It was the glorious 12th and not because I wanted to blow a grouse’s head off but, because we were in Berlin. Weather forecast was for overcast with heavy showers but, outside the sun was shining. The first job after breakfast was to get our seven day tickets and then we were going to satisfy our curiosities. Oliver had always wanted to visit Krumme Lanke at the end of the U3 and as the stop before was Onkel Toms Hutte I would finally get to see what Uncle Tom’s cabin was in Berlin.
Krumme, Oliver had told me was a hangout of the rich, but from what we saw I think it was more modern money than the area around Gunewald S-bahnhof with it’s almost gothic like mansions, the old wealth. First we would stop off at Onkel Toms and see what was there. Anyway, despite the fact there was nothing left of any cabin the area was quite pleasant and had a good park. We walked round the town past a riding stables we believe was the site of the original pub and back to the station to carry on towards Krumme.
Before I fill you in on Krumme Lanke I must take time to point out a peculiarity in the ticket system as we had found difficulty in buying a seven day ticket at Heerstrasse and at Schonefeld, they had been taken out of the system for tourists. Clearly they wanted to push the two or three day Welcome cards to all new tourists, but we were too old hand to fall for that one. We decided to walk down to Theodore Heuss Platz and try there. Sure enough, the seven day ticket was back on the menu and we were in business. Just another sly trick that seems to be the way of things at present, part the tourist from his money. Almost as bad as London.
So back on the s-bahn to the end of the line. Krumme Lanke is on the edge of the Grunewald and as we found out is virtually on the lakeside. there were plenty of impressive buildings but, quite modern in design and build by Berlin’s standards, perhaps a bit dissapointing on top of Onkel Tom. However, the weather had picked up a treat and was really warm so we wandered down to the lake intending to walk along the edge and back to Onkel Tom’s where there were shops and Imbisis lining either side of the station.
It was a truly impressively picturesque lake and the view was unbelievable, especially when oliver pointed out a naked young blond woman wading into the water on the far bank, some 25 yards away. I thought, this cannot be right, a naked woman on the wrong side and I’ve got Ollie with me! The water looked all the more inviting and was relatively warm as it was one of the smaller lakes and very clear.
We continued round the path and all my fears were forgotten as we saw a red headed woman standing on the shoreline with her hands on her hips. she smiled as we walked slowly past and I couldn’t help but notice she had died her hair. I do love Berlin, it always surprises and delights.
Oliver is slightly more organised than me and so to make sure we did not wander all the way to Wannsee by mistake he checked the local map for directions. So we continued along the path around the lake and through the parklands until we came to another map and this one was close to a footbridge at the end of the lake. Trouble was we should have cut across to the other side and been going back towards the station rather than away from it. It was only when we got back to the hotel and checked our maps that we discovered the maps on display were the common free maps given out at the tourist information offices and that they had not been orientated to the location, but rather just hung as they come. Despite this we made our way back to the station and got a couple of beers to drink on the way to the East Side Gallery.
Last time I was in Berlin with Annette because of extensive works at Friedrichstrasse our main route across the city was theU1 to Warschauer Strasse which in turn was very handy for Mühlenstraße where the East Side hotel was and the wall. This time around it was the turn of the U1 to be ripped up however, while eating at the Chinese Imbis we could clearly see the trains were running at least part of the way as they were in and out like every five minutes.
For some reason Oliver had never got to the East Side gallery and I wanted to see how things were changing since the last visit. I have to say the artwork does not seem as impressive as when I was first ther but, now the wall is no longer dividing the city perhaps it has lost its designer umph. There are still the old favourites like the trabant crashing through the wall but a lot of the modern stuff hardly seems worthy of display. There is also a growing amount of graffiti on existing works despite sections being left open for such taging and I think it is a shame that they cannot leave the good stuff alone.
As we walked along the wall we could hear dance music and cheering, the Oliver magic was working again, there was a ladies bech volley ball competition going on over the road and we got quite a good view of the teams going full tilt. On a lesser note there was also the top of a sandcastle pyramid peeping over the top of a boarded off area where there was a display of sand art. We did not take a lot of notice of this as it was past the volley ball courts.
We walked the length of the wall and on to complete the death march Annette used to insist on instead of crossing the road to pick up the S-bahn again at Ostbahnhof. Adds quite a distance and with little to see other than dreary offices and blocks of flats. Anyway, we eventually got back onto transport and headed to Potsdam to hunt down a currywurst and beer. Currywurst were actually quite hard to come by as most of the little Imbis had been closed down, may have been something to do with not serving beer unless you had toilet facilities although this did not seem to bother everyone so perhaps it was just health and safety gone mad or simply all the competition form the American fast food giants: Burger King, KFC & the evil McDonalds.
Potsdam was as good a place as any to find beer as the massive Real supermarket is right next to the station and there are plenty of bars and Imbis just over the road in the old town. Refreshed and stocked up with a variety of beers, I was very please to see the Pfand (deposit) had bee reduced to a more managable 6 to 8 cents a can or bottle meaning it was still possible to get half a litre of good German beer for about 56p all in or should I say 11s 2 pence farthing, as we’re on Planet Orton.
All that was left was to get back and enjoy the beers while flicking through the channels trying to find the free soft porn on the TV. Rotdorn had also now given us free access to the internet but, had wisely blocked facebook. This meant we could look up the weather although looking out the window was proving more reliable and see why we had failed to find the ‘Cabin’. There was also a kitchen on the top floor so I could make a cup of tea and more important there was a fridge to cool the beer.
The threatened rains came down and went on for most of the night. Not just gentle stuff but, a good old fashioned downpoor that made me glad we had got back when we did. It had been a good day and we had done some miles and seen some sights. A great start.