This iconic mural was painted in 1990. It was based on an actual photograph of Honecker and Brezhnev kissing. I photographed this just as these two guys kissed in front of the mural. The funny thing is, many conservatives today would probably be saying variations of My God, help me survive this deadly love in the face of marriage equality and rising LGBTQ visibility.
Like many other people my age, I grew up fearing nuclear and a host of other perceived existential threats. Of the many theatres in which the Cold War played out, no other city fueled my imagination as much as Berlin did. My imagination was further colored by an eclectic mix of films such as Cabaret, Atomic Blonde, The Bourne Supremacy, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, as well as Marillions somewhat melodramatic track Berlin. More recently, Ive been fascinated by how Germany seems to be looking forward without denying its past, and how Merkel, with her understated leadership style, seems to have steered Germany into a beacon of liberal democracy as the United States moved in the other direction under Trump.
My main goal of this summer trip was to Jeff as in the World Masters Diving Championship in Rijeka, Croatia. Rijeka isnt exactly an international hub, and only a small handful of airlines operate seasonal flights there. Looking at my options for intermediate stops, one stood out: Berlin! I gleefully booked our flights to Berlin hoping to connect with the city that shaped so much of my world view as a teenager and
I love this odd little structure in Simon James Park along the banks of the River Spree. I especially liked this kid playing with the armadillo.
We landed at the new Brandenburg Airport 18 hours behind our scheduled arrival thanks to a flight delay that had us stranded at Heathrow for the night. Our first interaction with Berlin was an inauspicious one: the ticket vending machine did not have a good user interface, and so we were stuck trying to figure it out. The woman stationed there to assist arriving passengers wasnt much help. For some odd reason, the two machines on one side of the landing were not accepting anything other than €5 and €10 bills, and they werent processing our cards either. Jeff had to return to the money changer to get smaller notes. We then went to the machines on the other side of the landing, and those worked fine. Thankfully, that was the only negative experience we had in Berlin, but it wasnt fun to start off on this footing.
We each bought the €9 monthly pass - quite a bargain - and we hopped onto the Airport Train. Here came our first surprise: the train station did not have a fare gate. In fact, we never saw a single fare gate at any station
The iconic hut, preserved in the middle of a street, surrounded by fast food joints and souvenir shops. Ugh. I did not like how disneyfied this scene was. It should have been more respectfully preserved. At the very least, the street should be closed to traffic.
we went to. We were impressed that the entire transport system seemed to operate on an honor system! Other than the Netherlands, I cannot recall any other public transit operating in such a manner.
We got to our station at Alexanderplatz and then made our way through the unseasonably cold streets to our hotel in nearby Hackescher Mart. Hotel Zoe by Amano turned out to be a real gem for the price we paid. It was centrally located, it had a cool vibe, and we had a rooftop lounge with great views of the city!
After a quick freshening up, we made our way on foot to nearly Simon James Park, crossed over the Spree River, walked past the museums and Humboldt University, and then over to Checkpoint Charlie. Our first impression of Checkpoint Charlie wasnt great - the hut itself was preserved, but it was surrounded by fast food joints and souvenir shops. A long line of tourists waited to have their pictures taken. Some of them made gun gestures with their hands while posing for photos. Overall, the vibe was similar to Time Square.
