Berlin is the capital of Germany and has a population of 3.5 million people. Berlin has had a rather grim history of late, especially in the 20th Century. Destroyed by the Second World War and then divided by the Cold War, only when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 could the reunification of Germany become a reality.
I have visited the city a few times as it has good air links with Glasgow via its flights to Schonfeld. Tegel, the other major airport is to be closed and a new airport is due to be built on the Schonfeld site... a super airport called Brandeburg.
Any visit to Berlin would not be complete with a visit to the famous symbol of East and West and the partitionof Germany, the Brandenburg Tor. It is a beautiful piece of architecture and is one of the ost photographed spots in Europe.
The old Berlin Wall is not too hard to find as some sections are still up, but only tiny little bits just for tourists and for photo opportunities.
The famous old parliament building, the Reichstag has now an impressive dome built by British architect Norman Foster. The building is called the Reichstag, but the actual parliament itself when it sits is called the Bundestag.
Berlin is also home to the most impressive train station I have ever been lucky enought to set foot in: Berlin Hauptbanhof. It has a beautiful glass facade and is full of shops and modern platforms. It feels like an indoor city or a shopping mall. Certainly not the worst place to wait for a train.
Two places of interest I didn’t get to see is the Tiergarten or Berlin Zoo, which I hope to visit someday and also the historic spy thriller setting of Checkpoint Charlie – the most famous crossing point from West to East Berlin.
Cycling in Berlin is safe and fun. Almost every pavement has a cycle lane, meaning you do not have to travel much on the actual road. I would recommend getting around central Berlin by bike for a day or two. Naturally there are larger distances where you might need to use the S-Bahn (train) or the U-Bahn (underground).
Indeed from the centre of town and the River Spree, I cycled to the impressive Olympic Stadium, which is near Spandau. The old Spandau prison has been knocked down. The Olympic Stadium was built for the 1936 Summer Olympic Games which were memorable for Hitler and the Nazis trying to hijack it for political purposes but were humiliated by a certain American athlete, and one of my all time heroes, Jesse Owens. Jesse Owens won an amazing 4 Gold medals and blew a rather large raspberry to the sinister racial arguments of superiority espoused by the Nazis. A true Boys’ Own story.
Overall Berlin has much to offer including a great night life and much to see and do. It is a modern city which still has a marked difference in the housing between what was the old West Berlin and the less prosperous Communist East Berlin.
I hope to return soon.
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