Day 6, Sunday, September 16, 2018

Itinerary: Berlin

Time awake: 8:05 AM (felt great)

Odometer (in kilometers/miles) at start:

Weather: Splendid all day, 68-72 degrees

Steps: 36266 (the most on any day of the trip)

Asleep: 12:07

Map Link(s):

Video Link(s): Lunch, Singers on boat, End of marathon

As pricey as the Radisson Blu was, it didn’t come with a free breakfast (although they did on occasion furnish cookies, gummy bears, etc. by the front desk). So after rising about 8 AM, we headed to a coffeehouse in the court next door to the hotel called Balzacs. We shared a latte in a huge mug and a slice of lemon pound cake, both of which were immensely enjoyed. Soon afterward we headed out to discover Berlin on foot.

As with each city, I’d prepared an itinerary, but Berlin’s proved to be more of a suggestion than a road map since we didn’t get to visit any sights the night before. At any rate, about 10 AM we set off walking north along the Spree River that ran beside the Radisson Blu, past a sculpture of three comely naked women sitting on the railing, then left across the Friedrichs Bridge, and another left past several museums and the elaborate Berlin Cathedral Church, and left once again down Karl-Liebknecht Strasse (strasse or straße = street) to the Alexanderplatz area. There we tried to get a selfie of ourselves in front of the Neptunbrunnen statue and fountain, but another couple was making a day of it doing the same thing, so we moved on, eventually passing through an outdoor mall by the famed TV tower called Fernsehturm Berlin. I believe one could go up the tower for a fee, but we didn’t. On the other side of the tower, back toward the Neptune fountain, there were several pools with hundreds of intermittent jet-fountains. They were cool.

Having had our fill of Alexanderplatz area, we headed back toward the Radisson Blu and began hiking south along the Spree River in route to the Oberbaum Bridge. This took us through one of the loveliest sections we saw in Berlin, taking us through a lovely park and then past several delightful looking cafes along the river. The beauty in places was marred by construction, but it was still a pleasant stroll. A little further on, we had our first encounter of the day with the Berlin Marathon, which was in progress. We soon found ourselves walking along Holzmarkt Strasse and the longest remaining section of the Berlin Wall, although it took a while before it dawned on us that the wall-like structure beside us was indeed the infamous Wall.

Part of the reason we didn’t know it was the Wall is that it didn’t look like anything special—just a plain 10-foot or so concrete slab that I thought might have been erected to keep out trespasser from an ongoing construction site. But a block or so further on, the plain concrete slab was covered with elaborate paintings and people were milling about and taking photos. It became pretty clear this was no ordinary barrier. It was the stuff of history. The remaining section ends at the Oberbaum Bridge. The whole area on this side of the bridge, called the East Side Gallery, was teeming with young adults picnicking, lounging, and busking. There was also a couple of places we could have stopped for beer, but as festive as the scene was, the area was uninviting. This was brought home most abundantly when we ascended the stairwell to the street and spotted a turd—a huge, fresh, manmade turd. Now try to get that image out of your head.

I saw a photo a few years ago of the Oberbaum Bridge awash in lights at night, and it looked splendid. It was one of the reasons I wanted to visit Berlin, although I had longed to visit the city for decades. In person, the bridge and surrounding area in daylight were a disappointment. Trash was strewn about and homeless people camped out in nooks and crannies. We didn’t hang around long, although I did snap a few shots of the bridge from the other side of the river, and it is an impressive medieval-looking structure (the current bridge dates back to 1896). Then we continued our journey along the south side of the river, heading downstream. This side of the Spree in this section of the city wasn’t exactly upscale either, what with several old commercial buildings and seemingly vacant lots. Some of the buildings, however, were structurally interesting.

As we walked along Köpenicker Strasse near the intersection with Adalbert Strasse, we came upon a most unusual site. It looked to be a commune inside a walled-off urban enclave that was part jungle and part junkyard. What with the fences and signage (“No Photos” among others), we weren’t inclined to venture into the place, although I did take a few photos. I researched the place later and found out that it’s called the Köpi, which is reported to be one of Berlin’s last remaining remnants of the city's squat culture from the early 1990s. Cityseeker reports, “Köpi is one of Berlin's oldest squats, and became occupied just after the demolition of the Berlin Wall. The building was supposed to be torn down, but the squatters prohibited this. Köpi gives space to a variety of cultural activities, and around 50 people live there at any given time. The graffiti-decorated building has two concert halls for punk and rock concerts, but also occasionally hosts theatrical and dance performances.” So it seems that the far left counter-culture is alive and well (and largely out-of-sight) in Berlin.

By now we’d become quite thirsty, hungry, and tired, and we found just the place to take care of all that—the Balthazar am Spreeufer restaurant along the Spree River. This was one of the “delightful looking cafes along the river” that we passed about two hours earlier. We sat outdoors overlooking the Spree and enjoyed a couple of draft beers and a BBQ burger, which was as good as it was messy, and then we split another draft. Oh how delightful it was.

After our leisurely respite, lasting well over an hour, and freshening up, we were back on the march. We headed back over the Mühlendamm Bridge en route to Checkpoint Charlie on Friedrich Strasse. Along the way, we saw more of this vibrant city, including the Berlin Wall Museum with its moving photo history, and more of the ongoing Berlin Marathon. Checkpoint Charlie itself was about as hokey as it gets with a few fake guards manning the guard house on what I guess was the U.S. side. The guards didn’t look like Americans or soldiers, but that didn’t stop tourists from getting their pictures taken with them. Behind the guard house stood a McDonald’s restaurant, striking me as a poignant symbol of capitalism having won the Cold War.

On we ventured, in part searching for a place to get a latte or cappuccino. We passed by one coffee shop, but kept going, never to find another. Surprising. We did, however, stumble upon the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, which was as different as it was moving. The memorial consisted of an open field of monolith slaps ranging from about two feet to over ten feet tall. We zig-zagged through the maze and came out a block or two from the Brandenburg Gate. Nearby it stood the finish line to the Berlin Marathon, along with a large crowd to cheer on the runners. The area had a festival atmosphere, made all the more so by a few hams among the contestants. The race leaders, however, had finished long before.

After watching a bit of the marathon, we walked to the other side of the Brandenburg Gate, that being the eastern side from which it is usually photographed. This put us on Unter den Linden, the main drag through the heart of Berlin. As we made our way down this wide boulevard, we soon came to a drugstore selling contact lens solution, where Sharon finally filled that need, and a little further on we stopped in a souvenir store, where I bought a baseball cap with “Berlin” stitched on it. We passed by the Berlin Opera House and then took a roundabout way back to the Radisson Blu.

Back at the Blu, we stopped for coffee and a slice of apple pie at one of the cafés along the Spree River side of the hotel. The view from our outdoor seats was great, but the coffee and pie were both disappointing. We then headed up to our room to recharge our stuff and ourselves until our 8 PM reservation for admission to the dome of the Reichstag Building. I also ran out to Balzacs next door for a good cup of joe (the receipt is time stamped 6:21 PM) while Sharon rested her aching feet in our room.

At about 7:20 PM we ventured out again to see the Reichstag Building dome. The route there was a straight shot down Unter den Linden to the Brandenburg Gate and then a block or so to the north. Admission to the dome is free but is only by reservation, which I had secured almost a month before. After passing through security, we entered the Reichstag Building with a group of about 30 and then took an elevator to the dome. The dome itself is quite an architectural wonder. At first you walk around in a spiral viewing the inside of the Reichstag. Then outside you are free to wander and take in the spectacular 360 degree view of the city. Berlin at night was dazzling. Most notable of all was seeing the many historic, cultural, and scenic places we would have loved to have visited during our much too short tour of the city. Afterward we headed back down Unter den Linden, stopping for dinner at Nante-Eck Altberliner Restauration, where we dined al fresco on a Nantes filet pot (stripes of pork with mushrooms, onions and mashed potatoes) and enjoyed a couple of cold drafts. Then we returned to the Radisson Blu, getting in about 10:45 PM.

Berlin is a world class city, and as such, you can only scratch the surface in one day, no matter how much you walk. And god knows we walked—36,266 steps, the most on any day of the trip. Even though there was so much of this great metropolis we never got to see, it was quite a day. And we did it all for only $94.50 (plus the hotel fee), for which we got to see all the sites and experience all the doings recorded above plus snag a souvenir “Berlin” cap, which is not to be confused with the “Berlin” crap.