There comes a point when visiting a new city, especially when you’re living in a flat rather than a hotel, when you start to see it through the eyes of a local. For me in Berlin, that was today. Not a complaint or a revelation… just an observation.
We woke late, breakfasted as we have every morning (muesli, coffee), and walked down to Hackescher Markt in Mitte, ostensibly to look at shops. There we found the Hackesche Höfe, a series of eight interconnected courtyards built in 1906. Originally, the complex was designed as a kind of mixed-use modern community in the old Jewish quarter… housing, workshops, small factories, even theatres all jumbled in together. Today it’s fully restored, and packed with boutiques, galleries, and cafés.
Next door we ducked into Haus Schwarzenberg, a scruffier, graffitied set of smaller courtyards. Stickers, murals, all angry young people and “anarchic” and very East Berlin (or how I imagined it to be in the 90’s).
After a wander through the markets, we picked up lunch and ate by the river, looking out across Museum Island.
From there, a short stroll took us back to Alexanderplatz, where we caught the U-Bahn to KaDeWe (Kaufhaus des Westens). Built in 1907, it’s still the biggest department store in continental Europe and a Cold War icon to West Berlin consumerism (middle finger to the East). It sprawls over 60,000 square metres, but dear reader… it’s the sixth floor! The food hall. It’s insane. Miles of cheese, piles of ham, pyramids of pastries, champagne bars, chocolate, every food you can imagine. We wandered, wide-eyed, and came away with a modest bottle of fizzy water and some juice.
We wandered up a grey, slightly tired high street to the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche… a beautiful church that was heavily bombed in 1943. Instead of demolishing what was left, the broken tower was kept as a war memorial. In the 1960s a modern octagonal church and belfry was added right next to the ruin… all blue stained glass and brutalist geometry.
Beginning to flag a little (at least I was), we walked and bussed down to Potsdamer Platz.
Before WWII this had been one of Europe’s busiest, most happening squares… cafés, cabarets, and apparently the world’s first traffic light. Then came the bombs, then the Wall, and the square became a kill zone between East and West. After reunification, large corporations quickly bought these kill zones (which were prime real estate). Today it’s a shiny, slightly soulless collection of steel and glass towers. Quite impressive, but only quite.
Now home… washing and planning our last couple of days in Berlin.
The Obligatory Blog 