Berlin Part 1 - City Countryside Sea - Germany 2022 - 4a
Stage 4a - Berlin Part 1
Meanwhile, it is about time that we move toward Berlin. The traffic is already increasing quite a bit. Freya is now glad again that Jürgen is there and she does not have to drive. Calmly and safely he drives us both to the parking garage near Alexanderplatz. The Holiday Inn Express is located opposite the Old Town House and close to the River Spree. As with the Motel One Leipzig, we were told that the parking garage is small and usually fully booked. So now we have to walk a bit from the Alexa shopping center.
But that is soon done and after a short break, we leave again and make it with the first raindrops to a pizzeria near the Red City Hall (Rotes Rathaus). Hardly we have finished eating, the rain is also gone and we take the metro to the station Bundestag. Via the Spreebogenpark we want to go to the House of the Cultures of the World and then to the Brandenburg Gate.
In the Spreebogenpark we get into a conversation with a man who walks his super nice dog there. He is quite annoyed by the development of the city and warns us of the increasing crime in one or the other part of the city. In the proximity of the House of the Cultures, a peace camp has spread out, that protests against the war in Ukraine. Interestingly, it is not mentioned anywhere that this is an attack by the Russians.
We walk around the House of Cultures [↗], but it is still too early for interesting pictures and we don't want to wait. So we continue to the Brandenburg Gate [↗]. Here it is, as usual, very busy. Jürgen takes a picture of the Quadriga with the telephoto lens and even though it's not that late, we take the metro back to the hotel and call it a night.
The next morning the weather is still so-so. A little cooler than yesterday, but still cloudy and with high humidity. Neither of us slept that great, but after breakfast, we head out full speed. Our first destination is just around the corner, the District Court Central (Amtsgericht Mitte). This has a very nice entrance hall. Unfortunately, you are only allowed to take pictures with a cell phone.
Via the Alexanderplatz with the World Time Clock, we now go in the direction of Rosenthaler Straße. Already on the way, we pass suburban train bridges with graffiti. Our destination is one of the courtyards on Rosenthaler Street, the "Haus Schwarzenberg Street Art Alley". Quite small and definitely no longer an insider tip. It is interesting how the various layers of stickers overlap. We also paid a visit to the courtyard next door, the Rosenhof.
Shortly before reaching the Berlin Cathedral, we almost failed, together with an Italian family, to open a public toilet. Finally, it was possible by using a credit card.
Then off to the Berlin Cathedral [↗]. Jürgen wants the panoramic view, while Freya stays seated and wants to enjoy the atmosphere. Climbing the stairs is only worth it to a certain extent. You can not see into the interior of the church and the view over the city is impressive, but with the gray-in-gray of the weather today it's not really photogenic. But at least the interior itself makes up for the 7 Euro entrance fee. Finally, we enjoy a coffee in the Dom Cafe and watch the sparrows.
We continue walking to the Gendarmenmarkt [↗] where we have a short look into the French Cathedral [↗] and a longer one into the German Cathedral [↗]. Neither had an ecclesiastical use. The name should only reflect the splendor that was given to the buildings.
In the German Cathedral, you can find a (free) permanent exhibition about the history of German democracy. This is spread over the different floors and even though we spend quite some time here, we would need many hours if we wanted to look at all the exhibits and texts intensively.
Slowly we get hungry and believe that we should be able to find something to our taste near the Mall of Berlin. On the way we pass Quartier 206, another mall. Unfortunately, they don't want you to photograph the beautiful Art Deco interior. Probably the topic has settled anyway soon. Except for a few security people, no one was interested in the stores.
Shortly before we reach the Mall of Berlin, we are successful. Here are some Asian restaurants and in the smaller one [↗] we find a place in the "front yard". The setting is nice and the food tastes so good that we definitely want to come back again.
On the way to the Potsdamer Platz we stop at the Mall of Berlin [↗], which has decorated the square between the two main buildings with many colorful umbrellas swaying in the wind.
We only stay a short time at the Potsdamer Platz and then walk back to the Leipziger Platz. There we take the metro and go back to the hotel. Now it's time for a break. Well, and that lasted until the next morning. Both of us were somehow not really adventurous anymore.
