Berlin Wall Trail 2019 - a novel Walk

[CaptJCool]

Well now, we’ve come the complete anti-clockwise circle

Higher and higher,

a moment to consider the leftover artefacts

the Palace of the Republic has long gone. Asbestos riddled and halls of the defeated SED power
well, golly gee another small p palace. Those in charge can feather their own nests no matter how govt is formed ....

Palace of the Republic, Berlin - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

To the Victors go the spoils...


The more demure 1988 version

the weekly Wednesday fanfare

with the Palace in the background
where once the goose-stepping change of the guard

And a bit of history of the ceremony dating from 1931!

the TV Tower, or was it surveillance ?!?
50 Years of the Berlin TV Tower - TV Turm birthday while I was in Berlin (3 October 2019)


surveillance state
DDR Museum

Hands-on history in the heart of Berlin | DDR Museum

Visit the DDR Museum and embark on an interactive journey into the history of the GDR. The exhibition is open 365 days a year.

www.ddr-museum.de

Wow lots of good memories


A dictatorship of virtue replaced by the golden calf of an affluent society and a burgeoning domination of self-interest hmmmm

perhaps it’s like this
coffee anyone ?

But only if you can reach the cups..

well that’s the final picture circle and I dId put together a few things I learnt which I will use soon to wrap up the thread. For the photo-journalism invokes wild and wonderful imagination yet the written words “complement” the story

 

[CaptJCool]

What I learnt from this successful setbackEd Berlin Wall Walk

What ,did I learn?

1. Everyone owns a new car (Trabants are long gone)
2. Respect your history lest you repeat it
3. The guns were put away yet new walls are built that keep everyone off what once was “common” land. The walls are still there, they’re just got a lot of different owners (We swapped one wall which kept people in for other walls that keep people out
4. Nature always wins especially if you are running on a time-scale
5. Commitment to pushing yourself and sticking to the planned goal no matter what is fools paradise
6. Plan all you like but that is boring - leave something to chance, to spontaneousness - surprises are worth more than gold
7. People love to share stories
8. A little bit of German went a long way
9. There are challenges every other day..... some are foreseeable, others not
10. The point is the journey not the destination
11. Be humble in the face of success. Be gracious in the face of set-backs
12. Soldier on until you know when to hold em. Know when to walk away
13. Never too tired to sleep - there’ll be time enough for counting when the game is done... Know what to throw away, know what to keep. Every hands a winner, every hands a loser (thanks Kenny Rogers)
14. Timeless lessons, natural cycles, there’s reasons for seasons
15. There’s no smooth standard path even on a trail. asphalt & cobblestones, gravel and concrete. Every part holds its own uniqueness
16. 
    
17. Time waits for no Showman - it’s more important to stop and smell the toadstools than to march on
18. There’s more enjoyment in learning than “sealing the deal”.... The best you can hope for is to survive and thrive
19. Towns expand - new supermarkets are needed
20. Berlin follows Adelaide surrounded by accidental Parklands
21. Google maps is an offline Saviour (an Aussie invention)
22. Push the opposite to the status quo. It’s not so easy. The BIG will always overwhelm
23. The oppressed Millionaires - ypu dont need a lot of money to live life but you do need money to fly anywhere (even if it’s CC Churning)
24. The Australia Tax can be overcome. But, who knew COVID would win refunds for return tickets. And with exchange rate shifts, I even got back the 3% credit card slug plus more!!
25. I’m planning on doing it all again. But walking no more than every second day and spending every other day checking out all the AMAZING S-Bahn and U-Bahn stations

and that’s a Wrap

and as Captain Kirk said after going into gravity free space TODAY.
William Shatner cried telling Jeff Bezos about his flight to space: 'I hope I never recover from this'

I HOPE I NEVER RECOVER FROM THIS

 

[Katie]

in 1994, there were lots of street vendors selling off East German Border Guard caps in the open square. Now you can sit zen at Starbucks and admire the mighty Brandenburg tucked between corporate builds...

I remember that from Dec 1992! Somewhere, I hope I still have a bit of Berlin wall that I bought by the Brandeburger Tor. Even then, we joked that hopefully it was from a wall somewhere in Berlin.

 

[VPS]

Thanks for the TR and the push to go back and check my Checkpoint Charlie photos. I'll try to scan them one day

 

[CaptJCool]

I remember that from Dec 1992! Somewhere, I hope I still have a bit of Berlin wall that I bought by the Brandeburger Tor. Even then, we joked that hopefully it was from a wall somewhere in Berlin.

Yes yes
I didnt buy any wall... wasn’t especially sure of the “concrete’ veracity and figured I didn’t need any aggravation. ....

I did buy border guard caps

 

[CaptJCool]

Thanks for the TR and the push to go back and check my Checkpoint Charlie photos. I'll try to scan them one day

Oh yea, definitely good to get them out.... I forgot about the photos I could scan or photo of a photo And upload

 

[OZDUCK]

Thanks for the, very, full description of your travels. I a must admit that access to much of the wall circuit is far more difficult than I imagined.

 

[CaptJCool]

Thanks for the, very, full description of your travels. I a must admit that access to much of the wall circuit is far more difficult than I imagined.

Hey @OZDUCK

some careful geographic planning ahead of time is useful. Once located. It’s fairly straightforward, especially in the city suburban areas. I bought a fairly detailed map from a stall near the Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer strasse and google maps “worked” even without wifi connection. as I was UNEquipped with Data definitely made it more of a muddle.

as far as the rural areas and ‘townships’ are concerned, there’s very few bike-riders and walkers (outside of locals taking the dog for A neighbourhood walk) and remember

NO COFFEE
NO CAFES
NO WIFI
NO SEATING
NO WATER FOUNTAINS
NO BEER

There’s an occasional Aldi . Lido and Normal (?) supermarket built on the former border strip. Eg Staaken (adjacent Spandau) but otherwise, seems odd that you need pack your own Provisions and carry them. (Ugh, extra weight Carrying plenty of water, chocolate, breakfast ham rolls grabbed from the hotel buffet, snacks, spare socks, jumper, cap, bottle-opener in case of need, on likely rainy days a rain jacket, (that probably all easier carried on a bike)

 

[OZDUCK]

Hey @OZDUCK

some careful geographic planning ahead of time is useful. Once located. It’s fairly straightforward, especially in the city suburban areas. I bought a fairly detailed map from a stall near the Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer strasse and google maps “worked” even without wifi connection. as I was UNEquipped with Data definitely made it more of a muddle.

as far as the rural areas and ‘townships’ are concerned, there’s very few bike-riders and walkers (outside of locals taking the dog for A neighbourhood walk) and remember

NO COFFEE
NO CAFES
NO WIFI
NO SEATING
NO WATER FOUNTAINS
NO BEER

There’s an occasional Aldi . Lido and Normal (?) supermarket built on the former border strip. Eg Staaken (adjacent Spandau) but otherwise, seems odd that you need pack your own Provisions and carry them. (Ugh, extra weight Carrying plenty of water, chocolate, breakfast ham rolls grabbed from the hotel buffet, snacks, spare socks, jumper, cap, bottle-opener in case of need, on likely rainy days a rain jacket, (that probably all easier carried on a bike)

Thanks for the detailed response. This is still on my wives to-do list, by bike, if we manage to get to Berlin in the next year or so and hopefully spend a week or so there.

 

[CaptJCool]

I remember that from Dec 1992! Somewhere, I hope I still have a bit of Berlin wall that I bought by the Brandeburger Tor. Even then, we joked that hopefully it was from a wall somewhere in Berlin.

the wall looks picked
This in September 1992


the Palace


what it used to look like at the Brandenburger Tor
i bought a lot of postcards in 1992 and 94 because I figured east Berlin would change dramatically


Pretty sure these were 1994 selling all sorts of memoriabilia

 

[CaptJCool]

Thanks for the detailed response. This is still on my wives to-do list, by bike, if we manage to get to Berlin in the next year or so and hopefully spend a week or so there.

Most the maps are detailed

for example