Day 4

Sightseeing in Berlin

Weather today is cloudy and a little cool but fine enough.  Having discovered how to use the public transport system we set off once again to our local train station.  Battling the German instruction of the auto ticketing machine I opted for the face to face discussions with a real person - an actual ticket seller!  This time the "all day group ticket" for Allan, Noeline, Dale and myself came to just 15 euros 60 cents.   

Hauptbanhof

We reached the Hauptbanhof (Berlin's main city train station) a modern magnificent structure set on wide sweeping fore court which had been finished in 2006 just in time for the German world cup.  This time we searched for the "info center" (after discovering the value of tourist help and direction yesterday) and again opted for the "Hop on Hop off" tour which came to 22 euros each and lasted 48 hours. It appeared most of Berlin had the same idea at the same time as the queue was quite long but with typical German efficiency it moved quickly.

Finding our bus was not difficult (as there are a variety of different tour groups) and we set off.  This time the English commentary was good and the ear phones even better.   We didn't have much of an idea of what we wanted to see and were happy to be guided by the moment.  Noeline had read about Ka De Wa (said to be Europe's largest most diverse department store to rival Harrods) and in particular the food hall (over 2 floors) and covering every imaginable food or culinary pleasure was something we decided was worth seeing.  Finding it might have proved difficult in this large complex city except without realizing it the tour actually included this as a stop!  It was amazing and we decided to have lunch amid the smells and flavors of foods from all over the world.   Deciding what to have was a task in itself.  Settling for the taste of the local favorite - 'curry wurst' - they even have a museum dedicated to it - we took in the atmosphere of a truly cosmopolitan shopping experience.  I can imagine the shopping frenzy before Christmas as people seek to buy the more exotic delicacies for their Christmas feasts.   This was somewhat lost on Dale who, in true trooper style, plodded along behind oblivious to the joy and awe Alan, Noeline and myself where experiencing....we were in heaven! (Dale was actually surprised we managed to escape at all without visiting any of the other 7 floors, probably afraid we'd find a tool section)

Back on the bus,  the tour circuit really accentuated the differences between the modern thriving western side of Berlin with grand modern stylish architecture and the struggling, rundown buildings of the eastern side.  But the east is fast catching up...fast.  The one saving grace is the number of older style buildings still existing in the old eastern part of town.  These had been pulled down back in the 60 's 70's and 80's in favor of more modern buildings and now the architectural link has been lost - not so in the eastern areas.

We also stopped at the Berlin Wall memorial near Postdam Plaza and walked (following the cobbled path denoting where the Berlin Wall actually stood, all the way to Check point Charlie.  The memorial, a sad and graphic reminder of lives lost.For the first time I could appreciate (just a tiny amount) of what my father experienced when he crossed the wall back in 1953.

Brandenberg gate

On our walk we  just off Potsdam Plaza we found him - Fritz T Bear.  Clearly a cosmopolitan Berliner we could help ourselves (or perhaps it was me more than Dale).     

"Fritz" at Berlin Wall