The Last Day

The Metropol Concert Hall was very nearly next door to our Hotel Sachsenhof
Nollendorfkiez - Berlin, Germany
Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

I HAVE said this before, and I know I will say it again: the final day of any really great trip is bound to have a slightly melancholy feel. Fortunately, good health permitting, we always have the next one to look forward to. This post will cover a number images made on the last day of our trip; as well as some general observations about the trip as a whole.

Berlin, Germany
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EVERY NEW place we visit has its own "feel." That is largely driven by customs and culture. In most of the "new" places we have visited, there are notable characteristics of the people. Though they may to a point be overgeneralized. We have certainlymet wonderful - and not so wonderful people in almost every place we have visited. Fortunately the former usually far outweighs the latter. But given this, I can make a few personal observations (and generalizations). I the Caribbean, the people give of a relaxed and friendly air in most instances. They can, however, also be pushy and "high pressure" when it comes to selling you. We found that to be especially true in Cozumel. Less so in some of the other places like St. Maarten and St. Kitts. How much of that is sincere, I don't really know. In Britain we have found the people to polite, if a bit reserved. In Portugal and in Barcelona, we found the people to be genuine, friendly and unassuming. Likewise in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Iceland. In Japan, the people are reserved, but at the same time very friendly and very respectful (perhaps - to my way of thinking - overly so, but that is their culture).

Berlin, Germany
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I DID a fair amount of reading and YouTube watching before our trip to Central Europe. It was interesting to get presenters' "take" on the "personality" of the people here. What we found in our own experience was that they were pretty spot on in their descriptions. Especially in Switzerland and Germany, we found the people to be (mostly) polite, but often brusque. There isn't a lot of "small talk." They are direct and matter of fact, which can give the appearance of a lack of warmth. Yet I think that would be an unfair judgment. My wife had an experience with one of the service people in our hotel in Munich which may well explain my comment. She had a couple interactions with this person and came away feeling that the person did not like her and was impolite. At the end of our stay - something my wife likes to do - and is always well-taken and appreciated is to give a small gift to certain providers (hotel service, tour guides, room stewards on ships, etc). It is usually a small gift bag with "American" items in it (which can be candy, or something similar). When she presented the gift to her "friend" in the Munich Motel, the icy exterior melted and she was effusively grateful. We do have to appreciate that people are a product of their culture and not make too many generalizations. I will say that we found the Swiss to be uniformly polite and attentive to detail and seemed to care about things. The Germans (particularly in Bavaria) seemed a bit less "caring" (surprisingly to me), but still mostly polite and helpful. And again, those are generalizations. There are always people who stand out.

Berlin, Germany
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THE "FEEL," though, is also driven by the visual impact of the place. Probably especially for the photographer, this aspect is more important than any of the above observations. In that category, each of the places we visited had their own unique visual impact, whether it be architecture, topography, or attention to details (for example, Switzerland was a fastidiously clean place - more so than any of the others in my view, though none of them were remarkably untidy).

Berlin, Germany
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BETWEEN the 4 cities, Berlin was clearly the most varied in its visual appearance. Contrast that with Prague, which will stunning, was much more uniform and narrow in the differences from area to area. I have also suggested that Berlin is generally more geographically "open" feeling. In Munich, Prague and at least the old city parts of Zurich and Lucerne, there were many (if not mostly) more narrow streets and much older architecture. Certainly a big part of this is the fact that most of what we saw in Berlin was rebuilt very much more recently (1900's rather than 1300's).

Berlin Hauptbahnhof - Berlin, Germany
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PARTICULARLY IN the city center, there are a lot of open spaces, plazas, and buildings that are set back away from main streets. This gives that open feeling. The modern touches like the brightly colored benches that double as art and the utility of seating, add to that openness, as well a modernity that the other cities rarely demonstrated.

Berlin, Germany
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AT THE same time there are still many examples of old, architecture dating from as old as some romanesque to neoclassical specimens which give the city its own unique and yes, eclectic, character. Seeing these examples of architecture mixed and ocassionally even side-by-side reveals the complimentary way in which the city have been able to mix these forms of art. It was a fun city to walk and photograph.

Berlin Cathedral - Berlin, Germany
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THE SIZE of the city, however, made that endeavor a challenge. I think in order to do it justice, I needed more time and a better feel for the layout of things. For example, on the Hop-on-Hop-off bus, we saw a lot of things I really want to go back and photograph. For various reasons, we didn't on this trip. The governmental center buildings were grandiose and spectacular, but photographing them from a moving tour bus is pretty much a non-starter. It is a place in the city I would like to return to. The famed Brandenburg Gate is another spot we "missed." It was apparently in the middle of maintenance/construction and would not have made for a photogenic view. Reminds me a bit of our first trip to London when the tower and Big Ben was scaffolded and partly shrouded, during a several-year maintenance period. I made it back to photography it a couple years later. Brandenburg too, will have to wait for another trip.

Berlin, Germany
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THIS DAY, we had two goals. First, our Berlin Card gave us tour-boat trip on Berlin's main river: The Spree and we wanted to take full advantage of that. We were fortunate to have one of the very few beautiful, mostly sunny, warm fall days. We knew the tourboat launch was near the Berlin Cathedral (where we had started our Berlin food tour just 2 evenings ago), so we would take essentially the same subway route we took on our first afternoon.

River Tour Boat - Berlin, Germany
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PART OF  the reason for my long sidetrip into character and personalities was motivated by what was perhaps my one and only slightly vexxing interaction on the entire trip. With our Sachsenhof reservation we had access to their breakfast area, which opened, I believe, at 7:00 a.m. It was an L-shaped room just off the reception area, and the narrow entrance had a counter/bar with water and coffee machines. The night we checked in, it was my clear understanding the the water and coffee was accessible 24-7. I had take a caraf of water up to the room each evening during our stay. This morning, I was up early and we were going to go for another walk. Bruce had not come down yet, and I think it may have been about 15 minutes before opeing of the breakfast area. I went in to get myself a "to-go" cup of coffee and the woman behind the reception desk quickly came around and told me in no uncertain terms that the area (which was wide open, by the way) was not yet open and I could not have coffee until it did. This, even though it was a machine. She probably would have described her demeanor as polite, but firm." I though it was borderline rude and certainly unreasonable. Certainly not a "customer first" attitude. But rules are rules (especially in Germany, Switzerland and Japan 😆). And I don't have a problem with rules - just with stupid, or unreasonable rules (and I know . . . my viewpoint).

Coffee Shop across the street from our Hotel Sachsenhof - Nollendorfkiez - Berlin, Germany
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I HAD actually been eyeing the little coffee and pastry shop directly across the street from the hotel, but up until this morning had had access to coffee right there in the hotel. This morning I took advantage of the opportunity. Shout out to Vicki's Cafe. It was everything I expected. Good coffee. A couple really nice, fresh eclairs. and friendly, efficient service!

Berlin, Germany
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WE TOOK the Subway to the city center area, where we knew from early passing by was where we would board our tour boat. We had a reservation for 2:00. We spent most of the late morning walking around the area immediately surrounding the city center.

I thought this picture in Berlin's City Center was illustrative of my characterization: Eclectic
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BOARDING OUR tour boat, we embarked on our trip down the Spree River. Having done the Seine in Paris in the past I can say that it is an interesting way to see a city, from a different viewpoint. Rather than try to continue a photo-by-photo commentary, I will just show a series of the shots I made from the boat.

Berlin from the Spree River
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Berlin from the Spree River
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Berlin from the Spree River
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Berlin from the Spree River
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Berlin from the Spree River
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Berlin from the Spree River
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Berlin from the Spree River
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Berlin from the Spree River
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Berlin, Germany
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BERLIN; DAY TWO

Nollendorfkiez - Berlin, Germany
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DAYS TWO and three of our Berlin stay (our final two days of the trip) were somewhat unscheduled. We had a few things we wanted to see (and realistically, not enough time to do them all), and not having any scheduled excursions allowed us to take a more liesurely and relaxed (welcome at this point) approach. We got moving when we did, and did not try to take on more than we could fit in a reasonable day.

Nollendorfkiez - Berlin, Germany
Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

Nollendorfkiez - Berlin, Germany
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THIS ALLOWED time in the morning for Bruce and I to take a couple neighborhood "cigar walks," and for all of us to just sit someplace and "chill" in the afternoon. Neighborhood pubs are a thing in Berlin and we found a couple of them on both afternoons. Ultimately we ate both our last dinners on Nollendorfstrasse, a lively, tree-lined boulevard right in the neighborhood and immediately behind our hotel that featured a lot of restaurants and pubs.

Nollendorfkiez Schoolyard - Berlin, Germany
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AS I post this, it is now some 4 1/2 months later, and even with photographs to jog my memory, things have already begun to "mentally merge" together, so it is possible that I am mixing up some of the sights and days during that last 2-day period. But the days were largely similar: just a fun, mostly relaxing, visit to what turns out to be an engaging and convivial city.

Knollendorfkiez - Berlin, Germany
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THE ENVIRONMENT of our neighborhood motel (Sachsenhof) is situated right on the edge of what appears to be a relatively major Berlin Street; Bulowstrasse. The Nollendorf Platz U-bahn station is right on Bulowstrasse, but just a block in either direction and you find yourself in mixed residential (small, local shops and restaurants interspersed). On that first morning, Bruce texted me to meet him for breakfast and then walk around, explore our surroundings and (of course 😇) smoke a cigar (reminiscient of our similar walk in Munich).

Nollendorfkiez - Berlin, Germany
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IT IS mostly a quiet neighborhood, with lots of "local interest," including street art, an apparently elementary school, and a couple of impressive churches. St. Matthias Church, with the large plaza in front, seems to be the "anchor" of the area.

St. Matthias Church - Berlin, Germany
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FOLLOWING OUR walk, we all headed for the U station, to find the best spot to catch up to the Hop-on/Hop-off bus, our "plan" for the morning.

Checkpoint Charlie - West Berlin, Germany
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A RIDE on the Hop-on/Hop off bus was one of the perks of the Berlin Card (only one day, though). We have frequently used these buses to give us an overview of the city - where things are and how to get around. We have done that in a few other cities, like London, Dublin and Helsinki and found they work really well for that intitial overview. If you are traveling to a major city in Europe, these buses are worth checking out, but do do your homework. Read the reviews. In some places they are anywhere from just not very good to pretty bad. We experienced the "bad" in Malta a few years back. We have a sceduled visit to Norway coming up this fall. We have read that they are not very good up there. So your mileage will vary.

Checkpoint Charlie - Berlin, Germany
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WE KNEW there were a couple things we wanted to do and see including "must see" spots like Checkpoint Charlie and the Wall. From the bus, we spotted the subway stop we wanted to get off on to see the checkpoint up close.

Berlin Wall Memorial - Berlin, Germany
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IT WAS pretty fascinating to think that not all that long ago, the city was separated by an 8 ft high, reinforced concrete wall, just behind that guard shack in the background in the photo above. Just a couple city blocks south, one of the remaining remnants of the wall has been made into a memorial. We walked down that way, where we spent a while reading the placques and looking at the old photographs depicting the period of the Nazi insurgence and the history both pre and during WWII. It cannot help be a moving experience for visitors - at least for those who have any connection or knowledge of this period in world history.

"A Crack in the Wall" - Berlin Wall - Berlin, Germany
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THE PRESERVED section of the wall is about a city block long, and on the grounds (mainly on the East Berlin side - the wall actually stood wholly inside of and was built in West Berlin, but extended into the city center of Berlin), there is a memorial building, as well as open fields that were one basically a DMZ - like area. Over the years, sections of the wall have deteriorated, giving a view from "behind" (obviously, "behind" depends on one's perspective). A perhaps hackneyed photo from the memorial side is to frame a subject on the street on the western side. Of course I did that 😀. The "subjects" are, of course, moving targets and I suspect with some patience (perhaps like the photographer below) one could make some very interesting shots.

Photographer at The Berlin Wall
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AFTER OUR time at the wall, we began to work our way back toward Nollendorfkiez. One of the areas we wanted to see was Potsdammer Platz (which, it turns out, was really not far from our hotel). Named after the nearby town of Potsdam, it was originally the point where the road from Potsdam entered Berlin through the once existing Potsdam Gate. The road toward Potsdam and west was a major trade route as far back as the 17th century.

Postzdammer Platz - Berlin, Germany
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ALMOST COMPLETELY destroyed during WWII, the area was pretty much a wasteland until well into the 20th century. During that time, it developed from an intersection of suburban thoroughfares into the most bustling traffic intersection in Europe, but the area remained mostly desolate until reunification in 1990. Since then, Potsdamer Platz has been the site of major redevelopment projects and is perhaps the most modern development in Germany. It is known as is major retail shopping area among other things and is where you will find some very famous, high-end retail department stores. Joyce want to see some of the stores inside. As the rest of us didn't really care to see the shops, we found a nice, shaded table in the park/plaza immediately adjacent to the massive shopping area, and got a beer. A tough assignment, but somebody had to do it. Joyce came out and told us it was cool and impressive but that the prices were scary!

Barman - Nollendorfkiez - Berlin, Germany
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FROM THERE, we were just under a mile away from our hotel, so we walked it, seeing the impressive sights of the rejuvenated Potsdammer Platz city - center along the way. Doing a little research earlier in the day, I had found a pub that looked like it had a nice selection of liquors, a nice outdoor seating area, and allowed smoking outdoors. It was about 2 blocks from the hotel, so we headed there to take a load off, have a cocktail, and (Bruce and me) smoke a cigar.

Mexican Restaurant - Nollendorfkiez - Berlin, Germany
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AS IT always does, the topic evenually came around to eating. In spite of our better judgement based on our Munich experience, Bruce and I had seen an interesting looking Mexican restaurant that morning on our walk. Having read that Berlin is a very ethnically diverse city, especially when it comes to food, we felt like it might be worth the risk. It was. A very nice meal of Mexican fare to finish off our night.

Berlin

A busy Berlin Street just a few hundred feet from The Wall - Berlin, Germany
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IF I were tasked with describing Berlin in one word, it would be: "eclectic." Based on the pre-trip research I did, that should not have come as a surprise to me. What was surprising though, was the degree and depth of this diversity. The architecture of the city ranges from stately and grandiose classical, to modern buildings, to the quirkiness of brightly colored paint schemes and modern art. With its "museum island" the country certainly has its share of classical art and history. There is also a substantial modern art presence.

Berlin Cathedral
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AT THE same time, street art shows up in nearly every corner of the city. Once pretty much considered (and often unwelcome) grafiti, this category of art - and if you observe it, the majority of it is most surely art - has proliferated world-wide. We saw some of the most impressive artwork we have seen in any other place in the world where we have observed it.

Modern Office Building - Berlin, Germany
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AS I write the final chapters of our central Europe adventures (Berlin was our final stop), you will see evidence of all of the above dotted throughout my blog posts. I couldn't possibly include all of the really fun photographs I made during the 17 days or so we were in Europe, however. You can find them though: populated in new galleries, including a gallery dedicated to Berlin, on my LightCentricPhotography website, where Berlin gets it own additional category: "Eclectic Berlin." I hope you will visit there and enjoy the sights of Europe through my imagery.

Berlin Street Art
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OF OUR 4 primary destinations for this trip, I was lukewarm about Berlin. In 2002 we had taken a Baltic Cruise Most of our ports were predictably "Baltic," including Denmark, Sweden and and Estonia. But our first stop was in the far north of Germany, in the little coastal town of Warnemunde. The northeast coast of Germany is all Baltic Coast - kind of tucked into the far, southwestern part of the Baltic). Warnemunde is a charming, but very touristy, little beach town that is a favorite for Germans who live in the northern part ot the country (like Berlin). The cruise line - in a manner I find disingenous - titled the stop: "Warnemunde: For Berlin." Their narrative suggests that you are just a short hop from Berlin. I wanted to go to Berlin. Until I saw that it was something like a 3 hour train ride each way, and on a day stop. 6 hours of travel and probably less than 6 hours to "see" Berlin? Nope! (perhaps you can see why I criticize the cruise itinerary description). And, those trains are notorious for getting back to the port in time for a timely departure (meaning there is significant risk unless you take a cruise-sponsored tour). It made sense in our minds to just visit Berlin directly some time in the future, and that went on our travel "to-do" list.

6 hours of travel and probably less than 6 hours to "see" Berlin? Nope!

THAT FUTURE is now behind us.😁 I am glad we got there, and hope to get back again one day.

Berlin, Germany
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WITH A population of around 3.5 million inhabitants, Berlin is easily the largest of the cities we visited in Central Europe. It is the largest European Union city on the main continent of Europe (London, across the channel, is larger), and one of the handful of largest cities in Europe (Istanbul, Turkey is larger, also). Berlin is much less densely populated, and covers substantially more land area, however. To me, that made Berlin seem more wide open, and it reminded me a lot of some of our mid-western cities in the U.S.

Berlin, Germany
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WE STAYED in The Hotel Sachsenhof, on the west side of West Berlin, toward Potsdam, in a nice, quiet neighborhood called Knollendorf. We were a 5-minute walk to the Knollendorf U (subway) stop. We found out later that we were only about a 15-minute walk to Potsdammer Platz a big, ritzy retail area. The hotel was quirky, but nice and after we got the "lay of the land," we realized it was really pretty convenient to amenities like restaurants and pubs and groceries if we might need them. It was pleasant. I do think though, that if/when we return to Berlin, I would like to stay more in the center of things - perhaps even in East Berlin, only because it is closer to attractions we were interested in. Fortunately the public transportation is very convenient.

Our Berlin Hotel
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LIKE ALL the modern European cities, Berlin has a robust mass transit network that is relatively dependable, and is clean and safe. After the fiasco in Munich, we opted for the "Berlin Pass" which gave us unlimited use of all modes of transit within the city limits, including a boat tour, the busses, trams, subway and trains to and from the main airport (while we love mass transit for most things, we didn't really care for using it when we were schlepping our luggage, and we opted for an Uber to the airport on our last morning, so we didn't really take full advantage of the card - but the convenience and peace of mind of knowing we could get on and off, anywhere and any time was worth it to us). Each of these transit systems have their own scheme, and it always takes a bit to get the hang of them. By the second morning, we already had a pretty good lay of the land.|

Knollendorf U Station
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WE TRY to schedule one of the local walking tours (very often as a food tour) as early as possible whenever we arrive in a new city. Berlin was no exception and after arriving and checking in to our hotel, we joined a small group of fellow Berlin visitors for just such a tour. By then, we knew where the subway stop was and what stop we needed to get off on to find our meeting point. Once again, with the help of Google Maps, we found our way without too much trouble. We would learn on that tour that one of the distinctions between West Berlin and East Berlin is that there are no trams in West Berlin. Once you realize that you see that there are no tracks anywhere on the West Berlin streets. Trams were as ubiquitous as the other cities we visited, however, in East Berlin.

Subway Train - Nollendorf Platz U - bahn station - Berlin, Germany
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WE HAVE concluded over the years that we get the most "bang for the buck" with these walking "food" tours, which acquaint us with some of the important parts of a city, some of the food venues and opportunities, and a surprising amount of cultural and historical education. For this one, we met down in the center of the city, and walked more toward and in East Berlin than West. We really did get a feel for the very ecumenical food culture in Berlin. Our first stop was what I might characterize as middle eastern food. Very good and very interesting spices. Most of these places are more along the line of small bites food. We did get a taste of maybe the best baclava I have ever had. We had a couple other varieties, but no real "German" food like kraut, braten, roasted chicken and pigs knuckles, schnitzel. Which was fine. Fortunately, we had our fill of those in Bavaria and in Prague.

Popular Currywurst Shop - Berlin, Germany
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As I researched things to do in Berlin prior to our trip, I learned that Berlin was a very cosmopolitan and culturally diverse city - particularly when it comes to food. I was warned not to expect the traditional "Bavarian" food (not that it couldn't be found - just that is was not the predominant dining option in Berlin). We found that to be true. We found a Mexican restaurant near our hotel that atoned for the the Munich "Mexican Restaurant." We found other good food. But one thing that surprised me the most about the food culture was that I liked something I was definitely prepared not to like. On line, I had read that when in Berlin you must try their special spin on Indian/German fusion: Currywurst. Although I have gotten better as I age and with experience, I have long had an aversion to so-called "Indian" food (which I - perhaps wrongfully - associate with curry). Therefore, "I don't eat curry." 😏 And it certainly didn't mix in my view with German sausage. But I have learned to at least try things. In London in 2021, I tried (and really enjoyed) another Indian "fusion" food: Chicken Tikka Masala. Here there was predictably a stop on our food tour for Currywurst. I tried it. I liked it (enough that I actually had it as a lunch entree a couple days later). So I continue to grow as a person. 😈

I had read that when in Berlin you must try their special spin on Indian/German fusion: Currywurst

OUR FINAL stop for the night was, Iinterestingly, a pizza place - which reminded me of decor and accoustics of the beer halls in Bavaria. The Pizza was good. So was the beer. All in all, the tour was fun, with some good information about the city. The food tour was our only formal excursion in Berlin. For our remaining couple days we went on our own.

Berlin, Germany
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