After a sound night's sleep in a ridiculously large bed it was time to don the thermals and see what Berlin had to offer. We knew we were close to the infamous Checkpoint Charlie (the hotel name gave it away) but we didn't really know quite how close. As we set off in search of breakfast we got no more than 200 yards down the road before finding ourselves at site of the former wall crossing. It would be easy to underwhelmed with what physically stands in front of you, a small wooden structure with two actors outside posing for tourist photos in US and Russian military uniforms and what appear to be the original wooden signs warning you that you are leaving/entering the American sector of Berlin along with a very crowded and not very enticing museum are what awaits the hoards of people that flock to this "attraction". It needs however, a deeper thought, this site stands for more than it could ever be visually, people lost their lives trying to cross what is now just a street, it's the only place in history that American and Russian tanks have ever leveled their weapons at each other in anger and come within minutes of surely changing the shape of history, it has made influences in pop culture (the first time I heard the words Checkpoint Charlie I was about 13 and they were being sung by Elvis Costello) and it was the most notorious of crossing points on the most famous divide of people, culture, wealth and politics in the 20th century. As we sat in a small self service cafe eating breakfast and drinking coffee I noticed that within 50 yards of the checkpoint there is a Domino's pizza, a Starbucks and a McDonalds...it appears the Americans won the encounter after all.
After the hearty and if I'm honest, cheap, breakfast we walked our way along Friedrichstrasse, which runs the length of the centre of Berlin and forms the north/south axis of the cross roads that gives access to most things of importance or interest to visitors with Checkpoint at the southern end and Friedrich train station at the other, the east/west axis will take you from the Berlin Victory column made to celebrate victory in Prussia, past the Reischtag building, across Museum Island (a world heritage site) and over to Alexanderplatz and the TV tower.
Once we had walked up as far as the Brandenburg gate it hit me that all the history we were about to see is real, that might sound stupid but its not ancient history, its not mythical, it is stuff you learned about at school and can watch on grainy black and white film, I've seen the footage, I know that Nazis gathered around these landmarks to hail their leader, it is modern history in it's truest form and it was instantly striking. We stood gazing at the Reichstag building taking in it's might and importance whilst realising that it was open to visitors, we knew it was possible to visit but that you had to book in advance however when I had tried to book before we arrived in Germany the website had stated it was closed during the time we were there, it clearly was not. We queued up for around 10 minutes only to be told we need to queue in a different line on the other side of the road....and looking at that line it would be more that 10 minutes....quite a bit more, so we decided to head back there in the morning and try and be at the front of the queue.
From the Reichstag building we headed back to the crossroads, on our way we spotted one of the very helpful blue sign posts that point the way to various tourist sights, it brought to our attention the existence of the Holocaust memorial that was a short walk away. We chose not to take the tour which appeared to head underground but instead spent some time wandering the undulating paths that led between the 2711 oversized concrete blocks that commemorate the murdered Jews of Europe. After the short detour we continued on the mission of finding Alexanderplatz, after having seen the recent spooks movie and wanting to emulate Harry Pierce I desperately wanted to stand on the north west and look out for former cold war spies, my desire was not shared but we headed that way anyway guided at this time only by the TV tower, Germany's tallest building and a landmark that is visible throughout the city. on our way we stumbled across the French cathedral at the Gendarmenmarkt square, a place we would later visit for the Christmas market. The cathedral boasted a walkway around the domed roof and both of us, eager to get a better view of the city opted to go in. The entrance fee was nominal but the flight of stairs to the top was not, it was far from arduous but it made the knee strain a little, on the way up the spiral staircase you were greeted by some impressive artistic photographs and the sense of something large looming at the top, the structure of the chimes hanging there looking mare like some form of space ship that the bells of a church. The view from the top was spectacular and well worth the climb.
We trekked onward towards the TV tower and Alexanderplatz and found ourselves on "Museum Island", a section of land caught between the river Spree and a canal, this area is a World heritage site, it contains the Nation art history museum, the Berlin history museum and the Berliner Dom or cathedral. This was the busiest I had seen the city so far, nowhere near as crowded as tourist sights in, say, London but still much busier than the quietness we'd encountered up until now. We made the decision to keep on our church theme, both readers of the 2500 miles blog will know how much I appreciate a nice church, so the Dom was next on the list. the entrance fee was around 12EUR and a couple more for an audio guide, I hadn't opted for one this time and didn't really miss it. The cathedral itself is very grand and ornate and definitely worth a visit, the highlights are the walkway around the dome, similar to the French cathedral only higher and bigger but be warned the steps are plentyful, steep and narrow at times, certainly not for the faint hearted and the tombs under the building which are full of carved wooden and cast lead caskets of royalty, nobility and dignities.
After the Dom we continued just up the road to Alexanderplatz where we were pleasantly surprised to find a Christmas market in full swing, the stroll around the stalls perusing the wares and conversing with vendors was very pleasant but I was growing hungry, not an unusual occurrence. It was time to chalk up one of my must-do experiences, try a Currywurst. A simple conception, a Bratwurst sausage chopped up and served covered in a curry spiced ketchup with fries. I can see why to some it may not sound or be appealing but I wanted to try one. I liked it and was watched with disgust as I merrily stowed it away.
After lunch we headed back to the German history museum, complete with audio guide this time and again for a reasonable price. It is a very impressive place and one that comes highly recommended, it satisfied my need for cold war and world wars knowledge.
A whole day on our feet and wandering around museums and churches meant it was time to retire to the hotel for a shower and time to look at map to piece together a plan for the morning.
After freshening up we headed out to find some food, we ended up at the Christmas market in the Gendarmenmarkt square where we had visited the French cathedral earlier, to find that there is a slightly smaller but almost identical German cathedral at the opposite side of the square. The Christmas market has the reputation of being the best in Berlin and it doesn't disappoint, there are many stalls selling food and drink produce, local trinkets and clothing items. They don't mess about here, they go as far as constructing proper pubs and restaurants on the market site and a small indoor shopping arcade. We decided against finding a restaurant to eat in and settled on grazing upon the deliciously unhealthy food being touted at the Christmas market, we sampled some local cheese, melted and spread on homemade bread with chopped bacon, some deep fried cheese doughballs, some candied nuts and topping the list a crusty bread roll stuffed with Bavarian ham and mustard.....one of the simplest but nicest creations ever. Drinks were good too, you had to leave a 3EUR deposit on your glass of beer or mug of mulled wine in the case of the more discerning but the glasses came embossed with the name of the market and the year so we chose it keep ours. Possibly the highlight of the evening (personally the ham roll wins) was the entertainment, a 5 piece acapella male harmony group called.....wait for it.....A.K.Pella. Genius. They set about entertaining the crowd from a small stage in the middle of the market with a mixture of English and German language songs ranging from "In the jungle" to "Walking in a winter wonderland". The pretty one was taken by the act, I however was not, their blue jeans and suit jackets, joshing with each other in that oh so fake on stage way and their ever-so-slightly of key routine was a bit too cringe-worthy for me, they were like a poorly executed, German version of the Backstreet boys and I don't know if there is such a thing as "Germany's got talent" but if there is then these guys would have been a shoe in.
We watched the set until its end.....and then the clichéd encore routine.....and then the returning to the stage for another bow routine and then we left. Time for bed.
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