Today was Sunday and the plans included a trip to a flea market, Berlin’s equivalent to a top notch car boot sale. Oliver had been to one on his last trip and so we set off towards Eberswalder Strasse on the U2 or at least that was the plan. Once again the line was disrupted and we had to do a more circular rout than planed but, we got where we wanted to with no difficulty. Quite a shock I know to all those who believe I spend all my time walking around in circles, but with the new BVG city map and transport maps it was hard not to know where we were going.
The flea market lived up to expectations and I was very tempted to buy a Russian steel helmet at €15 or at least a gas mask, but weight restrictions cut in and common sense prevailed and I resisted temptation. As an aside, I had noticed most of the tourist trap venders were now selling cheap imitation Russian and East German hats. It was quite clear by the fact they were all brand new and of poor quality, could this be another bit Chinese global economy? As for the rest of the market it was quite fascinating, with lots of good stuff but, sadly most of it far to large to pack in a suitcase on Ryanair. If ever you wanted to furnish a Berlin dwelling this would make a good place to start. Not even attempting to claim I am any sort of expert on art deco, even I could see there were some tasty bits of chrome armchairs and lamp stands that would have put the antiques road show crew into raptures of delight.
Next on the list was hunting down one of the remaing WW2 flak towers that I had located using google. We were off to Gesundbrunnen on the S2 or U8 lines. The tower, in fact there were supposed to be two but, we could not find anything left of the second tower, was located in Volkspark Humboldthain and proved to be quite a spectacular view point of the NE part of the city. The journey was uneventful apart from some English woman with a prehistoric bike insited on flashing her white grandmother pants at me every time she stood up or sat down fiddling with the wreck trying to keep it upright in the carriage.
Quite a nice area again and with yet another large shopping centre, closed of course since the kick back against selling on Sundays. Better yet, we could see the bunker on the skyline as we exited the station and they had even gone so far as to put up a sign showing you which path to follow through the park. It was quite an impressive sight and it was quite easy to imagine the place bristling with anti-aircraft guns and causing havoc amongst the alied bombers. It also had a secondary function of being a shelter for, if I remember correctly, 15,000 people. There were tours into the bunker and I was disgusted to see they had locked the entrance and none of my keys fitted so we were stuck on the outside. Ah well, there’s always next time.
Before we left we had a walk through the park as it had turned out nice again and despite the fact the south flak tower had long gone it was not a wasted walk. We passed a statue of some naked woman running with a pair of greyhounds and came to a fenced off swimming pool area with a large water slide. Not sure whether this was part of the park or a seperate facility but, it was right alongside the grounds.
We had found yet another hiden gem in Berlin with this bunker, no doubt about that. It always seems to have something fresh just around the corner, no matter how many times I visit. Be that as it may we jumped back on the S-bahn and into Alexanderplatz for another look at the entertainment. Oliver pointed out to me a growing quirk the walking bratwurst stand and there was even one guy with his bratwurst grill fixed to the front of his wheelchair. they were doing a roaring trade and I was not surprised at the cost of €1.20 compared to three times that at the official imbiss stalls. I was tempted but, by the time I got close they were all looking rather more suntanned than cooked so I gave them a miss.
We were well ready for a drink after watching some of the entertainments; British comedy acrobats, singers, brass band etc. The local beer halls were charging over €4 for a 330ml glass of beer so we strolled through the alley to the other side of the square and got us a couple of half litres for €2.50 and had a quick bite to eat. There was a nice looking fruit stall at this end and I was tempted to buy some strawberries until I saw a pigeon land on the stall and start pecking at the melons. The sales bloke never even bothered trying to chase it away.
The weather was still holding out so we decided to go back to Rotdorn and do a hike up the Teufelsberg rubble mountian and if we had time move on to see how the old listening post was getting on. We had both heard talk of them excavating the hill as apparntly buried under all the rubble is the reamins of a Nazi research centre bunker. It was considered too much trouble to blow it up so instead all the rubble from the bombing was dumped on top of it. It gives some great views out across the city and they have even added a nice steep set of steps up the one side.
It had clowded over a little by the time we got to the top and we had to shelter from a shower. We were about half way down and Oliver said look at the mushroom. It was so large I thought it was a football and as I was the one in shoes I struggled up the hillside to check it out. As I got closer I thought it was a balloon as I could see it was not perfectly round but, when I reached out and touched it instead of floting away it turned out to be a solid mushroom as Oliver had predicted. Sadly, I never thought to take a picture so I expect it will disapear into the legends along with the massive boar from my first trip.
It had stopped raining and we could see the listening domes on the next hill so we decided to continue over and see what damage had been done as the complex had been squated on by a bunch of hippies. Once again it seemed further away than I remembered but we pressed on climbing ever higher until we reached the perimeter fence and where the luxury gatehouse appartment used to be. That had been wrecked which I thought was bad planning because it would have made a brilliant squat but, after vandalising it the squatters were now content to camp under some canvas strung from an old two birth caravan.
There was a large whole in the wire fence and so we went through to get a good look around. We could see most of the ‘giant nob’ listening post had been stripped leaving just the exposed framework but, we wanted to get a good look around and were quite surprised at just how big the whole complex was. Appart from the visible domes there were whole sections of hidden bunkers andsupport buildings that we had never seen before. I went into one of the old office blocks and everything had been wrecked. On the top floor they had tore a hole in the ceiling and lent a fire escape ladder up to access the roof. I was tempted to get up on the roof but, the whole ladder wobbled before I’d even gone two feet off the ground and I reckon it was about 20 feet to the roof with a nice soft concrete floor below. I’d seen enough and went back down to oliver who had found the underground bunkers hidden behind some trees.
Twisted lumps of concrete lay everywhere and there were deep pits full of twisted metal that must have been systematically demolished as the hippies would have had to been born on the planet Krypton to cause that mess. What we had believed was a three dome post with a fancy office block was a huge complex that must have housed thousands of people during the cold war period. I would not have been surprised to find they had their own fall out shelter underneath too as there were signs of deeper bunkers but, we could not get down to them.
Time was getting on and the thirst was upon us again so we headed back to Heerstrasse. I was tempted to buy a currywurst from the Imbiss at the station which we had nicknamed GT’s or Greasy Turks but, as Oliver had been living on pure chip diet we continued down to Theodor Heuss platz to see what was on offer there. Oliver managed to get a tasty veggy snack and I dived in with another Currywurst and of course the beers. I was wearing a Wales ruby top and the chap serving asked if I was from Wales. I told him England and he asked about the top so I said “Das wer billig” (It was cheap) This amused them all and we had a couple more beers before heading back for another nights kip.
