It didn’t take me long to get in the spirit of Berlin, and of Germany – within three hours of our arrival, I’d already eaten a schnitzel. But that was not before a somewhat terrifying cab ride from the main train station in Berlin, which, by the way, is massive, has four levels and numerous shops. Our taxi driver insisted on trying to strike up conversation in a loud, outrageous voice. All this was fine, but he didn’t speak a syllable of English. The only information we were able to convey was where our hotel was located, although he took us there via what seemed to be Berlin’s red light district, and that we were married and on our honeymoon. It was good fun.
The restaurant where I devoured the aforementioned schnitzel was in a posh hotel, but prices were reasonable, the service was excellent and friendly, and the food was very good. They even insisted on giving us free cucumber soup, which was served cold. I avoided a Rimmer moment.
Next morning we were up, and had a clear plan for the day. On the other side of Berlin from where we were staying, which we later found out was very close to the city centre of the old West Berlin, is the Museum Island, which is a small portion of land surrounded by canals and rivers, on which is located five museums. More importantly, nearby at the corresponding train station, was Rafferty’s Irish Pub. Priorities.
The first museum we went into was the Art Museum, which contained mostly German art from the 18th and 19th Century. One of the great things about Berlin is they sell you a three day pass for about 20 Euro, and this enables you entry into about 30 different museums located all across Berlin. During our two full days in Berlin, these came in very handy indeed.
Anyone who knows me well knows I am not much of an art buff, but Rose is and I was happy to accompany her, always, it seemed, one or two pictures ahead of her. Most of the art in this museum was of a similar theme; there were a lot of landscapes and portraits, and also a lot of Romanesque sculpture. It also encompassed three large floors, and took about 2 and a half hours to get around, so after that we were quite ready for a sit and a cool drink.
Unfortunately, we only really had time for the Pergammon Museum after that. This is the Ancient History museum, or if you wanted to be more blunt (and possibly more offensive to Germans); the stuff the Germans stole from Egypt and Greece. There are entire reconstructions of ancient Greek and Egyptian city walls included in massive rooms. In fact, the Germans don’t really do small museums.
The sheer volume of artefacts stored in the Pergammon Museum is pretty overwhelming, and nearly all of them date before the time of Christ. Another two and half hours and it was time to get back to West Berlin and have some dinner.
A little like Czech or Polish food, there really isn’t anything too light on a German food menu, and this is not ideal for someone like Rose who isn’t a big eater, and likes to have plenty of vegetables on her plate. After trying the sauerkraut in Prague, she decided she didn’t like it, while much to our surprise, I didn’t mind it.
We searched in vain for what seemed to be an hour for an Irish Pub that was advertised in the main business district around our hotel, only to eventually find it and discover that their food menu was more snack oriented. So we went next door into a Bavarian place. I tried to order a litre of beer, because I was in Germany and wanted to drink out of one of those huge steins, but they brought me back a litre of shandy (beer mixed with lemonade), and then made me pay for it. Not the best end to the day.
The next morning we decided to get on the tour bus, as you could get on and off all day, and we had some museums marked that we didn’t have to pay to enter with our free pass. First stop was a Potzdamer Platz, which was No Man’s Land when the Berlin Wall was up. Our tour guide on the bus gives information in both German and English, but forgets to pause between speaking languages, leaving the passengers little time to catch up. He explains about the Platz, and that all the bits of the “Wall” that have been sold would, if put together, make up about three walls.
Near the Platz is the Musical Instrument Museum. This is a fun place, and a school group is being toured through with an expert from the museum playing different instruments as he goes. There are some incredibly complicated and involved organs and keyboards, and more wind instruments that you can shake a clarinet at.
We pass a giant Lego giraffe on the way back to the Platz, and a group of women campaigning for equal pay. They try to give Rose some paraphernalia until they realise she isn’t German. Maybe it was the Dunlop Volleys that gave her away.
Next stop is Checkpoint Charlie. This is a pretty over the top place, and fake soldiers man the place where one could travel from East to West and vice versa when the wall stood. There are large chunks of the wall in various places around here, some hanging on the front of buildings.
From here we walk to the Jewish Museum. Housed under an older building, the Jewish Museum is actually a very modern piece of architecture centred on three narrow hallways called the Axis of Continuity, the Axis of Exile, and the Axis of the Holocaust.
Between different segments of the building are intended voids, and the artistic intention of the building is hard to ignore. At the end of the hallway for the Axis of the Holocaust is a massive, empty room several stories high, devoid of heating and almost devoid of natural light.
Upstairs is the actual museum, but trying to follow a continuity of Jewish history is a little like trying to find a sequential narrative in Pulp Fiction. Needless to say, the events of World War II and the deeds of the Nazis left a massive hole in German Jewish history that is only being started to fill as we speak.
Symbolically, just past the Gate on the eastern side is the Kennedy Museum. It is a private museum so we had to pay, but as far as I was concerned, it was worth it. It is a small yet significant collection of Kennedy items and photographs, and it gave me the opportunity to fill in Rose on the Kennedys while walking her around. My definition of a productive afternoon.
We got back on the bus for the last time and went past the Reichstag, where the parliament of the German Republic sits once more, and also the offices of the Chancellor and the residence of the President. We were also shown a cobblestone line through Berlin which indicates the former location of the Berlin Wall.
Back in West Berlin, we stopped by a German pub and drank some genuine German beer, Rose the regular variety, and me the dark variety, which tasted and drank very similar to stout. Rose had some Roast Pork which she enjoyed, although she didn’t touch her red cabbage, while I had some German Sausages, with sauerkraut.
While dining, Rose remarked that the history in Berlin was “in your face”, and it was hard to avoid. I love recent world history, so Berlin was somewhere I wanted to go from the outset, but it seemed Rose had been convinced by Berlin of its significance. I could have easily spent another day going out to the town hall where Kennedy Platz is located, where Kennedy gave his famous speech where he avowed himself either a citizen of Berlin or a donut, depending on your interpretation of German grammar and expression. You could visit numerous other museums with a three day pass, exploring ancient art, modern art, the history of the Berlin Wall, or many other things.
So that is why I say that three nights, and two full days, is simply not enough time in Berlin. It demands a deeper study. I will return to Istanbul, but only because I am, at some stage, going back to Gallipoli. I’m not done there; I’m not finished. But I know I’ll be back in Berlin one day, because it is required. So much to do, so little time.
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