Ein Gutes Neues Jahr

Ein Gutes Neues Jahr!!*

The Reichstag!!

'Twas a great relief to finally land in Berlin Tegel airport after several hours of snow delay in Zurich (so much for Swiss punctuality and precision) and head for our nice hotel in west Berlin. After a week in Wengen, I was starting to get a little too used to these nice hotels (i'm still only talking 3 stars mind you) for my budget's liking but it sure was great to wake up to a fancy buffet breakfast, all salmon, fancy cheese and pat`e. Thankfully Berlin's attractions were enough to drag even me away from such a feast, this was a history geek's paradise afterall.

The royal chapel built by Kaiser Wilhelm, or his family at least. Those black stains aren't there to make it look archaic, the building was seriously burnt from Allied bombing.

First thing on the agenda was a walking a tour of Berlin's main historical sites, which are all primarily clustered together in the old East Berlin. I was nearly having an aneurism I was so excited walking around these places where so many earth shattering events have taken place. Started off on Museum Island, where some of the world's foremost collections (of art and....stuff) are held, the majestic old royal chapel which still has burns from Allied bombing, the remnants of the royal palace from where Kaiser Wilhelm announced Germany's entry into World War I and all this was even before we got into the Nazi stuff.

This was a highlight of the tour... We walked past a Begatti showroom, that's the fastest production car in the world right there.

We were soon standing in the square where Goebbel's orchestrated the burning of the books, and then walking past the site where the Gestapo building used to stand, Goerings Luftwaffe ministry building which is still in use (not by the Luftwaffe however), and the street where the enormous Chancellory building, the centre of Nazi rule once stood. It was AWESOME. We even got to mill about within the nondescript parking lot which unless somebody told you, you would never know was the site of Hitler's cremation and lies directly above his bunker. Incidentally the bunker has been filled with sand and permanently sealed lest it ever become a pilgrimage site for neonazis. Or something like that.

The recently completed Holocaust memorial (above) and one the few remaining segments of the infamous Berlin Wall still standing (below).

Amongst all this excitement we even had to squeeze in remnants of the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie (the most famous border crossing between the former East and West Berlin) and the recently completed Holocaust memorial, over two football fields worth of assorted square columns of differing heights. Quite frankly, I never quite understand the symbolism involved in such memorials. It was one of those "make your own interpratation" types, even the creator never gave a reason behind his design. Best was still yet to come as we gathered under the Brandenburg gate, originally built to celebrate Frederick the Great's victories and site of that night's new year celebrations, and finally it was over to the Reichstag, the impressive German house of parliament whose capture by the Russians came to symbolize the ultimate downfall of the Nazi regime. Frickin brilliant.

This side view of the Reichstag building is the same as in the famous photograph of the Russian soldiers hoisting the hammer and sickle flag.... I was excited at least.

Took me a while to come down from my history overload induced high but it was New Years Eve afterall and we had plans to hit the Berlin nightlife hard. All started well with our taxidriver, noticing we were primarily Australian, pumped up AC/DC to the max as we burnt around the streets of Berlin. However from there on, our plans to simply rock up to the Gate and find a nice place to eat before dancing the night away fell apart as it became apparent that some of the reported ONE MILLION other revellers gathered may have had the same idea AND may have actually reserved a spot at a restaurant. Soooo, after exploring some of the darker streets of East Berlin, dining on a fine serving of subway and downing a few beers from some street vendor, we rocked on over under the Brandenburg Gate ready to have a good time. And then it started raining.

Some of the one million revellers reportedly partying in the open that night. You can just make out the Brandenburg Gate behind the stage.

Still it was great fun despite the 3 inch deep puddle we were all standing in, and the half-hour struggle through the million man scrum to get a beer. Hell, even the homemade firecrackers that were exploding and whistling everywhere at random gave some air of authenticity as if we were really experiencing Berlin in 1945. That may be a bit of an exaggeration but still we all had a great time at least until we had to find a taxi home in the freezing cold.

Good times at the party. Notice how my head appears to be at least 3 times as big as anyone elses. No wonder no damn hat would fit me in Tibet.

As our time was short in Berlin there was no rest for the historically eager and so (following another delicious breakfast) we headed back to into town the next day to check out Museum Island, in particular the world famous Pergamon museum, home of amongst other things, the original and almost fully reconstructed Pergamon Temple and the Ishtar Gate, entrance to Ancient Babylon. Very impressive. I had heard about a Russian-German museum that concentrated solely on the conflict between these two nations, and managed to convince Tim and Pas to come with me. It was a wee little bit out of town. Thirty odd euros later, we found ourselves way out in the burbs and the "museum" looked essentially like a regular house with a slightly bigger yard, although this yard did have several tanks lying about. Furthermore the first thing we discovered was that all the displays were in Russian and German only. Hmmm. Was still interesting without the commentary but it got a whole lot more impressive when we came across a balcony looking down on a room that looked strangely familiar to me. Seems I still remember all those history docos I watched in school as I was actually looking down on the room in which the Allies took the official surrender of the German forces in May 1945, left untouched and exactly as it was that day.

World War II ended in this exact room...

Another real highlight was a big night out we had in a proper German beerhall. All dark ales, saurkraut, and schnitzels. Mmmmm.

Had one last day to myself in which there was still much to see and required military precision and planning. Up first was a bunker tour, a quick walk around the flak tower, the only remaining piece of infrastructure built by the Nazis still standing (something about its 4m thick concrete walls made demolition difficult), then it was off to the Soviet memorial, a massive statue standing on mound under which over 5000 Russian soldiers who died in the capture of Berlin are buried. Then it was off to the Topography of Terror exhibit on the old Gestapo site and finally it was to the impressively designed Jewish Museum. This bit of symbolism I did get as the whole building resembles a shattered Star of David.

The flak tower that remains standing in a part of town I can't remember the name of....

Down below on my bunker tour. Great shot I know.

Phew. My historical curiosity somewhat satiated, all that was left was to head to a hostel and bunk down early for my 7:00am flight the next day. Unfortunately my plans were dashed when I noticed that there was a piano in the common room of the hostel that I desperately wanted to play having not seen one for several months. Of course I wasn't going to as I didn't want to look like a tit by just waltzing on up there, but as it happened, there was one such brave soul who could play but was unable to satisfy the many requests thrown at him. Well, I figured I'd get up and have a bit of a tinker, I did afterall know a pretty bastard version of both American Pie and Pianoman. Hmmm, 4 hours and 9 beers later I was still up there lapping up the applause of the very easily satisfied (and drunk) audience. It seems that Canadians in particular have never heard a decent piano player as they thought I and my particularly sketchy version of Everything I Do, were brilliant. So no bedtime until around 3:00am.

The huge Soviet memorial. The soldier depicted above is carrying a huge broadsword and a child whilst standing on a crushed swastika.

The next morning I obviously slept straight through my alarm but I do believe I may have set the record for the latest sleepin whilst still making my flight. Woke up at 6:10am, was out the door and on a bus (in sheer terror) by 6:15, at the airport by 6:35, and on the plane ready for takeoff by 7:00am. Never in doubt really.

*(By the way, Ein Gutes Neues Jahr!! is German for Happy New Year if you hadn't figured it out yet.)