BERLIN: The German capital is planning a huge party to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, culminating on November 9th with a festival at the Brandenburg Gate. There's never been a better time to visit, writes MAL ROGERS
I DON’T KNOW if anybody has ever said it before, but those Germans, well, they’re pretty efficient, aren’t they? Take the Berlin Wall. The construction and administration of Europe’s most famous cement partition was the model of resourceful organisation. The East Berlin urban council took endless pains to protect its citizens from capitalism.
Then all of a sudden the wall was gone, disappearing in those volatile few months of 1989 when history lecturers had to check the midday news before taking their classes.
Now the effervescent population of modern Berlin are planning a huge party to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall. Celebrations will culminate on November 9th with a festival at the Brandenburg Gate.
Many events are coming up before then, such as the Extended Museum Night on August 29th. If you’ve always fancied an all-night museum session but so far had all your efforts thwarted, then your luck is in.
The fall of der Berliner Mauer will be a theme throughout the city, with concerts, readings, drama and exhibitions in more than 100 venues, all until late into the night.
Because of the wall, Berlin was one of a handful of places likely to provide the spark for the third World War. One particular showdown at Checkpoint Charlie brought us to the brink of the ultimate fry-up.
Of course, the previous fixture, the second World War and its dire consequences, is etched on every corner of this handsome city. Road signs read like pages from a history book: Potsdam, Templehof Airport, Spandau, the Reichstag, Unter den Linden. For anyone born in the middle years of the 20th century, Berlin, the concrete manifestation of the Cold War, was a constant feature on the evening news, along with Vietnam and the northeastern corner of our own island.
For those born a decade or two later, Berlin came to symbolise a 24-hour bash where you could turn up any time you wanted – everything from goth to performance arts beckoned. Clubs with no closing hours, the techno thrum of house music, and a generation that had adopted something of a free-wheeling attitude towards personal morality ensured that the youth of Europe came to regard Berlin as party central.
Nowadays you can still bang your head against the walls of that old punk redoubt S036, in Kreuzberg; after more than two decades it remains just about the finest new-wave venue in the world. But if the words “hip joint” conjure up something medical rather than musical for you, jazz, blues and, yes, cabaret are all available in less frenetic surroundings.
Places like the Vox Bar, at the Grand Hyatt Berlin, have such an uncontrived air of decadent elegance that if Liza Minnelli dropped by in bowler hat, basque and green nail varnish you wouldn’t be at all surprised. Oh, and young man, there’s no need to feel down. Or young woman, for that matter, because Berlin has the largest gay scene in Europe.
Today the German capital is still thronged with party-goers. But it takes more than a few visitors to affect the poise of a place that has spent 1,000 years seeing off Prussian monarchs, totalitarian regimes and one notable dictator. Its vicissitudes have been stoically, even artistically, absorbed.
The East Side Gallery, a piece of the original wall, has been turned into an open-air gallery with more than 100 paintings by international artists; the Reichstag is now topped with a glass dome by Sir Norman Foster.
This engrossing city remains a place of graceful architecture, outrageous clubs, symphony orchestras and, of course, first-class restaurants. Forget about that pint of plain. As far as I’m concerned a 2006 Bechtheimer Chardonnay Weingut Jochen Dreissigacker is your only man.
Mal Rogers flew to Berlin courtesy of Aer Lingus and as a guest of Berlin Tourism (www.visitberlin.de)
Go there
Aer Lingus (www.aerlingus. com) flies to Berlin from Dublin and from Cork. Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) flies to Berlin Schonefeld from Dublin.
Where to stay, where to eat and where to go during a visit to the city
5 places to stay
Hotel Adlon Kempinski. Unter den Linden 77, 00-49-30-22611111, www.hotel-adlon.de.
The inspiration for the Greta Garbo film Grand Hotel, here you’ll be indulged to the limit. Make sure to get a room with a view – namely the Brandenburg Gate right next door, a wondrous blend of beauty and belligerence. Double rooms from €264.
Ellington Hotel. Nürnberger Strasse 50-55, 00-49-30-683150, www.ellington-hotel.com.
Built in the 1920s, the Ellington has hosted an infamous Weimar-era nightclub, been bombed to bits and served BB to the likes of Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and David Bowie. Install yourself in the bar and you’ll swear you can hear Marlene Dietrich singing “I still keep a suitcase in Berlin.” Doubles from €118.
Pension 11 Himmel. Kulturhochhaus Marzahn. Wittenberger Strasse, 00-49-30-93772052, www.kulturhochhaus- marzahn.de. You might have a hankering for a night in a communist-era prefab high-rise; if so, head for Pension 11 Himmel. On the 11th floor of a housing block in eastern Berlin, BB is €11. Other than a park bench, this is just about the cheapest place to stay in the city.
Hotel de Rome. Behrenstrasse 37, 00-49-30-4606090 www.hotelderome.de. Housed in the former East German central bank, luxury is guaranteed. Doubles from €260.
Lux 11. Rosa-Luxemburg Strasse 9-13, 00-49-30-9362800, www.lux-eleven.com. Ace apartments with chrome kitchen facilities, creamy suede seats type of thing. Doubles from €119.
5 places to eat
Lebensmittel in Mitte. Rochstrasse 2, 00-49-30- 27596130. Specialises in southern German cuisine – sausages, schnitzels, pumpernickel bread – washed down by beguiling brews.
Grill Royal. Friedrichstrasse 105b, 00-49-30-28879288, www.grillroyal.com. A-list celebrities and other folk in sunglasses eat lobster here on the banks of the Spree. Art by Damien Hirst decorates the walls. Make sure you’re dressed correctly – or you’ll be arrested for crimes against urbanity.
Curry 36. Mehringdamm 36, Kreuzberg, 00-49-30-2517368, www.curry36.de. The best currywurst in town, and cheap too. Dining out til late.
Spindler Klatt. Köpenicker Strasse 16-17, 00-49-30-319881860, www.spindlerklatt.de. Wanna eat in bed? Upstairs, tasty nosh is delivered to your bed, while cocktails – served in glasses the size of goldfish bowls – are quaffed outside on huge white mattresses overlooking the river. Trance music completes the scene.
Restaurant Gabriele. Hotel Adlon Keminski, Unter den Linden 77, 00-49-30-20628610, www.restaurant-gabriele.de. One of Berlin’s 10 Michelin-b starred restaurants. Faultless, classy and innovative cuisine.
5 places to go
Museum Island (Museuminsel). In the heart of Berlin-Mitte, you’ll find the commanding world-class collections of the Old National Gallery, Old Museum, Bode Museum, New Museum and the Pergamon Museum.
The Berlin bike tour. Berlin on Bike (Kulturbrauerei Hof 4, Knaackstr 97, Prenzlauer Berg, 00-49-30-43739999, www.berlinonbike.de) can provide bike and guide or you can go on your own. Cycle down towards the Brandenburg Gate with its echoes of torch-lit parades and military salutes; shudder with despair as you pass the Holocaust Memorial on Unter den Linden; be uplifted by architecture ranging from Bauhaus to neoclassical. Then cycle along the River Spree to Schloss Charlottenburg and have lunch in the Orangery cafe.
Checkpoint Charlie. At the intersection of Zimmerstrasse and Friedrichstrasse the huge sign still proclaims: “You Are Leaving the American Sector.” The nearby Haus am Checkpoint Charlie is a private museum with memorabilia from the wall, some kitschy, some frankly bemusing.
Fernsehturm am Alexanderplatz (TV Tower). After a vertiginous trip to the observation platform of Berlin’s highest tower, hop on a number 100 bus from Alexanderplatz – and don’t forget to look back at the tower. If the sun is shining you’ll see a shimmering cross on the tower’s huge glass orb. Totally unintended by the commies, of course, hence its name: “the Pope’s Revenge”. Then sit back in your seat and watch as European history slips by – the Reichstag, the former Soviet embassy, Berlin’s impressive cathedrals, Potsdammer Platz near the site of the bunker.
Cemetery of Dorotheenstadt. Chausseestrasse 126, 00-49-30-2826119. The final resting place of Brecht, Hegel and Heinrich Mann. The Bertolt-Brecht House is located at the entrance.
Hit the shops
You can get your messages anywhere in Berlin – but notably Friedrichstrasse and Potsdammer Platz. The magnificent boulevard Kurfüstendamm is home to the fabulous department store Kaufhaus das Westens (KaDaWe), while Münzstrasse/Alte Schönhauser and Oderberger Strasse are crammed with startlingly original boutiques. Here you can Kauf dich glücklich – literally, “buy to make yourself happy”, which somehow seems even better than “shop til you drop”.
Kunsthaus Tacheles, on Oranienburger Strasse, is a former department store now housing a self-organised collective of artists with their wares on sale. Downstairs is a funky cafe that transforms into a nightclub later. Shop til you bop.
Hot spot
The Kinky Swings club, above Solar Restaurant (www.solarberlin.de), is neither particularly kinky nor, for that matter, overly swinging. It’s on the 17th floor, however, with access via a glass-covered external lift affording ace views across the city. The swinging bit refers to the seats – leather covered swings facing out across the city. Unbeatable with a Bellini in your hand. If you thought the swinging was something else, and that’s what butters your muffin, a friend tells me it’s the KitKatKlub you want – the very biggest of that sort in Europe. But you didn’t read it here, mind.
Check out
Fritz Musictours Berlin. 00-49-30-30875633, www.musictours-berlin.com.
The tour coach departs from Hotel Adlon, where Michael Jackson dangled his baby. Then it’s on to Achtung Baby. The studio where U2 recorded the album was also a regular haunt of Bowie and Iggy Pop. Your exuberant guide Thilo will point out where the Artist Formerly Known as Prince performed live for the opening of the enormous MTV studios. In a neat piece of musical symmetry Meatloaf – the Artist Formerly Known as Mince – also made it to Berlin.
A good night out
With more than 300 clubs and no official closing time, Berlin has much to offer the sybarite. The anvil-clanking inferno of the Berghain disco (Am Wriezener Bahnhof, Friedrichshain, www.berghain.de), attracts techno fans from all over the world. A large night is assured. For the übercool customer, dance your brains out until daybreak at Cookies on Unter den Linden (www.cookies- berlin.de). If you prefer a gavotted arabesque or the odd aria, the Waldebuhne – the finest open-air theatre in Europe – presents ballet, opera and classical to audiences of up to 22,000. Round off your night at the elegant Bebel Bar (Hotel de Rome), where you can pleasantly waste the rest of the night in the company of some 60 cocktails variations.
What to avoid
Avoid Schopenhauer, particularly if you’re in a clubbing mood. The Berlin-resident philosopher’s failure in love led him to sympathise with moles: uncuddly animals living in
dark, narrow tunnels who nonetheless do everything in their power to propagate their species. His analogy with humankind will not, I’m sure, be lost on you: we go clubbing and dining in crazed attempts to find a mate – but with as much choice in the matter as a mole. Have a nice evening, now.
Before you go
Learn some key German phrases, or at a push, Russian: particularly for the former eastern section. English isn’t spoken as widely as you might imagine.