August 16 - Berlin
I was by myself in Berlin, and only stayed there for less than two days because of my train to Sweden. Much of the city was reduced to rubble during the war, and then a good portion of it was held back under Soviet control. As a result, there has been an incredible amount of reconstruction and development following the fall of the Wall and the city has a modern look and feel to it. One thing that noticeably stuck out as I rode the trains throughout the city is the very large amount of graffiti everywhere. While you cannot see so much when you are in the main hubs and squares, but go just two or three blocks and you will see it covering a lot. And not just open walls – the graffiti will routinely be sprayed over store fronts and such. It seemed odd to me how this type of thing was accepted.
Because I was by myself, I shifted gears quite a bit while in Berlin. I would go 8 hours without eating if I didn’t feel hungry. I had to check out of the hostel on Tuesday morning and my train was not until 11pm that night. So I packed everything I had into my backpack and hauled it everywhere. I paid 9 euros and joined a walking tour covering the sights of the Third Reich, which was very good. Berlin is forced to deal with the painful history of the Nazis and as a result you do not see big prominent markers at key places (the spot above Hitler’s bunker is a ubiquitous parking lot…the subway station nearby uses much of Hitler’s red marble). The tour guide was able to point out many things that I would have missed entirely. We saw where Goebbels and Himmler and Speer and such had their offices, and learned a lot about the rise of the Nazis and more of the men. I went to the Checkpoint Charlie museum and the actual checkpoint has been preserved but it is entirely tourist-ized now.
I got to the train station early, at around 9pm, got my bags and then killed some time before the train arrived.