My first day in Berlin wasn’t the best. I arrived on the morning train from Hamburg and checked into PLUS Hostel Berlin with enough time to make it to a 1 pm tour. Or so I thought.
Instead, I got lost, got stuck in an elevator and missed my tour. I was so frustrated that I couldn’t help but cry. So instead of giving Berlin more opportunity to kick my ass, I went to my private room and watched Grey’s Anatomy on YouTube for a few hours. Sometimes you need to give yourself time.
Around 6 pm I knew I had to stop wallowing. Thankfully, I was staying within walking distance of the East Side Gallery, the famous section of the Berlin Wall that is now an outdoor art gallery.
I wasn’t sure how the photos would turn out after dark, but thankfully there were plenty of streetlights and my camera takes excellent night photos. The most famous panel is the one above of Russian president Leonid Breshnev kissing Eric Honecker, East German Central Committee secretary.
It’s odd to think that this wall, which is now one of the city’s top landmarks, used to separate families and friends from one another. I never really understood the German occupation until I visited Berlin.
Not so long ago, my mother visited Berlin. The wall was still up and it certainly wasn’t painted with messages of hope. Had the wall still been up, I would have been sleeping on the Soviet side in Freidrichstrasse.
Have you been to Berlin’s East Side Gallery?
I visited the East Side Gallery on my own, but I recommend spending at least one day on a local tour to learn more about what wartime Germany was like.
Great photos but what a coincidence… I’ve just been reading about the murals on the wall in Palestine which I’m sure you would find fascinating http://www.changesinlongitude.com/palestine-murals-on-security-wall-in-israel/
These pictures speak for them self. You have captured the essence of Berlin quite beautifully. To answer your questions, have you been to Berlin’s East Side Gallery? I haven’t but would love to.
I have always been really interested in WWII and Nazi Berlin so I most definitely wanted to focus on that during my visit but I was surprised at how intrigued I was by the divided city. Our docent from our Context Travel walk lived in Berlin through that period and his personal experiences and insights really made us want to learn more. I think we’ll have to go back — there’s just so much to learn in that city!