Weather once again promised rain all day and for once it had not stopped after breakfast. This called for plan B whereby we give the Deutsches historisches Museum a visit and check out how it had changed since refurbishment. It was still very warm and so we both decided to give the coats and umbrellas a miss although we did think we might have made a mistake as it had started to come down heavy by the time we were close to the museum.
There were scaffolded walkways close to the museum and we solved the mystery of the sewage smell. There were several places around the city where the sewer pipes were being replaced and with the new U-bahn line to Brandenburg gate there were obvious reasons for the pipes to have been damaged and disrupted. Anyway, we were waiting in the shelter of the walkway, about 200 yards from the museum and some philosophical Berliner told us “we could wait another three hours it would still be raining.” Cheerful bloke, but we ignored him until it weakened a little and then made a final dash to the entrance.
The museum was now very much hi-tech but, overall I don’t think they had has much physical history on display as previously. Nevertheless, I thought it was a good as place as any to be on a rainy day and I quickly lost sight of Oliver as he wandered off to find his own interests. I went out into a covered courtyard where there were several large Prussian cannon and howitzers on display. Some fance bronze pieces with the coat of arms of major players of the day on the barrels.
Now where was I? Ah, still inside the DHM. There were now lots of film clips and techno experiences mixed throughout just about every level of the museum. As previously each floor, or section dealt with a seperate period of German history. I found it a bit disapointing that there were often displays of, for example Turkish armour and little of the equivalent German armour. This was perhaps at it’s worse with the Napoleonic War display where there were plenty of Frog on display and only one Prussian.
The other big eye opener was the fact that at long last they were openly displaying Swatikas and Nazi posters in the WW2 display. This was quite chilling, especially the artistic representation of the gas chambers in opperation using clay models. The whole rise to power and several of the Nazi rallies were there to see and hear. It was possible to hire a electronic translated guide to the museum but, you would have had to be pretty dumb not to get most of it. The comparison between the Nazi and Stasi regime is clearly visible when you move on to the East German display.
Before I knew it the morning was gone and so was the rain. I found Oliver down by the entrance and after a quick look at some of the expensive gifts we decided to head off after refreshments and an afternoons exploration at Köpenick. This was a place I had wanted to visit ever since I had first heard the tale of the The Captain of Köpenick back at Poole Hayes in one of the better history lessons. Oliver had never heard of the Hauptman before and so off we went.
Not surprisingly the line was under repair and we had to do part of the journey on a bus. Quite a strange thing really, with typical German efficiency we all marched out of the station and, so it seemed, half way to Kopenick. A twisted drive latter and we arrived at the main station. Of course we needed the ‘Alt Stadt’ (old town) and the station was in the new part. Maybe we should have had a look round the new town but, we saw the sign for Alt Stadt and off we went.
It was quite a hike from the station and had we realised it was so far we could have jumped on the tram and saved our legs. We were still a bit leg weary from our walk round the lake. Anyway, it was clear that the old town was on a river and in fact was largely on an island where the river Dahme and Spree meet. When we actually got to the town there was a wedding group being photographed next to the statue of the captain so we wandered a little further on to see if we could find more information about the town.
On the edge of a square with two bronze life size statues of ‘wild horses’ there was a tourist information centre but, it was pretty damn useless. There was absolutely nothing about the Hauptman apart from a few key rings with his grinning face on them and it all seemed geared up with getting you out of the town into the surounding countryside, maybe some other time. It was almost as if they were trying to live down their claim to fame. Mind you if Tony Bleah had been born in Bilston I would deny it.
We then had a bit of fun with the trams although it was not so amusing for Oliver. I suppose as he was used to the frustrations of public transport in UK he was not amused when our planed escape from the town by hoping on the first tram left us circling back to where we had come from. A quick look at the local map and we worked out that we could cut out the break in the line by doing a couple of short hops on the trams and picking up the S-bahn past the repair works. This time we had a bit more luck having actually checked which number trams we needed and where we had to change and before you knew it we were safely back on the s-bahn at Alderhof towards Ostkreuz and Warschauer Strasse for a Chinese and some beer.
Nice sunny evening meal outside the Chinese Imbis and a cold beer before we went round the corner and into the hotel East Side Gallery for a couple of cold swarze beers. Now I know it was pretty expensive by our standards at €2:30 a half litre but, it was a good beer and we went mainly so Oliver could get a look at the hotel I stayed in with Annette. We sat in the front where we could watch the world go by and enjoyed the beer. Conclusion; a good place to stay but, would need to buget a little extra for the temptation of the swarze beers in the evening.
It was getting on a bit by now and although we were well away from the touristy bars that close down early and in fact because the hotel reception is open 24 hours a day, so is the bar, we decided to call it a night and head back to Rotdorn.
So we had a wander round what was a typical old German town, could have been any of a hundred places I’ve seen and then back to the statue for a few pictures before heading back off for refreshments.