d finished marveling at the simplicity of the East German Trabi cars, it was off down a stretch of the main road called Unter den Linden which eventually leads to the Brandenburg Gate. It was a bit of a shame, as the vast majority of this stretch of road was all under construction, but I would imagine it would look very impressive once all the cranes and diggers have buggered off! So next was the Brandenburg Gate, an instantly recognisable image of Germany’s capital, where we spent 20 minutes having our picture taken with some slightly over-friendly men dressed up as soldiers. Only in Germany!

Posing at the Brandenberger Tor

Berliner Dom [Berlin Cathedral] - a truly beautiful building

Next was a walk through to the political side of the capital, as we were lucky enough to have what I keep telling everyone was a VIP tour of the German Parliament buildings. A friend at school very kindly arranged for us to have a friend of hers take us round. Before that, however, was the task of getting into the Paul-Löbe Haus, the German answer to Portcullis House. This wasn’t your ordinary tour, I think, as we were taken all over the buildings, from the dome in the Reichstag, giving an amazing view across the city, to the underground garage and passageways that connect the different political buildings to one another. I felt like we were on some kind of secret mission, walking through the German MPs’ car park. All we needed was for our underground quest to be set to the James Bond theme tune and we’d have been good to go!! I half expected to see good old Angela Merkel wandering down the German halls of power. Definitely potential for a new best friend, there! 

Reichstag

Inside the dome of the Reichstag

One thing that struck me about the Reichstag, apart from its impressive architecture and Bondesque underground passageways was a section on one of the lower ground floors that dedicates a brick to every democratically elected MP in Germany since 1918. (That's a lot of bricks!) Though it looks somewhat like the rows upon rows of wand boxes one might find in Ollivander's, the meaning behind the Geschenk is rather more sombre. Of course you will find Angela Merkel's brick, Konrad Ardenauer's brick, Willi Brandt's brick, but there is also one dedicated to Adolf Hitler which looks entirely like the rest of them. It seemed slightly incongruous to find a symbol celebrating democracy bearing the name of the man who systematically destroyed the very concept, brick by brick! 

Each brick is dedicated to a democratically elected German MP

Once we were back out in the sunshine, we began the deceptively long walk down to the Siegessäule, a giant column commemorating Prussian victory in the 1800s. Once we had oggled at that, it was time to turn our attention to food - lots of food! I think we definitely deserved it! 

We took Saturday at a slightly slower pace, visiting the East Side Gallery in the morning. The East Side Gallery is a huge stretch of the Berlin Wall that has been left standing, ready and waiting for tourists and artists alike to leave their names, drawings or personal messages on the wall for other people to read. Similarly to how I felt in the DDR museum, it was strange to reflect that it really wasn't that long ago that East and West Berlin were essentially two entirely different countries. Imagine if the Wall had not come down. What would life be like then? Would tourists still flock to the Wall in their thousands, only slightly more cautious, in fear of being shot at by the Soviets? Or would we leave it well alone, leaving East Germany to become like a mini North Korea; retreating gradually further and further in on itself, with us on the other side, fearful of what was going on behind the Wall? As with many other things this year, reflecting on this helped me put a lot of things into perspective. Some people argue that there is too much migration in and around Europe these days. Personally, seeing the wall made me grateful that people can move around and set up a life for themselves wherever they choose - I'm a prime example! We live in a society of opportunity, where people are allowed the chance to better themselves.  Building metaphorical and literal walls around yourself and trying to keep other people out is definitely not the answer. 

"We are one people."

"There are many walls to break down."

"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future." - J.R.R. Tolkein

So after wandering along the side of the Wall for a good while, we headed back into the centre of Berlin and came across the Ampelmann shop. For anyone who is frowning at the screen round about now, wondering what the bloomin' heck I'm babbling on about, one good thing that did come of of East Berlin was its traffic light man. In England, and in most parts of West Germany, you get the bog-standard, no-necked, awkward looking man in the traffic lights, telling  you when and when not to cross the road. Not in East Germany. This one is much more friendly looking; slightly rounded at the edges (may have consumed too many pastries) and even wears a hat!! The Ampelmann has become somewhat of an icon of East Berlin, with an entire shop dedicated to his merchandise - we got very excited when we spotted it!

Ampelmann!

After scoffing on some delicious waffles over lunch, we headed to the Berliner Zoo; embracing our inner 6 year olds and cooing in delight at all the animals. Maybe it's just my perception, but I'm pretty sure the Germans aren't quite as big on the whole 'elf 'n' safety' thing as we are back at home. An inner city zoo in London, for example, would take a ferocious, man-eating carnivore such as a lion and separate you from it by at least, oh, I don't know an eight feet high fence, potentially a glass wall and five hundred signs screaming 'DO NOT GO NEAR THE ANIMALS OR ELSE YOU SHALL DIE!' Not in Germany. I'm fairly certain that if your arms were long enough, the lion was probably within touching distance. Well, I guess if you're silly enough to poke your fingers through the bar, you probably deserve to lose them. 

See what I mean?!

After one final delicious meal, followed by a viewing of Les Mis (easily one of the best films I've seen,) it was time to go back to the hostel, pack up our stuff and head home the following morning. Words cannot express how tired I was on the train journey home, but it was a weekend I will never forget and was without a doubt worth every droopy-eyed moment I had in school on Monday. 

Liebe Grüße 

Emily