Berlin brothers

Berlin, Germany

The past few days in Berlin have been brilliant. Despite it being bitterly cold at times, having my brother Chris in tow has been great, making everything more enjoyable and given me a fresh perspective towards this trip. 

He's in his first few months working as a doctor in Lincoln, and the hours and stress have taken their toll a bit, so he was equally as pleased to be out here for a break. Monday therefore started with a lie in, for him anyway, before heading off to be proper touristy and see the main sights. We stopped first at the Brandenburg gate - an icon of Germany due to its prominence through WWII and the Cold War, followed by a walk through the park past the Reichstag - the German parliament, down through the park to the Viktoria statue and a bus ride down to the other end of town via 'Checkpoint Charlie', before getting off by the cathedral to look in the DDR museum which told the story of life in East Germany before the Berlin Wall fell. Phew. With Chris finishing looking round way before me, I realised I sometimes spend a bit too long looking at everything in these places without necessarily taking it all in. He has got a short attention span mind.

Brandenburg Gate

After, a stroll to the Alexanderplatz area, a Currywurst and chips (classic Berlin fast food) for lunch then a bus ride back across town for our booking to go up in the Reichstag dome. This glass and steel dome hovers over the main debating room of the German parliament, and is a real icon of the city. It, along with the parliament was burnt down, slightly suspiciously, just as Hitler entered power and was only fully rebuilt in the nineties after the two Germanys became one. It's a stunning building, and the dome above had great panoramic views over the city, and some info on the German government today. To round the evening off, we went for my first pizza in three months, accompanied by a decent German wheat beer. Proper.

The Reichstag - German parliament 

Tuesday was Berlin Wall day. Chris doesn't cycle much, but I somehow managed to persuade him to join me in hiring a bike and following part of the route where the wall used to stand. It was marked right through the city by a line of bricks in the road, and in a few special places the original wall still stands, as well as various info and photo points showing then and now. One piece in particular opened our eyes - they had restored a hundred meter section to exactly how it was in that era, comprising a double concrete wall with barbed wire and access track between, and watch towers looming over. It would have been a pretty grim time to be a German. Further along we managed to track down an unrelated sight - that of where Hitler's underground wartime bunker was located. It's now completely filled in and exists as a car park, but the information by it showed exactly where everything was. It was here that he committed suicide, then was burnt outside by soldiers. We kept cycling after this until dark, ending up at the east side gallery - an original section of the wall, nearly a mile long which various artists and painted muras, mostly based around peace, the wars and the city.

Berlin Wall section

It was my last night, and nearly the end of Chris's flying visit already, so we went out to a German restaurant for tea. He had a bad stomach so kept it simple with steak, I went proper German and had rolled beef and bacon, with red cabbage and potatoes, followed by Apple strudel. An excellent final meal. Chris's stomach soon improved, so we found a traditional pub to try a local brew, then for the true German experience, drank out of one litre glasses back at the hostel.

The final day was to be a bit on the short side because we both had flights later on, so we headed to Berlin Olympic stadium. This was another Hitler idea - to host the Olympics in 1936 and show what a great country they were (but hide all the racism and murders). After falling to rack and ruin post-war, it was gutted and rebuilt for the 2006 football World Cup. With Chris being a big football fan, we paid to go in and have a look about. The grandeur of it all was pretty impressive, though it wasn't as stunning as some of the other Olympic parks I've visited. 

After this it was time for both of us to be on our way to the airport, which was a bit drama filled but that's a story for next time...

1936 Berlin Olympic stadium

East side gallery

The last supper... In Germany