♥♥ Thanks for the r/r/c & GB messages, getting round to you all slowly, will catch up w...
♥♥ Thanks for the r/r/c & GB messages, getting round to you all slowly, will catch up with you all soon. Computer playing up ..My mum's not too bad .Oldest Daughter and youngest grandson quite poorly now. Heather xx ♥♥
Member since:30.09.2003
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The first part of this review, although probably of little relevance to most people, and not really of that much interest. However it is somewhat relevant to the rest of this review, for this is the reason I visited Berlin in the first place, and without this story, I would probably never have gone to Berlin at all, let alone three times.
Berlin 1921 My Father was Born in Berlin, in 1921, “West Berlin that is” where he lived with his Mother, Father, Elder Brother Wilhelm, younger Brother Anton and kid Sister Elizabeth. They weren’t rich but were happy, living in a small but neat house, in the delightful Tiergarten area of Berlin with its splendid parks and lakes.
Berlin 1939 Then came WW2 my Father was 17 1/2 years old, along with his 19 year old Brother Wilhelm, they had to go off to war, the family house was bombed, and my Grandparents died. Anton joined the war halfway through, as he was only 13 when it started. Elizabeth became a nurse, and saw a lot of action; she was still living in Berlin when the war ended. Wilhelm we believe was killed in action.
1943 My Father was captured, and bought to England, a POW camp in Bushy Hertfordshire, this is another story, which I won’t go into now, but he met my Mother in 1945, she was 18 and in the land army, my Father worked the land for a local farmer, who wanted to keep him on after the war, “saying he was a really good worker” My Father got a work permit and stayed in England. Much to the horror of my Mothers parents, she married my Father in 1948, gave birth to my Sister in 1950 and myself in 1952.
1957 My Auntie Elizabeth came to England with her new Husband, Joseph Krankowkus, who is Lithuanian, (from the Ukraine) she was still nursing, and they are still living in Yorkshire, and have a son Christopher.
1978 I had a holiday in Germany, with friends, and as well as touring around Germany, I took another look at West Berlin, by now the wall has been erected (1961) a lot of West Berlin had been rebuilt. A new opera house “Deutsche oper” had been built, the new National gallery and Philharmonic hall were built in 1963.
Berlin 1992 With all good intentions, we were going back to Berlin at the end of the 1980’s after the wall was taken down, but what with one thing and another, never made it, however on this visit, I flew to Tegelairport, one of Berlins three airports, and stayed at a friends house about 5 kilometres away, I saw vast changes, not only in the West now but so much in East Berlin, new buildings had sprung up every where, Berlin was once again a lively thriving city, with most of the wall now gone.
Now on to the main story
Berlin 2000 This was to be the visit, of all visits, and the main part of this review. My sister and I took my Mother and Father to Berlin, in the case of my Father (back to Berlin) this time we decided to travel by coach, as my Father wasn’t keen on flying, Although very enjoyable, I don’t think I would
travel this way again, as it was so tiring, I prefer to fly.
Anyway we booked through a company called “Travel Scope” I am not sure if they operate throughout England, but they do a wide range of tours and trips from South, South/East and parts of South/West of England We boarded a comfortable coach at a local pick up point in Hertfordshire (July 2000) and drove to Dover, for an 8.30 am ferry crossing to Calais, from there a very long and tiring coach journey through France into Belgium (with a short pit stop) and a chance to buy some Belgium chocolate, and then on to Germany, we stopped off in the Ruhr area, had our evening meal at a nice quaint little hotel, and crashed for the night, all part of the package.
A very early start today, up at 5.30 am, shower, breakfast and ready to get back on our coach by 7am, for another whole day of driving, there were a couple of pit stops today, including a two and a half hour stop in Hamlin for lunch, a brows around the shops and a 30 min puppet show at a tiny outdoor theatre (the pied piper of Hamlin) of course.
Late afternoon we arrived in Berlin, Our Hotel was in fact in Tegel, “The Dorient budget hotel” which is also part and parcel of the trip, although only a three star hotel, I would class this more as a 4 star, as I have stayed in 4 star hotels before now, not as nice as this. Anyway it included breakfast and evening meal, we had 2 x twin bedded rooms, Mum and Dad in one, my Sister and I in the other, nicely decorated, clean and airy, reasonable size, and with ensuit bathrooms, although only a stones throw from the airport and right on the flight path, I never heard another plane after midnight.
After unpacking and tidying ourselves up, we decided to explore the nearby area, before tea.
Then once my parents were tucked up in bed for the night 9pm, my Sister and I decided to go out for a while, we found a nice little pub a couple of doors up from the hotel, and sat out on the sidewalk on this warm July evening, We met some nice German families, and some English and Scots folk, whom we spent a couple of hours chatting to, before retiring to bed ourselves.
After Breakfast the next day, we had pre booked a tour of Berlin with the coach, this was the only tour we booked, as Berlin is too large, to see it all on foot, we decided to see it from the coach, and then decide which parts we wanted to visit closer the next day by ourselves, as we only had a few days to fit every thing in.
We decided to spend some time in the Tiergarten area of Berlin, as this was where my Father spent his Childhood, the parks remained the same as he had remembered them, the house he grew up in, had long gone, destroyed in the war, to be replaced by a very modern 10 storey block of flats.
In Tiergarten stands a spectacular sight, the “Victory column” (Siegessaule) with a 26ft statue of the Victory Goddess “Viktoria” mounted on the top, it was built in 1873 to commemorate 3 German victories over Denmark 1864, Austria 1866 and France 1870-1871. It used to stand in front of the Reichstag, now renamed the “Platz der Republik" but Hitler had it moved in 1938 to where it now stands, right in the centre of Tiergarten. You can climb the stairs to the top of the column for a very small charge, it was only a few Phennig back in 2000, the column stands a magnificent 220ft high, so you can see some absolutely splendid views over the city. My Fathers face was a picture when he saw it, as it had seemingly moved quite a distance from when he left Berlin, now it had ended up almost on his doorstep.
The next day, we decided to explore East Berlin on our own, partly using the public transport, and partly on foot, we decided to take Mum and Dad to lunch up the 1,197 foot television tower, which was completed in 1969, the restaurant which revolves is not right at the top, but 800 foot up, it was a wonderful experience, especially for my Dad, it sits adjacent to the newly refurbished Alexander platz, this was once the crossroads of Greater Berlin.
After lunch we took photos by the Brandenburg gate, which joins both sides of Berlin in the centre, it was commissioned by Fredrich Willhelm II in 1791 and was originally built to represent “peace” It is one of the most well known landmarks in Berlin. The design hasn’t changed since it was built, with only slight war damage, when the wall was built in 1961 ……the Brandenburg gate was incorporated into it, and locked until the wall was demolished in 1989
Under the Brandenburg gate we went, and on past the town hall and Humbolt University formally (Fredrick William university) on past the Marx-Engels-Platz. Although most of East Berlin has now been rebuilt, there were still lots of bits of bombed buildings, and houses with war damage.
We then followed what looked like giant stepping-stones; they are all that remain of the wall, which was built by the former Communist government of the East, in 1961 to stop the East Germans from fleeing to the West. All 100 miles of it was eventually taken down on the 9th Nov 1989 apart from a couple of remaining bits. We reached “Check point Charlie” and the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, a few yards along from there is one of the last remaining bits of the wall, now used as an outdoor art gallery, by local City artists, and known as “The East side gallery” one section in particular, left a lasting impression on me.
I took photos of it, (and shall include them in this review) the words are hard to read, from the photo …… this is how they go “MANY SMALL PEOPLE, WHO IN MANY SMALL PLACES, DO MANY SMALL THINGS, CAN ALTER THE FACE OF THE WORLD” it is written in both German and English, and surrounded by student’s paintings.There is so much to see and do in Berlin, that you would need more than a day to even see
Pictures of Berlin (Germany)
Mum and I with the "Blue church" in background
one side of it, (it does seem to alter quite a bit each time I see it) I have now been 4 times and still there is much I haven’t yet seen. We never visited the Zoo this time, as I have been once before and I am not keen on Zoo’s, but it is open daily 9am-6pm and is quite spectacular.
We did visit the Charlottenburg Palace, on the River Spree, which was built in 1695 it is surrounded by the most beautiful gardens, and home to some magnificent paintings.
Nearby in the Savignyplatz area of Charlottenburg, there are some fascinating little Bars, Restaurants and bookshops that were built while the East and West were divided, all very quaint.
West Berlin has lots of Cinema's plenty of night clubs and 3 State Theatre’s, the Berlin film festival began in 1951, there is also the New National gallery, Philharmonic hall, the Technical University and the new Opera house, called “Deuches Oper Berlin” it burned down in 1843, was rebuilt, only to be destroyed by bombs in WW2, and eventually rebuilt in 1951
West Berlin is very modern and vibrant, with many expensive building, we did spend some time at Kurfurstendamm which is one of Berlins largest , poshest shopping centres, there are huge department stores, the whole area is very classy, this area is of particular interest to the younger Berliners, as there are plenty of nightclubs.
We carried on a bit further and decided to have lunch at a little street café in the centre, surrounded by shops, and pretty shrubs, over looked by one of my favourite buildings, “The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial church” or the Blue church as it is so often called, It has a beautiful blue hue about it. It was badly bomb damaged during the war, but still stands, in all its glory, it has never been repaired, just left completely as it was, apart from some scaffolding making it safe, it was left like this, to show the people of Berlin, just what war can do (I am including a photo of it, but it doesn’t really do it justice)
We were slowly running out of time, and Mum was very tired, so we decided to go back to our hotel for a rest, before tiding up for our evening meal (all included in trip) We left the visit to Museum Island until the next day.
Museum Island is situated on an Island, on the river Spree, where some of Berlin’s best museums are to be found. The Altes museum, Pergamonmuseum, Bodemmuseum, the Berliner dom, the Asia minor museum and The national gallery are to name but a few. The Berlin Cathedral is also situated here, we only touched on a very small part of the Island, spending most time in the Pergamonmuseum, as my Father wanted to see the “Pergamon Alter” that dates back to the (2nd century BC) there were plenty of Greek and Roman, mosaics, sculptures, inscriptions and Architectural remains to be found here. We were told that over 800,000 people visit this museum yearly. This took up all afternoon, and although very interesting, it was also very tiring.
Well I am almost at the end of my trip; there were a few other places I visited, but too many to mention in one review, I do however have a few other things to add.
It is well worth visiting Potsdam, which could take up a whole day as there is so much to see and do, there is the beautiful Sannssouci park with over 700 acres of hills and valleys, with spectacular fountains, Temples,,and of course the beautiful Neues Palace. Potsdam has some facinating timber buildings, and contrasting fine Arcitecture, there is also the Dutch quarter, bustling market, some friendly cafe's and numerous shops.
Transport in and around Berlin is excelent with a wonderful network of Underground, all stations were reopened after reunification after many were closed and became ghost stations as they were too dangerously close to the wall when it was built.
There are also tram and bus service and plenty of taxi's sitting in neat rows on the ranks, there were many bicycles in Berlin and much of the side walk was made safe for both pedestrians and cyclists.
There are 3 airports in Berlin, Tegal, Templehof, in downtown Berlin and The Berlin Schonefeld airport in the south east of the City, I have heard that this airport is being expanded (work starting in 2005) it will then be renamed the BBI, (Berlin and Brandenburg International airport) Tegal and Templehof will then close, and all flights will go to and from the BBI airport.
To me East Berlin is by far my favourite part of the City. I love the fact that although it is a very large busy City, there are beautiful parks, flower garden, and tree lined walkways around almost every corner.
There are plenty of places to stay, with no shortage of Hotels, and Berlin welcomes visitors, I did notice how clean everywhere was, my Mum was fascinated by the public toilets, (but then they are the same in most parts of Germany I have visited) very clean an nice smelling, with vases of flowers, even in the gents (so my Father informed me) and a lady sitting with a money dish, which you have to give generously to, she then cleans each toilet as you come out. “They put our toilets in England to shame”
There are a wide selection of good shops, from quaint little bookshops, little antique shops, to huge department stores, I found the cost of living slightly cheaper than in England, with a lot of items much cheaper, like certain foods, tobacco, alcohol, and chocolate was very cheap….. Yippee!
There were no shortages of places to eat with a wide selection on the menu, and most places did a variety of local food, at very reasonable prices (although we were half board at our hotel) we did sample quite a few different local dishes every lunchtime. We found the people very friendly and helpful, and most spoke pretty good English,
Did you know the film “Cabaret” was set in Berlin in the.1920’s…. and is a reminder of what a pulsating and vibrant city Berlin once was, and is once more becoming.
This trip was 7 days but only 3 nights and 4 days were spent in Berlin, and two nights BB enroute, the rest of the days were taken up with travelling, at the time we went it was just under £200 each, which I felt was good value, as it included 3 nights HB hotel in Berlin, and two nights BB at a hotel in the Ruhr area, coach travel, ferry crossing, and insurance. I find Berlin more exciting every time I go, not that I plan on going back again just yet, maybe in 3-4 years time.
I do hope that some of you managed to get this far..…. And for that I thank you! Heatherx
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very interesting review, I enjoyed reading it!
Ive no Es left for today, remind me to re-rate!!
Paul99ine 20.10.2006 00:14
An excellent review. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about your trip. Pauline.
anonymili 18.10.2006 00:08
Splendid review covering everything I would expect to find in a travel review. And stuff that I didn't know I should know is right below here in zoobremia's comment LOL. x
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