More often than not, travelling with work,
leaves very little time for exploring – but the invitation to speak at a
conference in Berlin, provided an opportunity to explore a city I had never
visited – as long as I took a very efficient approach to sight-seeing during
the two evenings!
Fortunately, the conference was taking place
very close to Alexanderplatz which is a really central location – although
after a 3-hour delay to the flight, I did find myself wondering just how safe
it was to be walking from the airport bus stop, through deserted streets, to my
hotel around midnight!
After a full day at the conference, it took a
bit of self-motivation to get my trainers on, ready to walk. Spurred on by the
sunny evening I managed a ‘speed tour’ – taking in several of the ‘must see’ sights
- Berliner Dom (cathedral), Reichstag (German
Parliament) and the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate). I also went to visit
the ‘Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.’ It was a slightly unusual
installation of 2711 concrete slabs covering 4.7 acres – if I had stumbled upon
it, rather than deliberately found it on a map, I am not sure I would have known
what it was. The only drawback to the speedy tour of Berlin, was not finding
anywhere decent for food – thankfully conference catering was 5 star!
 |
| An evening stroll |
The second evening was an opportunity to see
things from a different perspective – firstly on a boat trip, which provided some
great views, particularly of the cathedral. From the water’s edge I then went
up 203 metres (in 40 seconds!) to the top of the TV tower. With a clear evening
and bright blue skies, the panoramic view from the top was spectacular.
 |
| What a view?! |
At the end of another full evening of sightseeing
I realised I hadn’t seen the one thing that I was on my ‘must do’ list – the wall
…. or at least a bit of it (given that not too much I still there). It was
totally worth the sunrise walk before breakfast to the East Side Gallery, where
art works are painted on a 1.3km section of the older inner Berlin Wall – the longest
section of the wall that has survived. It was a slightly surreal moment having
walked through residential areas to get to the wall, standing at a spot which represented
so much history, whilst life in the post Wall era, is now thankfully the norm.
 |
| A little piece of history |
