Berlin felt distinctly autumnal this morning… grey clouds, a chill breeze. I think autumn suits the city.
We had to get moving early for our booked session at the Reichstag dome. The Reichstag (home of Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag) is an imposing building… grand columns and ornate carvings hide a troubled history. It has been burned, shelled, bombed, rebuilt, and most recently adorned with a striking glass and steel dome, designed by Norman Foster in the 1990s.
After a quick security check, we stepped out onto the roof. The views are lovely. Berlin isn’t a city of towering skyscrapers… instead, its skyline is punctuated by tall, narrow church spires. It’s well worth the visit.
Afterwards we ducked home for warmer clothes, then headed out for a light gluten-free lunch and a walk along the Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer. This stretch of the Berlin Wall preserves a kilometre of the border strip… with its patrol roads, fences, and “kill zone” laid bare. Where the Wall itself is gone, a line of steel bars marks its place, creating an eerie, ghostlike reminder. A myriad of information panels guide you through the history.
It’s effective and a bit chilling, made more so by the fact that ordinary houses, cafes and apartment blocks stand right alongside… Berlin now carrying on with life where such horror was experienced just 35 years ago.
We caught the tram deeper into what was once East Berlin, bound for the Oberbaumbrücke. An impressive red-brick bridge (which I mistook for a gothic church) stood for decades right on the border between East and West Berlin.
From there we strolled along the river past the East Side Gallery. This part of the Berlin Wall has been transformed into a kilometre-long open-air gallery. Murals cover almost every inch… some political, some playful, some pretty ordinary. It’s a little tired and after the stark authenticity of the Bernauer Straße memorial, it felt more like tourism than history. Still, totally worth the walk.
Eventually we hopped on a train back to Alexanderplatz, where hunger got the better of us. A plate of fries and Berlin’s tourist staple, Currywurst, awaited. It was exactly what you’d expect… very German sausage, ketchup, curry powder.
By now the evening light had turned golden, and we wandered the short distance into the Nikolaiviertel. This small quarter, painstakingly reconstructed in the 1980s, is a curious pocket of old Berlin… narrow lanes, gabled houses, and the Nikolaikirche’s twin spires rising above it all.
Exhausted we caught the U-Bahn back home.
The Obligatory Blog 