Ich bin ein Bearliner

Awoke in the the former capitol of Prussia, we firmly made or way to Three Little Pigs*, our final hostel for the tour and likewise our in style accomodation in Berlin.We promptly made our way, through fully operational and effective tube/tram transport, to Brandenburger Tor, where we once again joined one of New Europe's free walking tours. This time we where led by the enthusiastically arm-waving pommie Amy from Trink**, and we embarked on a journey through Berlin's many historical landmarks.Berlin is basically built on a bloody swamp***, so they need all the land they can get. And hence the history of Berlin, which has the last century been dominated by two rather extreme political situations: The nazi regime in the 30's and 40's, and the divide and the communist control in the 50's through 80's.Even though much of Berlin were bombed to smithereens during WWII, some buildings still stand, some have been rebuilt and some have been converted to different memorials and suchlike. One of those was the huge memorial site of the murdered jews, consisting of rows and rows of concrete slabs in varying heights and elevations. Another was the site of the bunker where Hitler spent his last weeks. It is now a gravelled parking lot with some grassy spots where the locals let their dogs do their business.Amongst Berlin's many sites were also the still intact Luftwaffe building, which is now the equally scary tax office, Checkpoint Charlie, where a mexican standoff of American and East German tanks once almost started WWIII, the memorial of the infamous nazi bookburnings (consisting of an underground set of book cases, empty of course, which you can see through a window on the ground) and the Museum Island.There was also, of course, Parisenplatz, where Brandenburger Tor is located. The statue on top was stolen by Napoleon, but the Germans took it back, redubbed the godess depicted as Victoria (meaning victory) and put it high above the square now known as Parisenplatz, so that they always would have victory over Paris.Parisenplatz also has a number of non sequitur street performers, such as people painted as statues, Yoda and Vader and dance groups, perhaps inspired by the king of pop, Michael Jackson, who famously dangled his baby from a window in Hotel Adler, situated on Parisenplatz.The museum of science and technology was closed, in stark opposition of heaven's gates: As the afternoon fell, so did the heaviest rain imaginable. And a night of solemn contemplation and a dinner of self cooked bolognese ended our first day in the once again German capitol.Contemporary Berlin is the home of many artists, musicians, writers and others of the cultural persuation, and so we took a tour watching street art in the more bohemian parts of town, and luckily the rain from yesterday was all gone, and it was the first sunny day in Berlin for over a month.Tacheles is an old squat, where they now host studios and a metal workshop, and much fine art was gazed upon. Through the murals and tape art, stencils and wheat paint, we got ourselves to East Side Gallery. 1300 metres of the original wall has been used as canvases for some 200 artists, each contributing with their individual take on unity and freedom.Tempelhof was the main airport during the nazi era, and was used as such up until as recently as 2005, when they closed it and rebuilt the entire landing and takeoff area to a huge, ginormous, incredibly vast park, with some landing strips intact, leaving the locals with a plethora of possibilities of barbecueing, picnicking, kite-flying, rollerblading, kubb-playing, beer-drinking, birds-of-prey-spotting and all sorts of family fun.After the trip to the old abandoned airport, we made our way back to a bar we had visited during our arts tour: Monster bar, an alternative place in an alternative backyard, with a decor as taken straight out of a Jean-Pierre Jeunet film. There we sat until too late, sipping Budvar and downing islays.With a tremendous effort we got to our third booked tour, that of the old east Berlin, and the history thereof. We got the backstory of Stasi, we saw a preserved piece of the death strip**** between the inner and outer walls (yep, there where two walls, both being built on East German land) and a little insight in the fact that life in East Germany wasn't as bad as one would expect. They had jobs, great education, free healthcare and other benefits that all of a sudden became much less given when the wall came down and east and west was reunited. Pretty decent life, if it wasn't for the little issue of Stasi, who recorded and manipulated and controlled your every move, thought and wish. To put some perspective on just how spied upon the East Germans were: KGB had one agent for every 6000 citizens. Gestapo had one agent for every 2000 citizens. Stasi had one agent for every 60 citizens.The division of Berlin and of Germany eventually came to an end, and so will this European Tour.

*) Or was it Happy Trotting Elves?**) Where they apparently have a museum with the largest collection of stuffed animals in the world***) They built a city. It sank into the swamp. So they built a second city. It sank into the swamp. So they built a third city. It burned down, fell over and then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one still stands.****) Or fascist protection barrier, as the DDR regime would call it