Heroes (Berlin, Germany, part 1)

 Hello, dear reader. In one of those warps in time and space, we have left Berlin and are on a train heading for Prague. Thankfully that four and half hours will allow me to catch up on the blog. In a pre-emptive visiting the wall, the title is David Bowie's Heroes from 1977. He wrote it while recording the album of the same name in Berlin. It was about a couple he saw every day on the way to the studio, 'snogging' in the shadow of the wall.

As has become our practice, we decided our first full day in Berlin would be a day to explore the local area. Our shopping expedition last evening yielded all we required for breakfast so we didn’t need to search for a café. We researched the Hop-on Hop-off bus yesterday and decided that would probably be a productive way to see Berlin. The city is large and there is so much to see. Fortunately, where we are at Hackescher Markt, there is a lot very close to us, well within walking distance.

Almost made the frame. Nice scaffolding.

First stop for the day was the Berlin Cathedral or Berliner Dom. As you know, dear reader, we have seen many cathedrals on our travels. I think it fair to say that no-one does a cathedral quite like Europe. Every time I think I’ve seen everything there is to see in a church, something comes along to astound me. And here we are awestruck once again. It’s not the lavish altar, as impressive as it is. Or the magnificent mural on the ceiling, as beautiful as that is. Or the ornate pulpit, as over the top as that is (more on these in the next blog). It is the sheer size of the dome. It is massive. The whole structure is so large that to photograph it in one frame I needed to cross the road and walk half way through the Lustgarten.

The Old Museum in the Lustgarten.

It was €10 per person to go inside and climb the 267 stairs to the dome. While that is on the agenda, it is not for now. We went back out to the Lustgarten to photograph the fountain and the Altes (old) Museum. The latter is not on our list to visit. Its focus is largely the Greco-Roman period of history and we believe we have this covered with previous museum visits in numerous countries.

The fountain.

The Lustgarten was crowded with, what appeared to be, school groups on tour. They were everywhere we looked. The sun was shining and it was quite exciting, not just to see the sun, but to feel its warmth. The more I travel the more convinced I am that I could not live in a country without regular sunshine for extended periods.

Next we went across the main road to the Humboldt Forum. Here was another massive dome peeping up from surrounding walls. Today it is a gallery, in a previous life it was the Berlin Palace. Our mission was to locate the tourist information centre that lay within its walls. Allegedly. Like Platform 9 at Stockholm Central Station, it remains undiscovered.

The interior courtyard of Humboldt Forum.

From the Forum, we walked towards the Marx-Engels Forum. In essence, this is a park that housed a statue of the two best friends. Or should that be economists? Or philosophers? Or fathers of communism; in its purist form of course? 

A pair of communists juxtaposed with a church.

There were other sculptures in the park that focused on humanity’s struggle, the worker against oppression. It took a while to secure the desired shot of their statue because the vapid and vacuous insisted on selfies with the great men. Given the posers were sporting designer gear while holidaying in Berlin, I’d say the capitalist system worked well for them. I’m not sure the dynamic duo would approve. I would be unsurprised if they did not know the identity of the two stately gentlemen.

The worker. Not actually working.

Across another major road and we were at the Rathaus. Constructed in the 1860s and built of red brick, it is the more modest of the buildings in the area. No huge dome, no soaring spire. It is still large, but is more functional.

The Rathaus.

At this point, dear reader, I am questioning my selection of camera lens. I’m using my usual 18-135mm which is a good general-purpose lens. At 18mm I can usually capture the larger objects and the 135mm allows me to take close ups as required. None of the buildings today are able to be shot at 18mm. I will need to return with my 10mm lens and earlier in the morning when the crowds are not as invasive.

As we moved from the Rathaus toward Marienkirche, St Mary’s Church, we were intercepted by a Hop-on Hop-off bus salesperson. We had already decided to purchase tickets for 48 hours access. What I had failed to realise in last night’s Google search was that there is more than one company. In fact, there were four, at least. An easy decision was now a little more complicated because they appeared to travel the same route.

We encouraged Juan to recite his spin and tell us why we should travel with the Big Bus company as opposed to the others. Part way through his spiel we were approached by some tourists who wanted to know what the building behind us was. “Rathaus, town hall,” we replied. “Can you go inside?” was the next question. We looked Juan, he looked us, we all shrugged, “Don’t know.” was the simultaneous reply.

The deal breaker with Juan’s offer came in two parts, an App where you could track the buses and you get a free currywurst. Nah, joking about the currywurst, that voucher went into the bin. There was also an associated walking tour from the Brandenburg Gate to Checkpoint Charlie. Sold. We purchased our 48 hour tickets to commence tomorrow.

A fish out of water.

Onward toward the church with a brief stop at Neptune’s Fountain. It, like many fountains in Hamburg was not functioning. Despite this, it was still a draw card for tourists, including us. We sat for a while watching the passing parade until a family group arrived and started getting up close and personal with one of the statues on the edge of the fountain. They spent some time peering into the nooks and crannies, photographing up under the lip of the fountain and examining the result and then sticking their hand up into the darkness. I was hoping for a random spider bite to make the viewing more interesting. Sadly, this did not occur - they left empty handed and unbitten and we are none the wiser as to what they were looking for.

Progress. According to the East German rulers in the '60s.

The TV tower that was erected as a sign of East German supremacy in the 1960s, stands as a silent sentinel in Alexanderplatz. It dominates the Berlin skyline and will be our beacon to guide us home when required. There is a restaurant or bar on the viewing platform but the queue was too long (2 hour wait time estimate) to create any genuine interest from us. Also, the day had closed in a little.

Marienkirche.

 In the shadow of the tower is Marienkirche, one of the oldest churches in Berlin. Outside, it is rather plain and unremarkable. Inside there are some paintings and fixtures of significance and as it happened, an organ recital. How lucky are we? This is our third organ recital in a church since we left home. Anyway, it is chance to rest our feet.

The organ. It goes OK.

Following the recital, we wandered around the interior which is quite dark, although the organ loft was quite ornate. The church also houses a baptismal font that is dated back to the 1400s.

The font. It's old.

Outside again, we skirted around the tower and checked out some of the food options for later. Our next target was the World Clock in Alexanderplatz. By now the rain had begun but we were undeterred. The clock, as expected, was underwhelming. It is a clock on a pole, below which is a 360° collar that lists various major cities of the world and their time zone. I was so unimpressed I didn’t even break out the camera. At least people were able to shelter from the rain beneath the structure. 

The pulpit. Imagine that as a fascinator at the races.

We turned towards Alexanderplatz and, as we continued to reconnoître the restaurant options, we spied a Decathlon Store. Still pining over the lost opportunity to buy the yellow jacket in Tromsø, we wandered into the shop. After negotiating the length and breadth of the very large retail space, and successfully dodging numerous unparented children who were testing out various pieces of sporting equipment such as scooters, skate boards and inline skates, we glimpsed a dash of yellow in the middle of the rack of discontinued jackets.

There it was, like a pearl in an oyster, one lone yellow waterproof and windproof sailing jacket amongst all the brown, blue and black. Surely it couldn’t be my size, dear reader? Miracle of miracles, it was a perfect fit! Yellow! The same style is available in Australia but not in yellow. Finally, I had my jacket, and for sure the rain would stop today. Feeling smug after saving €20, that will pay for our entry to the Dom, I donned my jacket and headed out into the rain to christen it.

Unlike Hamburg, Italian is not the preferred option of Berliners. That is not to say there are no Italian restaurants; there are, just not on every corner. Still, we decided upon a pseudo-Italian restaurant that was trying to be all things to all people – pizza, pasta, sushi, schnitzels, steaks, racks of lamb as well as traditional Berliner offerings like pork knuckle and sauerkraut. It was close to home and solved our daily dilemma of where to eat. The food and the wine were good and the walk home in the rain was short.

Until next time.