GARGANTUAN steps
Sunday, September 05, 2010
proletarier aller Länder, vereinigt euch!
Proletarians of all countries, unite!
This entry took a long time coming but I've finally found the time to sit down and do a short write up on my recent travel to Berlin! It's also been a while since I traveling on my own without an organised tour, but old habits die hard, and here I am with another major European city covered! Going on organised tours makes one lazy and dependent, and you also miss out on a lot of sights. Of course it requires lots of hard work and hard walking, but it was well worth the effort.
Berlin was covered over a weekend within my Obstetrics and Gynaecology rotation. I think I needed it badly, to get out of the craziness of firms as well as to get out of London for a bit. It was a short weekend though, but I think I've accomplished much in these two days. I was gladly accompanied by my old buddy Bok who had flown all the way from Singapore for an exchange in Bradford, but decided to conquer Europe first, and we started out by going to Berlin. Unfortunately, I didn't follow him for the rest of the trip, but I've had my opportunity and will still have opportunities to do so. It was quite an entertaining trip together with him, mainly because he didn't bring a wide-angle lens for his camera, but brought a zoom-lens instead (is that what you call them?), so we ended up having to stand from ridiculous distances from any object just to take a picture of it, and it did not necessarily mean that he could fit the entire object into view still! It was hilarious. I had my own camera problems too, with fast-dying batteries as well as a broken catch for the battery compartment. Thankfully, I got most of the photos I wanted.
Berlin is a city that seems to be infatuated with the war, and there are exhibitions, post-cards and pictures to remind you of how Berlin looked like after World War II. It is fascinating to see how badly Berlin previously was damaged, but also very remarkable to see how it has since then been restored. And the wounds from the past (both the World War as well as the Cold War) seems to yet have been fully healed, and they serve to cling on like how a nightmare feels after just waking up - so real but yet so distant.
I entered Berlin on a wet Saturday morning, and finding the bus-stop in the circular airport of Schonefeld was never going to be an easy task. Bok had a bit of trouble getting through immigration as well, with them suspecting him of being one who might never get out of Germany due to his nationality. The best part was him giving the officer answers he not want to hear - ' Are you going home after this trip?' 'No, I'm moving on to Munich.' Meanwhile, getting into the town centre and locating our hotel wasn't too difficult. We couldn't check in yet as our rooms weren't ready, so we headed off to our first destination, which was the Reichstag (German parliament), and that was when I first realised the true power of Bok's camera. To take a building that was about 200m in length, we had to walk nearly 400-500m away, and even then, it wasn't guaranteed that Bok could fit the entire building into his camera! It didn't help that it was raining and I was getting my socks and shoes wet barely an hour after walking. We decided to head back later in the evening to enter into the Reichstag since the queue was terribly long. We next headed off to see the Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor), which is probably the symbol of Berlin and Germany followed by the Holocaust Memorial to the Murdered European Jews, which consists of 2711 concrete slabs spread across an area to form a maze. Following that, we saw some remnants of the Berlin wall before heading off to Checkpoint Charlie, which in essence has become somewhat of a joke, with pseudo-checkpoint officers 'guarding' the place that once used to be the only legitimate crossing-point between East and West Berlin.
The afternoon was spent at the Berliner Dom, which is just like any huge impressive European church (if you've been around Europe enough). That was when my camera battery started to fail me and by the time I got to the top of the dome for the spectacular views of the city, it died, as did my interest for the rest of the afternoon's activity, which was actually suppose to be spent wandering about Pergamon museum. Thankfully, Bok was kind enough to let me return to the hotel to charge my camera battery whilst we went for an early dinner. The evening was spent queuing up to get into the Reichstag, and it was a ridiculously long wait! We started queuing at 710pm, but we only managed to get in by 930pm! The audio-guide did not keep me captivated for long, but the interior of the Reichstag, as well as the night-scenes of Berlin probably did the job. It was thankfully, just about worth the wait. After letting Bok get his night views of both the Reichstag as well as the Brandenburg Gates, we went back to our hotel for a rather good and cheap night's rest.
+Me.JPG)
Me at the Holocaust Memorial
+Me.JPG)
Me at one section of the Berlin Wall
+Checkpoint+Charlie.JPG)
An unglorified Checkpoint Charlie
+Berliner+Dom.JPG)
Berliner Dom
+Reichstag+Interior.JPG)
Inside the Reichstag
+Reichstag.JPG)
Glass dome of the Reichstag
supposedly signifying the transparency of the government
+Reichstag.JPG)
The Reichstag
+Brandenburger+Tor.JPG)
Brandenburger Tor
The next morning, we made our way to Schloss Charlottenburg, which was a good recommendation by Alex. This is one of the few remaining palaces in Berlin, and it was not too badly damaged by the war, thankfully. It was a bit out of the city centre, but too hard to get to. One needs to spend a good half a day roaming through the various rooms, and it did remind me a bit of the Hermitage in St Petersburg, though the latter more splendid and beautiful. Schloss Charlottenburg has its own attractions too, and none more so than the Porcelain Room - a room literally filled with porcelain glasses. In the palace, I too found a portrait of Napolean that is used as the cover-picture in the Leo Tolstoy epic 'War and Peace'. Just small trivia. The afternoon was spent covering the one attraction that I did not want to miss in the whole of Berlin, and that was the Pergamon Museum. Though the main attraction is supposedly the Pergamon Altar from Turkey, I was there more for the Gates of Babylon, or the Ishtar Gates, which probably has more intrigue and mystery to me - after all, the Walls of Babylon together with its Hanging Gardens were one of the original seven Wonders of the World. But anyway, this museum is one not to be missed! Following that, we made our way back to our hotel, and that was the end of a rather short but enterprising trip for me to Berlin, whilst Bok carried on to Munich to carry on with his European tour, heading to the little town of Fussen for a very well known castle I've previously been to!
+Schloss+Charlottenburg.JPG)
Schloss Charlottenburg
+Porcelain+Room.JPG)
The Porcelain Room
+Gardens.JPG)
The palace garden
+Golden+Gallery.JPG)
The Golden Gallery
+Napolean.JPG)
War and Peace
+Me+and+Bok.JPG)
Me and Bok
A ridiculous picture taken by the most ridiculous photographer
+Pergamon+Museum.JPG)
The Pergamon Museum
+Pergamon+Altar.JPG)
The Pergamon Altar
+Ishtar+Gate.JPG)
The Ishtar Gates
+Babylon+Procession+Street.JPG)
Babylon Procession Street
+Adina+Hotel.JPG)
Adina Hotel
This entry took a long time coming but I've finally found the time to sit down and do a short write up on my recent travel to Berlin! It's also been a while since I traveling on my own without an organised tour, but old habits die hard, and here I am with another major European city covered! Going on organised tours makes one lazy and dependent, and you also miss out on a lot of sights. Of course it requires lots of hard work and hard walking, but it was well worth the effort.
Berlin was covered over a weekend within my Obstetrics and Gynaecology rotation. I think I needed it badly, to get out of the craziness of firms as well as to get out of London for a bit. It was a short weekend though, but I think I've accomplished much in these two days. I was gladly accompanied by my old buddy Bok who had flown all the way from Singapore for an exchange in Bradford, but decided to conquer Europe first, and we started out by going to Berlin. Unfortunately, I didn't follow him for the rest of the trip, but I've had my opportunity and will still have opportunities to do so. It was quite an entertaining trip together with him, mainly because he didn't bring a wide-angle lens for his camera, but brought a zoom-lens instead (is that what you call them?), so we ended up having to stand from ridiculous distances from any object just to take a picture of it, and it did not necessarily mean that he could fit the entire object into view still! It was hilarious. I had my own camera problems too, with fast-dying batteries as well as a broken catch for the battery compartment. Thankfully, I got most of the photos I wanted.
Berlin is a city that seems to be infatuated with the war, and there are exhibitions, post-cards and pictures to remind you of how Berlin looked like after World War II. It is fascinating to see how badly Berlin previously was damaged, but also very remarkable to see how it has since then been restored. And the wounds from the past (both the World War as well as the Cold War) seems to yet have been fully healed, and they serve to cling on like how a nightmare feels after just waking up - so real but yet so distant.
I entered Berlin on a wet Saturday morning, and finding the bus-stop in the circular airport of Schonefeld was never going to be an easy task. Bok had a bit of trouble getting through immigration as well, with them suspecting him of being one who might never get out of Germany due to his nationality. The best part was him giving the officer answers he not want to hear - ' Are you going home after this trip?' 'No, I'm moving on to Munich.' Meanwhile, getting into the town centre and locating our hotel wasn't too difficult. We couldn't check in yet as our rooms weren't ready, so we headed off to our first destination, which was the Reichstag (German parliament), and that was when I first realised the true power of Bok's camera. To take a building that was about 200m in length, we had to walk nearly 400-500m away, and even then, it wasn't guaranteed that Bok could fit the entire building into his camera! It didn't help that it was raining and I was getting my socks and shoes wet barely an hour after walking. We decided to head back later in the evening to enter into the Reichstag since the queue was terribly long. We next headed off to see the Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor), which is probably the symbol of Berlin and Germany followed by the Holocaust Memorial to the Murdered European Jews, which consists of 2711 concrete slabs spread across an area to form a maze. Following that, we saw some remnants of the Berlin wall before heading off to Checkpoint Charlie, which in essence has become somewhat of a joke, with pseudo-checkpoint officers 'guarding' the place that once used to be the only legitimate crossing-point between East and West Berlin.
The afternoon was spent at the Berliner Dom, which is just like any huge impressive European church (if you've been around Europe enough). That was when my camera battery started to fail me and by the time I got to the top of the dome for the spectacular views of the city, it died, as did my interest for the rest of the afternoon's activity, which was actually suppose to be spent wandering about Pergamon museum. Thankfully, Bok was kind enough to let me return to the hotel to charge my camera battery whilst we went for an early dinner. The evening was spent queuing up to get into the Reichstag, and it was a ridiculously long wait! We started queuing at 710pm, but we only managed to get in by 930pm! The audio-guide did not keep me captivated for long, but the interior of the Reichstag, as well as the night-scenes of Berlin probably did the job. It was thankfully, just about worth the wait. After letting Bok get his night views of both the Reichstag as well as the Brandenburg Gates, we went back to our hotel for a rather good and cheap night's rest.
+Me.JPG)
Me at the Holocaust Memorial
+Me.JPG)
Me at one section of the Berlin Wall
+Checkpoint+Charlie.JPG)
An unglorified Checkpoint Charlie
+Berliner+Dom.JPG)
Berliner Dom
+Reichstag+Interior.JPG)
Inside the Reichstag
+Reichstag.JPG)
Glass dome of the Reichstag
supposedly signifying the transparency of the government
+Reichstag.JPG)
The Reichstag
+Brandenburger+Tor.JPG)
Brandenburger Tor
The next morning, we made our way to Schloss Charlottenburg, which was a good recommendation by Alex. This is one of the few remaining palaces in Berlin, and it was not too badly damaged by the war, thankfully. It was a bit out of the city centre, but too hard to get to. One needs to spend a good half a day roaming through the various rooms, and it did remind me a bit of the Hermitage in St Petersburg, though the latter more splendid and beautiful. Schloss Charlottenburg has its own attractions too, and none more so than the Porcelain Room - a room literally filled with porcelain glasses. In the palace, I too found a portrait of Napolean that is used as the cover-picture in the Leo Tolstoy epic 'War and Peace'. Just small trivia. The afternoon was spent covering the one attraction that I did not want to miss in the whole of Berlin, and that was the Pergamon Museum. Though the main attraction is supposedly the Pergamon Altar from Turkey, I was there more for the Gates of Babylon, or the Ishtar Gates, which probably has more intrigue and mystery to me - after all, the Walls of Babylon together with its Hanging Gardens were one of the original seven Wonders of the World. But anyway, this museum is one not to be missed! Following that, we made our way back to our hotel, and that was the end of a rather short but enterprising trip for me to Berlin, whilst Bok carried on to Munich to carry on with his European tour, heading to the little town of Fussen for a very well known castle I've previously been to!
+Schloss+Charlottenburg.JPG)
Schloss Charlottenburg
+Porcelain+Room.JPG)
The Porcelain Room
+Gardens.JPG)
The palace garden
+Golden+Gallery.JPG)
The Golden Gallery
+Napolean.JPG)
War and Peace
+Me+and+Bok.JPG)
Me and Bok
A ridiculous picture taken by the most ridiculous photographer
+Pergamon+Museum.JPG)
The Pergamon Museum
+Pergamon+Altar.JPG)
The Pergamon Altar
+Ishtar+Gate.JPG)
The Ishtar Gates
+Babylon+Procession+Street.JPG)
Babylon Procession Street
+Adina+Hotel.JPG)
Adina Hotel
One more European city covered, and I wonder what my next will be! This has reinvigorated my taste for backpacking and traveling. Meanwhile, on to more pressing matters, and that can only mean my studies!
Labels: Berlin, Church, Europe, Friends, Germany, History, Museum, Travel, War
