Saturday, May 25, 2019

Wandering Boots tour: Day 6 Chillin in Berlin



By the numbers

2 museums

20048 steps

15.08kms

I did have a great sleep and felt cold, which could be the body telling me I am run down a touch even though I am getting plenty of rest. I looked outside and there was a little bit of sun out there, so I was not worried. I had my continental breakfast of sandwiches. Better than waiting at Maccas as they seem to be required to prepare the cow, which was why I walked out of one the day I got to Berlin and had Subway instead. When I was ready to leave I knew the couple from Perth would have moved onto their next destination. I left and thought the sun would be out soon when I felt a chill, but moved on. I had my one and only jumper in the watch as I thought, hey it will be warm, I only need the one on my journey. Besides the weather the day before was stinking hot. Todays was chilly.

I took the train into Berlin HBF and wandered down to the museum where I would start my trip, but I was actually after the Berlin Wall museum and started walking there until I felt the need, the need to pee. Using Google, I found one that was within walking distance, so I went there. Turns out the toilet was within a cemetery, which was random. The lock would not work as it had been vandalised. The cemetery was called Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof and is a bit of a mouthful and I found it interesting to wander through as there were plenty of headstone there and things to look at. I couldn’t linger there for too long as I wanted to make sure I had enough time for other things especially the museums I wanted to visit. I headed to the Berlin Wall Museum and by the time I got there I had to wait a couple of minutes before it opened. It was then, I realised that it was getting slightly colder and I might not like that. I had my new raincoat in my bag so decided to wear that to keep out most of the cold and I do think that mostly worked a treat.

The Visitor Centre of the Berlin Wall Memorial, I found out was a free museum that showed videos about the Berlin Wall especially in the area it was located. Across the road there are physical remains of the Wall and life around it. There was lots more to the wall that just the wall. The outdoor display showed where the cemetery had been demolished in part, the local church had been razed to the ground and even the location of the escape tunnels that had been dug by East Germans to make it across the wall. It was incredible the amount of information there was as they still had some of the wall. Between the wall and part of the cemetery was the death strip, which had various devices like signals to let guards know the location of escapees and in some locations mines were used. I had several times girls asking if I spoke English and I just stared at them. I never let them get further than that even though they tried me twice and I had been stopped the day before too, but always ignored them so they go onto their next target.  Back in the day of the wall being up, tourists could come along and stand on observation posts to see what was happening on the other side of the wall. Makes you wonder if the East German soldiers liked being Goldfish bowls.

There was another museum I wanted to have a look at nearby and that was the David Hasselhoff museum. I walked through some of the nearby museum to see what was in there and there was plenty to see and a few huge headstones. I thought I would leave that for another time as I was running out of time. I found the street the museum was supposed to be on, but I could not find any sign that it exists. The last article I had seen was from 2015. I am guessing it is no longer around or I was supposed to ask at the hostel. I had walked both sides of the street and not seen anything. I decided it was time to head back to Berlin HBF and visit the Natural History museum. It took me several stations to get there as I had to get an underground to Alexanderplatz, then a train to Berlin HBF and jump onto the tram. I saved myself a huge amount of walking around with the distances involved and I wasn’t even sure which direction, I waws supposed to go in other than as long as the transport got me there.

Out I jumped at the Natural history museum as it was easier to get to even though I bet the others would be the same. The Berlin pass got me in for half price, which was 5 euro. I get free public transport so the pass makes up for the random jumping on and off. It runs out half hour after I leave Berlin on the Sunday. I found myself a surprise at the museum as I was expercting some dinosaurs, but not one that I had never thought I would see, well two. That is beside the point and that was a large saurapod called Brachiosaurus. One of those long necked dinosaurs from Jurassic Park. They had a cousin of the Stegosaurus called a Kentosaurus. The difference are the spokes on the tail. In another part of a gallery there was a find that I had not even expected and that was a Tyrannosaurus Rex called Tristan. The skeleton was known as a black skeleton or something like it due to the deposits. The dinosaur was one of the most complete they have ever found. The Berlin museum had it as part of their research projects and the public could go see the dinosaur. Two that I had never thought I would ever see in person and I have on this trip. The rest of the museum was optional extras. They even had a whole display area for wet specimens, which are animals in glass jars filled with liquid. I was happy to see some stuffed animals and several looked familiar. I found a New Zealand Kakapo, which was very far from home.

I wanted to be back at the hostel early enough so that I could get some washing done as the next leg of the journey is to Hamburg. I soon found the cleaners had taken the card in the door that switches on the lights. I hgad to run down and get another card made up or else it would be dark. Turns out the washing machines are more complex than I realised. I was given a tag that told the touch screen that I wanted to use it, but past that I had no clue. I got help after telling them their machines were not idiot proof. Turns out that I am not the only one that have problems with it. In that time I had my dinner that I got from one of the shops. I know one thing that comes from the washing is that I will have to pack.

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