BERLIN; DAY TWO

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

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
Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

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
Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

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
Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

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
Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

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
Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

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
Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

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
Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

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
Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

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
Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

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
Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

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
Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

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
Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

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
Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

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.