A
Glimpse of Berlin
Saad
N. Quayyum
“No
English! Deutsche!" was the answer I got from the person
on the platform to my frantic question about how to get
to the intra city trains. I was in Berlin and it was late
afternoon. I wanted to get to the youth hostel I had reserved
online before it got dark. I had just come from Copenhagen
where almost everyone spoke English and I had no problems
getting around. I felt like grabbing hold of the guy, shaking
him and forcing some English words out of him. I had walked
all around the station and couldn't figure out where to
go.
After
wandering around a little more I found the station master
and got a map from him. I still couldn't figure out which
train to take. From the gestures of the station master I
got a vague indication of the platform where to wait. I
jumped on to the next train that stopped there. After travelling
for a couple of minutes I realised that I had forgotten
to buy a ticket. I kept my fingers crossed. Thanks to the
German trustworthiness of its citizens I reached my desired
station and got out of there without any problems.
I was
in East Berlin now. I walked along the road following printed
directions from a piece of paper. The neighbourhood seemed
to get dilapidated as I walked along. I again crossed the
fingers that I had uncrossed after getting off the train.
This was going to be my first time in a hostel and in my
efforts to keep costs low I had booked one of the cheaper
ones. I stopped in front of a half torn- down building.
The half that was up had the name of my hostel written in
big letters. Ah! I had reached my destination.
The
interior wasn't bad at all. The lounge was clean, cozy and
comfortable and best of all, the person at the reception
spoke English. I was given an array of options and I chose
a room with twenty beds. Although four bed rooms and six
bed rooms were not that expensive than the room I chose,
I felt more comfortable sharing a room with nineteen strangers
than sharing a room with three or five strangers. Yes, if
you are travelling alone, staying at a hostel, and you do
not want to pay for four, chances are you have to share
a room with people.
I
was starving and decided to get dinner. I found a shop run
by a man of Middle Eastern origin. I bought a swarma
for a couple of Euros. Swarma and falafel were
my staple diets in Copenhagen. I was quite glad to find
them. They are filling, tasty and more importantly for a
student travelling on a tight budget, they are cheap. I
returned to the hostel a content man.
In
general people were quite respectful of others in the room
at the hostel. They tried to stay as quiet as possible but
could not avoid making the sounds of opening and closing
bags, moving luggage around and occasionally whispering.
A friend who joined me the next day was a light sleeper
and did not find the arrangements all that comfortable.
I on the other hand am a deep sleeper and slept like a log
that night. People walking into the room in the middle of
the night did not bother me in the least.
My travel
hungry soul had led me to Berlin. I was studying at the
University of Copenhagen on an exchange programme and I
had a short break. I wanted to use the time to see Western
Europe, and where better to start than Berlin, where Western
Europe was symbolically separated from its eastern counterpart.
I had bought a Eurail Pass online, packed my bags and hopped
on to a Germany- bound train.
I had
no clue where I wanted to go and what I wanted to see. While
using the bathroom in the morning I came across an advertisement
for a walking tour pasted on the door. It was called Brewers'
Berlin. When I went down to the lounge, a couple of people
were talking excitedly about it. The person at the reception
highly recommended it. I bought a ticket for 10 Euros and
decided to join the tour.
It was
money well spent. I highly recommend the tour to anyone
visiting Berlin. It was a seven hour walking tour led by
a man called Brewers, who was retired from the British Foreign
Service. He had lived in many parts of the world and was
quite happy to have someone from Bangladesh in his tour.
He was knowledgeable, voluble and entertaining--some of
the best qualities that one looks for in a guide. Not only
did we see many interesting sites, but also learned the
history behind them. His anecdotes and stories brought to
life the Berlin of the Second World War and of the Soviet
era.
The
tour started from a large synagogue in East Berlin. Many
people were killed here when Hitler cracked down on the
Jews. The Synagogue was burnt down by the Nazis but it was
rebuilt to its former glory later on. It had a wonderful
golden dome that made it stand out among all buildings in
the vicinity. But what caught my eyes were a couple of German
policemen standing guard at the door. The men were on alert
for possible terrorist attacks. I was struck by a sad historic
irony--almost sixty years after Hitler the Jewish community
in Berlin was feeling threatened.
East
Berlin was still less developed than West Berlin. Aesthetically
wanting "Lego" buildings stood as testimony of
the Soviet era. We were shown some dilapidated buildings
and bomb sites that were remnants of the Second World War.
We went
to the Brandenburg Gate, one of the most photographed sights
in Berlin. The statue of the chariot on top was apparently
stolen by Napolean when he conquered Berlin and it was brought
back and reinstated when he was defeated in Waterloo. Our
guide warned us of an eyesore before we reached the spot.
Apparently he was no football fan. Right in front of the
Gate was a huge football built for the 2006 Berlin FIFA
World Cup.
The
Reichstag, the German parliament building, was just beyond
the Gate. This was the place that saw the start of two World
Wars. It was when the Reichstag was burnt down that Hitler
found an excuse to assume absolute power in pre World War
Two Germany. Our guide was talking constantly and I was
feeling dizzy absorbing all the history around me. We had
meandered to an innocuous looking place and I had no premonition
of what was coming. All of a sudden Mr. Brewers declared
that we were standing over Hitler's bunker. It was the same
bunker where he had committed suicide. All conversation
stopped. We didn't know what to say. There was nothing in
the place to indicate what he was suggesting. Either post
Nazi Germany had obliterated everything to do with the place
or it was a hoax on the part of our guide. If it was a hoax,
it was a grand hoax--something our thrill desiring spirit
was willing to buy.
We trudged
along to the Gestapo headquarters, saw bits of the inner
Berlin Wall and visited Checkpoint Charlie. The checkpoint
stood between the US and the Russian sector and was once
a heavily guarded spot. Now a museum dedicated to the story
of the Berlin Wall has been built there.
I returned
to the hostel thoroughly exhausted. I had two more days
in Berlin and a lot more to see.
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