Berlin, 8 degrees, rain
Our day of exploring Berlin started out cold and wet and finished the same way. We were not deterred, this was the weather we were expecting and we came prepared.
Rugging up we made our way to the Olympia Station (S Bahn) disembarking at Ostbahmhof and walked to the East side gallery.
The East Side Gallery memorial is a permanent open-air gallery on the longest surviving 1.3km section of the Berlin Wall in Mühlenstraße between the Berlin Ostbahnhof and the Oberbaumbrücke along the River Spree.
The famous paintings that I have seen in photos I now view first hand alongside just as moving and memorable less famous works.
Our journey through Berlin continues to Alexanderplatz, Andy had a sense of déjà vous - had he been here before? Slowly looking around it all started to fall into place, the trams, the Plaza and underground station - we were in Jason Bourne territory - Jason Bourne Supremacy to be exact.
source: https://www.recenzent.org.ua/bourne-supremacy-locations-berlin/
Our next destination Checkpoint Charlie - the famous border crossing between East and West Berlin during the Cold War, which features in James Bond, Octopussy. The checkpoint is located on Friedrichstraße, the wall, watchtowers and turnpikes are gone and all that is left is a replica, souvenir shops and bus loads of tourists.
Onwards we walk and pass the Volkswagen showroom situated at the corner of Friedrichstrasse and Unter den Linden, to our surprise and my delight the showroom has an Exhibition "Driven by Dreams - 75 Years of Porsche Sports Cars" all those beautiful cars on show - we couldn’t resist but to go in.
We continue through the city along Unter den Linden feeling dwarfed by the oversized stately buildings.
We notice a lot of police activity the closer we get to Brandenburg Gate, we pass hoardings showing support to Ukraine 🇺🇦 and look across the road to see the Russian embassy isolated by barriers.
Further on we pass the British and US embassies both behind barricades, both with high police presence. In fact we note there is high level of police activity all over the city which, we later realise when we are at the Reichstag is more than likely due to protests as there were large numbers of people dispersing.
We escape the crowds and the black unmarked vans driving around filming the crowds to the relative quiet of the Berlin Hauftbahn - maybe we were in a Jasón Bourne film after all.
Post script : On October 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel with a barrage of rockets and an incursion into Israeli territory, 1400 people were killed and 212 people taken hostage. Israel began retaliatory strikes into Gaza before formally declaring war on Hamas. Israel has urged the 1.1 million Gazans to evacuate to Northern Gaza. The Israeli airstrikes have killed 4,651 Palestinians with more than a million of the territories 2.3million people displaced. Since that date there have been worldwide protests in support of both Palestinians and Israelis. Source: ABC news.