LinksSonntag, September 16, 2018, 13:12 - GELESENES
An Englishman visiting Germany - his report about Berlin:Well, that's another destination crossed off the bucket list: beastly Berlin. Glad we saw it, but we won't make any plans to see it again. Misled by the girl at the reception desk of our hotel in Potsdam ("Oh, you don't don't need a park-and-ride. You can park anywhere in Berlin; I go there all the time."), we dived into the stinking, honking traffic madness, endless road works and inaccurate GPS predictions of parking availability. Laurie's magic, rather than mine, must have worked in the end, for I was beating my head and shouting "F**k, f**k, f**k this shitty city!" as we crawled from one advertised parking opportunity to another. Around 1.30 pm we found a spacious parking garage near the Alexanderplatz and, after a short walk, embarked on the sightseeing tour by bus. It was a 2 1/2-hour trip that took in many of the sights and monuments that Berlin has to offer, accompanied by a recorded commentary in English (press for 'channel number 2'). The bus then grated and jolted its way through the traffic queues while the recorded voice pointed out the various historical buildings and monuments. There seemed to be a lot more of these in the old Russian Sector than in what came to be termed West Berlin and, towards the end of the tour, I lost interest in hearing about department stores, modern hotels and the architects who designed them. Still, we saw the iconic Brandenburger Tor, the Reichstag building and remnants of the Wall, along with a lot of more forgettable items. As we had hopped off for lunch near the Brandenburger Tor and resumed our tour on a different bus, we were only at Checkpoint Charlie by 6 o'clock when the tour buses abruptly stopped operating, and had to find our own way back to the Alexanderplatz. We did half of it on foot, and then decided to take the underground railway for the rest of the way. All in all, it was something of an ordeal, but now we have seen it. Mixed impressions so far of this part of Germany. Berlin is pretty awful, but then so are most capital cities. At least it has lots of trees and green spaces such as the Tiergarten, and there are not so many high-rise buildings as in London. Potsdam is quite delightful, being much more relaxed and composed, for 75%, of green space. The people are, on the whole, fairly cheerful and correctly courteous, though not particularly helpful. They do not seem to speak English as well as the people in Western Germany. Internet connections are poor, even in hotels, and all too often card machines are on the blink so that you have to pay in cash. Major road works are ubiquitous. Despite its reputation as the economic powerhouse of Europe, Germany seems a long way behind England (except for London, where people also can't speak English). No wonder they fear Brexit.
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