Both sides of the wall - Berlin

Few weeks ago, I had a chance to go to Berlin again for several days. Actual reason of the trip was DPWN's (Deutsche Post World Network) Thinker's Club Annual Meeting. Together with some colleagues, we were to represent DHL IT Services Europe. So I took one day off, in addition to the public holiday, to go to Berlin earlier and do some sightseeing. Last year I stayed there for a week, but mostly working.

Good friend of mine, Dastan, hosted me for few days and took around the city for some views. I get to see the educational institutions where he's doing some administrative tasks successfully. We had a lot to talk to, to remember old good days, to catch up. I also had a chance to meet fellow citizens working and studying there. One of our late night chats ended up with a long debate regarding Germans' attitude towards the minority groups in Germany. :)


What makes Berlin stand out among other European major cities is its rich recent history. This city was the central spot of World War II and Cold War. And for few decades, Berlin had been separated into 2 separate parts, and belonging to 2 different countries and opposite regimes, with that famous Berlin Wall. Thus, it has lots of fresh stories to tell and still visible footprints of recent past. Wars had almost torn the city down. Nothing much historical is left.

Nowadays, however, Berlin is different. It is kinda more peaceful and silent after all those years. As if it is still recovering from the painful past years. Eastern part of the city with its Soviet-style block apartments still reminds a lot about DDR(GDR), there are a lot of memorials around the city built for those who suffered from Nazi and Communist regimes. There's a good choice of museums to visit and lots of samples of modern art decorating the city.


Among the interesting places to visit are the Alexanderplatz square and Museum Island nearby. Both areas were part of East Germany. The area itself is interesting to wander around with lots of shops and restaurants (nowadays Christmas Markets), TV tower is also located at this place (offers great views of Berlin, they say), Berlin Rathaus (mayor's office), etc. As a reminder to recent past, Marx's and Engel's statues still stands in the nearby park. I heard from podcast that people used to go there and rub Marx's hand to make a wish before.
From there you need to cross the bridge to go to Museum Island. Major museums are located around this place. I could find time only to visit Altes Museum, it is wicked interesting! Of course, that's where I met the most beautiful woman of Berlin - Queen Nefertiti. It's the statue of Queen of Egypt found by German egyptologist in Egypt and then brought to Germany. She was very beautiful and influential woman of her time and she and her husband changed Egypt's religion from a polytheistic religion to a monotheistic religion. They believed only in one god, Aten. I didn't take any good picture of her, only low quality one with my mobile camera.


As for people, Berlin is in the first position among German cities for the number of other nationalities living in there. Mostly Turks (some say half million(!) of Turks are living in the city, but other sources claim it is 230,000) and Russians, there are lots of other European, Asian and Arabic nationalities. That means lots of different cuisines! Indeed, many Turkish, Arabic and Asian restaurants and fast-food shops are spread around the city. Or if you go to Kreuzberg in Berlin, then you feel like you are in Turkey as almost everything around is in Turkish. That's like Little Turkey or Turktown :)

Chancellery of Germany, Angela Merkel's current office. Berliners have special nickname for it due to its shape - "washing machine" :)

Where Hitler burnt all the books

Front gate of Russian (previously Soviet) embassy

Sony Center at AlexanderPlatz

Berliner Dom and Berlin TV tower

Rathaus - City Hall of Berlin. Also referred as "Pink Rathaus" because of the gay mayor.

View from Museum Island

The sky has never been so blue, and the grass has never been so green. In front of famous Reichstag - German Parliament.

And yet another famous spot - Brandenburg Gates.

These resident blocks remind Soviet style.

Holocaust Memorial, memorial for the murdered Jews in WWII.

Brandenburg Gates from behind.

Remains of Berlin Wall on their original location. There's a line made of two brick lines throughout the city indicating the location of "the wall".

Berliner Dom and demolition of Palace of the Republic. The palace was built under GDR government, and now Germans decided to get rid of it and rebuild back Berlin Palace that stood once in the same location (and destroyed during the bombing of Berlin).

Marx and Engels are still there. They don't attract people much these days.

Just in case, I rubbed Marx's hands, maybe indeed it will bring me luck :))

Green Peace activists on some kind of protest; cars painted in pink and decorated like a piglet, and as if they are entering "Noah's ark".

DHL's Corporate Idea Management organized DHL Thinker's Club conference. It was more like a casual meeting to have fun and socialize with lots of speeches, discussions and short workshops. And of course, nice meals, lots of coffee breaks and a great private party with live bands performing in one of the top night clubs of Berlin, the same club where we,4 male foreigners in office outfit, were not allowed to enter last year due to dress code and face control :)) There was tombola (prize draw) for all participants with the main prizes being BMW car (no kidding!), Harley Davidson motorbike (still not kidding!), a scooter and iPods. Well, I am never lucky in prize draws...

Top prize at tombola.

Listening carefully, but horrible translation.

Blandine & Eva - colleagues from Prague. Blandine is my flatmate as well.

Great live music, food and fun at Adagio Club in Berlin. Last year me, Alex, Jiri and a friend couldn't get in to this club because of dress code :))) This year it was all ours.

Another surprise was to meet Elina and her few month old daughter. Elina was the first AIESEC MCP in Kyrgyzstan, and we met through AIESEC network. I think she's doing pretty well in Germany.

Elina and her daughter

More photos here.

Photo of the Day: "You can't bury a powerful question?"

DSC04959, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Taken in Berlin Hauptbahnhoff (Main Train Station)

2007 Trips - Berlin (Photo Report)

Potsdamer Platz (Deutsch Bahn headquarters - German Rail)


The Monument to the Murdered Jews of Europe - Jewish Holocaust Memorial, 2700 concrete slabs not far from Brandenburg Gate, Berlin

Remaining half-destructed tower of Kaiser Wilhelm Church.

This bombed church symbolizes the destruction of war.


Kaiser Wilhelm Church from different angle. A new, octagonal church was built alongside the existing tower.


FC Hertha Berlin merchandising store. Berlin's pride in Bundesliga.


Inside BMW Z4, you feel part of it.


BMW 327/28, gorgeous!


inside BMW Z4


Checkpoint Charlie, one of the ultimate symbols of the Cold War, came to epitomize the separation between east and west. For nearly 30 years, this checkpoint represented not only a divided Germany but a world in political turmoil. The Berlin Wall was erected in 1961 by the East German government. Shortly after the wall was built, President John F. Kennedy ordered U.S. forces to build three checkpoints at different points in the wall through which diplomatic corps and allied forces could enter West Berlin. Checkpoint Charlie became the most famous. Checkpoint Charlie got its name from the American alphabet. (The others were Alpha and Bravo…a, b, c). By 1962, this checkpoint was the only place at which foreigners visiting Berlin could cross from West to East and back again. Located in the Friedrichstadt neighborhood in the heart of Berlin, the checkpoint was the subject of many movies and appeared frequently in spy novels penned during the Cold War era.


with 1-Euro-for-photo "U.S. guard" at Checkpoint Charlie


Tank Confrontation ...Ten of these Soviet tanks continued to Friedrichstraße, and stopped just 50 to 100 yards (46 to 91 metres) from the Checkpoint on the Soviet side of the sector boundary. The US tanks turned back towards the Checkpoint, stopping an equal distance from it on the American side of the boundary. And they just waited. From 27 October 1961 at 17:00 until 28 October 1961 at about 11:00, the respective troops faced each other. As per standing orders, both groups of tanks were loaded. The alert levels of the US Garrison in West Berlin, then NATO, and finally the US Strategic Air Command (SAC) were raised. Both groups of tanks had orders to fire if fired upon... Khrushchev and Kennedy agreed to reduce tensions by withdrawing the tanks... (Wikipedia)


"You are leaving the American Sector" sign still stands at Checkpoint Charlie


Soviet Army hats are sold as souvenirs in Berlin


Berlin World Clock. See "Bishkek" above the borderline of 20 and 21.


Bear - symbol of Berlin. Many buildings have this bear with raised hands statue in their front.


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Remainings of Berlin Wall. On August 13, 1961 the communist East German government started to build a wall, physically separating West Berlin from East Berlin and the rest of East Germany, as a response to massive numbers of East German citizens fleeing into West Berlin as a way to escape to the west. The East German government called the Wall the "anti-fascist protection wall". (Wikipedia)


Through central Berlin you will see this indicated line where once stood the Berlin Wall.

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Berlin trip mates; Alex, his Spanish friend and Jiri

The Reichstag building in Berlin was constructed to house the Reichstag, the original parliament of the German Empire. It was opened in 1894 and housed the Reichstag until 1933, when it was allegedly burned down by a Dutch communist who was later beheaded for the crime, although it might have been the Nazi Party who committed the crime in an attempt to flush out Communism. The fire was used by the Nazi party as a pretext to take over the Government completely. That verdict has been a subject of controversy over the years. The National Socialist Party used this event as casus belli to begin a purge of "traitors" in Berlin and to ban the KPD, the German Communist Party. The Reichstag building again became the seat of the German parliament in 1999 after a reconstruction led by internationally renowned architect Norman Foster. Today's parliament of Germany is called the Bundestag. The Reichstag as a parliament dates back to the Holy Roman Empire and ceased to act as a true parliament in the years of the Nazi regime 1945). (Wikipedia)
Also, famous photo of Soviet soldiers raising the Soviet Flag in 1945 victory was taken on the roof of Reichstag.

Berlin Hauptbahnhof , or Berlin Central Station, is the main railway station in Berlin, Germany. It began full operation two days after a ceremonial opening on 26 May 2006, just before Germany's host to Football World Cup. It is now Europe's largest two-level railway station. (Indeed it is very modern and high-tech! I was amazed by it after getting out from the train. It's hundred times nicer than Prague's Main Station.)
Accident on the opening day; The opening ceremony was marred by an attack by a drunken 16-year old youth wielding a knife, who stabbed members of the public leaving the ceremony. Forty-one people were wounded, six seriously, before the youth was arrested. According to police, the youth says he cannot remember his act of violence and is still denying it. One of the first stabbing victims was HIV-positive, leading to worries that other victims may have been infected, although this did not prove to be the case.(Wikipedia)

With old friend from high-school - Dastan

The Brandenburg Gate is a former city gate and one of the main symbols of Berlin, Germany. It is the only remaining gate of a series through which one formerly entered Berlin. One block to its north lies the Reichstag. It constitutes the monumental termination of Unter den Linden, the renowned boulevard of linden (lime) trees which led directly to the royal residence. It was commissioned by Friedrich Wilhelm II as a sign of peace and built by Carl Gotthard Langhans1788 to 1791... ...When the Nazis ascended to power they used the Gate as their symbol. The Gate survived World War II and was one of few structures standing in the Pariser Platz ruins in 1945. The governments of East Berlin and West Berlin restored it, but the gate was closed when the Berlin Wall was erected in 1961... ...When the Revolutions of 1989 collapsed the Berlin Wall, the Gate then symbolized the freedom to unity of the City of Berlin. On the 22nd of December 1989, the Brandenburg Gate re-opened when Helmut Kohl, the West German Chancellor, walked through to be greeted by Hans Modrow, the East German Prime Minister. (Wikipedia)


The Swarovski Christmas tree enchants the visitors of Berlin central station. The tree is exclusively decorated with thousands of Swarovski crystal ornaments. More than 44,000 Christmas ornaments and glittering crystals transform the tree into an extraordinary feast for the eyes.


Berlin streets

Chocolate model of bombed Kaiser Wilhelm Church

Chocolate model of Brandenburg Gate

Chocolate model of Reichstag

Berlin - the city still healing its past wounds

Below in the photos, (1) famous Emperor William Memorial Church in Berlin and its chocolate model (2) in famous Fassbender & Rausch chocolate shop. The third one shows (3) how it looked before the destruction.
The church was destroyed during the bombing raid in World War II. The central part with bombed roof remained, and on the sides are the new parts of the church built



(full story of Berlin trip coming soon)

Berlin and the Wall

Berlin - the city that was long separated by a wall. Today remains of the wall is the main attraction in Berlin.

Speaking of the physical walls, recently I watched the documentary about North Korea, and there it mentions about the wall built by South Koreans along the border. It could be seen with a binocular from North Korea side, but S.Koreans have been declining these rumors (I'll write more about traveling in North Korea in next posts). Similarly, another wall is built along Israel-Palestine border.

Another city that was also divided and ruled by two different empires was Budapest. For many years Buda side of the city was ruled by Ottomans, and Pest belonged to Habsburgs dynasty.

I will spend my whole next week in Berlin on my first business trip. Looking forward to meet this city. My grandfather came till Berlin fighting against Nazis.


Pictures taken from;
travel-rants.com
k2.csail.mit.edu
national-army-museum.ac.uk
erasmuspc.com
helenbucknall.com