Arriving late last night we
allowed ourselves a lie in and the clouds a chance to disappear. We left our
apartment in Schöneburg on a bright and sunny morning in Berlin.
After a brief caffeine stop we headed for Charlottenburg in search of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial. When I visited last summer the memorial was closed and
undergoing renovation. And surprisingly, it was still closed this time.
Determined not to be disheartened there were many things to
discover out west including a smart and elegant department store with a very
elegant name, Douglas. Down the road we stumbled across an interactive museum
housed inside a shopping centre.
This large museum is an interactive and bilingual experience
aimed at getting you familiar with Berlin’s 800 year history. There are more
than 10 topic rooms coming off a central corridor of time. The city’s rich
history is explored through fashion, music, short films, photographs and
artefacts. I learned lots of new things about Berlin, particularly in the regency period.
The ticket price includes a tour of their onsite nuclear
bunker, built in 1970 to house 3,600 Berliners for just 2 weeks. The airlock
and bunker are all still operational but my friend and I were
pretty clear that the bunker represented delayed death rather than any real
hope of survival.
The Story of Berlin costs €10 and fits neatly into the
current trend of museums as experiences of the past.
4/5 Bit expensive but high
quality
We travelled back to the centre on the U-bahn – the livery
of said vehicle is sunshine yellow, such a merry, optimistic shade, more
underground systems should be yellow! We were taking a route towards Museumsinsel but made an important stop off at the Ritter Sport Chocolate shop. Like
Mary Poppin’s hand-bag its bigger on the inside and allows you to make your own
chocolate, buy their chocolate bars and learn about chocolate production –
several bars later we crossed the centre of town, passing the beautiful Gendarmenplatz and the Berlin Dom on our way to
Museumsinsel. My Lonely Planet claimed you could visit on a Thursday night for
free; but as it turned out that information was out of date, a frequent theme
on this trip.
Instead we found the excellent DDR Museum on the banks of
the Spree. It’s a total steal at just €4. We arrived 1 hour
before closing time so were quite tight for time, but could easily have spent
more time there.
The DDR museum provides an interactive experience of life in
East Berlin from the 1950’s – 90’s. The museum is set up thematically
considering topics such as the home, education, fashion, and music. There are lots of
games to play in this museum, our favourite being the opportunity to ‘drive’ a
trabi car – experiencing first-hand the frustrations and joys of the vehicle,
it was a lot of fun!
Passing under the mist of bureaucracy – a physical wall of
mist – visitors enter the second section of the museum looking at conflict, law
and order and the military. Again the curators have thought very creatively
about using the space, with light-show games, and spaces set up as
interrogation suites so visitors get a real sense of what it was like. One of
my favourite installations was in the interrogation room. In order to hear the
response of the defendant one had to put one’s elbows on these desk pads and
cup your hands over your ears – inspired!
5/5 amazing value and high quality exhibit.
At the end of day 1 I know so much more about life in Berlin
after WWII; tired but ready for day 2.
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