Berlin doesn't live up to tourism hype
Nine journalists from print media companies in Asia grouped in the Asia News Network (ANN), in which The Jakarta Post is a member, visited Berlin and Munich in Germany earlier this month at the invitation of Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, the main sponsor of the network. The following is a travel report by Riyadi Suparno of the Post who joined the trip.
Riyadi Suparno, The Jakarta Post, Berlin
It was surprisingly sunny when I arrived in Berlin one Sunday morning. Leaving the luggage in the custody of my hotel, I moved on.
Despite the long journey, I decided not to take a rest that morning fearing the fine weather would not last as some of our friends back home had warned us Germany descended into rain in October
I met my Indonesian friend Denio Ridjab, who has been living in Berlin for three years, and asked him to be my guide for the day.
What I really wanted to do was to explore what is left of the Berlin Wall. Some say that a visit to Berlin is not complete without visiting the site of the wall, the single most important symbol of Germany's former division and of the Cold War.
Denio took me to Potsdamer Platz, where there was an outdoor exhibition of the wall's concrete segments, known as Grenzmauer 75 (Border Wall 75), which represented the fourth generation of the wall.
It is reported that a total of about 45,000 pieces of such parts were needed to encircle West Berlin, isolating it from the rest of West Germany and the world.
The concrete segments displayed at the Potsdamer Platz are covered with colorful graffiti, and arranged in a line along the double rows of paving stones that mark the former course of the wall.
After taking photos using the colorful concrete segments at the background, we walked along these double rows of paving stones, imagining that we were actually walking right on the border between East and West Berlin.
Walking around Potsdamer Platz is in itself a rewarding experience, particularly when the weather is kind. This area, which was deserted during the Cold War, is now bustling with shops, cinemas, restaurants and cafes as well as a casino.
The famous Sony Center and the Daimler Chrysler building are particularly impressive. The futuristic Sony Center is a nice place for a stroll -- including during the fall and winter -- with the numerous cafes on the terrace protected by the tent- shaped roof. Or, you can take a lift at the Daimler Chrysler building to the viewing platform and enjoy the view of the city.
From Postdamer Platz, we went to the Brandernburg Gate, the hallmark of Berlin. It is hard to imagine that, until 16 years ago, no visitor was allowed to pass through this landmark gate because it was located in the no-man's zone between East and West Berlin. Now, Brandernburg is a must-see destination for visitors to Berlin, with various street attractions for tourists.
At Brandernburg, however, we could not find meaningful traces of the wall. Then, we headed toward the Reichstag building -- now the seat of the Germany parliament -- which before 1989 was located next to the wall.
The building itself has attracted a huge number of tourists since the glass copula was added to this old building in the mid- 1990s.
Opposite the building stands the memorial Parliament of Trees against War and Violence, which consists of sections of the wall and trees planted in a square formation.
Old pictures show that the wall ran alongside the building, yet there are few indications of the wall's 30-year presence there today. The course of the wall is only indicated by a shift in the color of the pavement right behind the building.
Disappointed by the limitations of the wall as a tourist attraction I asked Denio to take me to the longest section of the former wall. We took a bus and then a U1 train to Warschauer Strasse.
Getting off the train, we were fascinated by the Oberbaumbruecke (Oberbaum bridge), with its two distinct towers. Instead of inspecting this bridge, we went straight to the famous East Side Gallery, where the longest-preserved part of the wall is located.
Stretching a bit more than one kilometer from Oberbaumbruecke toward Ostbahnhof, the East Berlin side of the wall is painted in a dull shade of gray or white with new paintings here and there. Meanwhile, the West Berlin side is remarkable in its abundance of colorful paintings.
After the wall was brought down in 1989, more than 100 artists from around 20 countries arrived in Berlin and produced more than 100 paintings at this section of the wall at the beginning of 1990, making it the world's largest open-air gallery.
Many of these paintings, however, are now in a bad condition: the colors have lost their vibrancy and graffiti and the signatures of tourists have swallowed up the designs. Some of the wall has also begun to crumble.
The improper care of this historical monument saddened me and no doubt other visitors to Berlin. Worse still, there are indications that some of the remaining sections will soon be torn down to make way for new developments. For those who are interested in history this is concerning news indeed.