Berlin

Before leaving Boston, we were considering dropping Berlin from our itinerary. At the time, our thought process was that we’ve been to Germany(though not Berlin), so we should skip Berlin and go somewhere fresh. Fortunately, a wise friend told us we couldn’t drop Berlin, that it’s very different from Munch (where we’d been previously). They were correct. Berlin is our favorite city thus far and we feel like 5 days was barely enough to scratch the surface of this fascinating place.

Berlin is easy to love. First, as an important focal point of WWI, WWII and the cold war, it experienced the most important events in recent history. Next, the city has a fun vibe; clubs, tours, street art, delicious food, excellent cafes, and interesting people are in every square. Finally, cheap restaurants, free museums, and excellent transportation make the city surprisingly inexpensive.

We packed in lots of touring during our time in the city. To give you a taste, we took multiple tours (Berlin Unterwelten [twice] and a Walking Tour), wandered an abandoned theme park, visited multiple museums (Topography of Terror, Palace of Tears, Berlin Wall Memorial), explored parks (East Side Gallery, Potsdam, Tiergarten), and more (Palaces, Reichstag, etc). Still, there’s far more to do and we badly want to return.

Sadly, we encountered a bit of a fiasco with our SIM cards which lost us half a day and kept us from making it to a club, an experience with a uniquely Berlin twist that we were hoping to try out. We’ll have to use that as an excuse to return soon.

Touring (Our Favorites)

Berlin Unterwelten (Berlin Underground)

Our first Berlin Unterwelten tour was so excellent we immediately resolved to return for a second. These tours were easily the best we’ve done in Europe.

The Berlin Unterwelten organization discovers, preserves, and provides tours of historical underground sites throughout Berlin. Unfortunately, they do not allow photography on their tours which take you into old Bunkers and Shelters.

Tour M: Under the Wall

Tour M discussed several of the over 70 escape tunnels dug under the Berlin wall. We found ourselves remarking at how resilient and resourceful people can be. For example, the most notorious diggers dug multiple tunnels and the most successful conveyed 57 people out of East Berlin.

Does 57 sound surprisingly small? It turns out, both digging a tunnel and hiding it from authorities are not easy tasks. Most tunnels failed due to collapse, flooding, or discovery by the Soviet Secret Police.

Our favorite story was about an older man who, on discovering that his younger neighbor was digging a tunnel, asked if he and his wife could join in the escape. Sadly, his request was refused with the excuse that the tunnel was too cramped for elderly people to pass through. Undeterred, he went home and, together with his wife, resolved to dig their own tunnel. Not only did they succeed, the tunnel was large enough that they could walk upright during their escape and they brought ~6 other senior citizens with them. Awesome.

Tour 1: Dark Worlds

On our second tour, coincidentally, we were paired with the same excellent guide. This time, we toured a former air-raid shelter adjoining a subway station. We learned a lot:

Depending on when you counted, Berlin had enough bomb shelters for only 5-40% of the population. Everyone else either fled or sheltered in their basements during air raids.
This particular shelter held ~1300 people but for no more than a few hours, after which oxygen levels became dangerously low. As a result, people would be told to leave for fear of suffocation, even if bombs were still falling.
Over 85% of Berlin was destroyed by bombing during the war which helps explain why it’s not as pretty as other European cities.
The shelter we toured is not technically a “Bunker”, which has a strict definition in Germany. For instance, a bunker must have 1.6 meters thick, steel re-enforced, concrete roofs.

This tour is a perfect example of why we love learning about history in the location where the important events happened. Standing in a small room in the shelter, surrounded by other tourists, you can imagine huddling together with your bedraggled neighbors. As the subway rumbles by you wonder how similar the aftershock of a distant explosion might sound. The war is distant, but its effects are still with us and walking through the shelter makes it feel all too real.

WWII History

Berlin’s fascinating, free history museums provided hours of somber entertainment. Of the museums we attended, the Topography of Terror was our favorite. This museum, built on SS former headquarters, presents a unique look at the most important people in the SS. In contrast, most museums discuss the victims of violence, not perpetrators. We found hearing the words of former SS directors to be morbidly captivating. As an illustration, we listened to part of a speech where one man said something like, “I don’t care if 100 gypsies die digging the ditch, so long as the ditch is finished.” We can’t fathom how someone can be so heartless.

Spreepark

At the end of a walking tour, our guide mentioned that an abandoned theme park was open to the public for this weekend only (opens once or twice per year). We thought, “That sounds awesome!”, so we ate a quick, excellent lunch at “Falafel in Berlin.de” before heading straight to the park.

Spreepark is situated within Berlin city limits but was abandoned in the early 2000s after it went bankrupt due to expensive improvements and dwindling attendance. Walking through the park conjured images of zombie movies, except, you know, without all the running and screaming in terror.

Dead dinos.

Graffiti, Street Art, and an Odd Home

It’s impossible to miss the absurd amount of graffiti and street art covering Berlin. Naturally, many walking tours focus on all of this art and ours was no exception. Fun fact, “Graffiti” is text and paint based while street art is more image-based with a variety of mediums/styles. Some of our favorite pieces are below.

One of our favorite stops was this odd house(pictured below). The house sits on land that was owned by East Germany but, for economic reasons, the Berlin wall was built to the east of it (i.e. the land was effectively in West Berlin). The West German government left it empty to avoid upsetting East Germany. Eventually, some guy came along, built a house out of scraps, and took up residence in said house, living there until he passed away a few years ago.

Observations

City Aesthetic

Berlin is not a pretty city. In fact, it’s by far the least attractive European city we’ve visited thus far. Indeed, we chose to visit many cities such as Amsterdam largely because of their architecture, conversely, we chose to visit Berlin in spite of its architecture. Actually, it aesthetically reminded us of many U.S. cities, which is not a compliment.

Cars

As with it’s aesthetic, Berlin’s car friendliness reminded us of the U.S. Fist, streets are wide enough for 2 lanes of traffic with 2 cars parked side by side, unusual in many European cities. Furthermore, far more cars are actually on the roads.

Despite being car friendly, Berlin is remarkably walkable. Few large roads disrupt walking through the city and excellent public transportation means you’re never more than 30 minutes from your next destination.

Speaking of public transit, we love their “honor system”. Stations have no gates so there’s no need to pull out your ticket to get on the subway/tram/bus. Just buy a ticket and show it to an officer if one happens to check you (which never happened to us).

Poor Germany

We couldn’t help but marvel at how bad of a century the German people had. First, in the late 19th century, they were pretty poor. Next, WWI. Then communism. Followed by WWI. Ending with occupation and the cold war. Ouch.

The Best in People, The Worst in People

WWII and the cold war brought out the best in some people but the worst in others. For the best, you see real ingenuity, strength, and empathy demonstrated by people helping others escape from East Germany. In contrast, various police states from that era (German and Soviet Secret Police) show you how awful humans can be.

Free Water Aversion

What’s with European cities and their aversion to free water? Restaurants in several cities have charged us for water but Germany was particularly offensive. For example, some restaurants charged us for tap water and one even refused to serve tap water, with the policy stated explicitly on the menu. Why?

A quick search online indicates this is mostly a cultural thing. Most restaurants will bring you tap water for free if you ask for it but, if you just ask for “water”, you receive bottled mineral or sparkling water with a corresponding charge. Mineral water here is like tea in Japan, it’s the default drink served with a meal.

Delicious Bread

Germany bakes the planets most delicious bread. We visited a German friend in Munich last year, during that time he introduced us to what he calls “real bread” (not “real German bread”, just “real bread” because, according to him, everything else isn’t bread). This year, we’ve been anticipating delicious German bread for weeks. Satisfyingly, the Vollkorn Saftkorn at Zeit Fur Brot was so good that we ate three loaves in 5 days.

Overall

Berlin is our favorite European city thus far. Despite a lack of architectural/natural beauty, the city delivers on all other fronts. We know we’ve barely started exploring this fun, fascinating city and look forward to delving deeper in the future.