SLIDESHOW: Berlin
A personal view of Germany's capital
Having friends or family living abroad has many advantages when it comes to weekend breaks, as my wife and I have discovered over the years.
More than 20 years ago we met a German couple on a Tunisian holiday in Sousse and we have remained the best of friends ever since.
And while you may think there is nothing unusual in that, it was Wolfgang's job with NATO that has led us to discover and enjoy so many towns and cities around Europe that we would never perhaps have considered visiting.
In fact, in those 20-plus years, they have moved no fewer than ten times and the ornately decorated 'Home Is Where The Navy Sends Me' wall tapestry has travelled with them... and it usually takes pride of place in the loo!
We've stayed with them at four different houses in Brussels when his tour of duty has taken him back and forth and we have enjoyed several more in Germany; from Flensberg on the Danish border (twice), the famed brewing town of Jever in the north, to Wilhelmshaven and then to Bonn (the former German capital) and Bremen.
In fact we were visiting them in the early 1990s on the night of German unification when the wall came down!
Thankfully all the upheavals of moving house now seem to be a thing of the past as Wolfgang has retired from NATO's high command. And after all the to-ing and fro-ing, his wife Angelika has insisted that they put down roots in a German city... and they've thankfully chosen Berlin.
With a daily easyJet service between Luton Airport and Berlin's Schoenefeld, popping over to see them for a weekend break couldn't be easier.
The two hour flight costs around 70 return if booked in advance and getting around in the German capital couldn't be easier on its integrated buses or the efficient S-Bahn and U-Bahn train systems that link all parts of the suburbs.
Berlin is a superb short break destination... and with friends to put you up and to show you around, it adds to the pleasure.
Last month they gave us the whole works ... the Grand Tour!
From the fabulous Potsdamerplatz with its cinemas, bars and theatres – we even went to see the stage production of Mamma Mia which, including all the songs, had been totally translated into German!
We visited the stunning Sony Center, saw what remains of the Berlin wall, viewed the Brandenburg Gate from all angles and would have gone into the reconstructed Reichstag parliament building... but the queue for that was too long!
We visited the hundreds of grey granite blocks that make up the imposing Holocaust Memorial (opened in May, 2005 to mark the 60th anniversary) before passing into the 'eastern sector' to view Checkpoint Charlie. Then to the wooded Tiergarten and the famous Berlin Zoo.
After that it was Potsdam with its lakes and beaches and a boat trip from nearby Wannsee to view backs of the imposing houses taken over by Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and Dwight D Eisenhower when they came to the city at the end of hostilities at the end of the Second World War so that they could sub-divide Berlin into four different sectors – English, Russian, French and American.
In fact three of the sectors had their own airports – Schoenefeld, Tegel and Tempelhof – while the former is soon to be replaced by a massive new airport development which should also put an end Tempelhof which is centrally located in the city.
Driving out of Berlin on one of its autobahns, we passed the crumbling grandstands that once lined the Avus Grand Prix circuit.
The track ran through the dense Grunewald forest having been built by the AvD (Automobilclub von Deutschland) in 1907. It was in regular use for racing up until the outbreak of the Second World War but today is simply a part of the autobahn.
And finally on to Berlin's Olympic Stadium, built for the 1936 Games to glorify German sport and the Third Reich.
Our visit actually coincided with the opening of the Beijing Games and while the Birds Nest and those other fabulous Chinese sports stadia are absolutely breathtaking, the Berlin stadium is still hugely impressive.
With marble plaques naming all the gold medal winners on the walls either side of the dish on which burned the Olympic flame, even Adolf Hitler couldn't stop Jesse Owens' name from dominating.
Hitler – whose box has been removed – famously refused to shake hands with the black athlete who won four titles – 100m, 200m, long jump and 4x100m relay – and who was also snubbed by presidents Franklin D Roosevelt (FDR) and Harry S Truman after he returned home to the USA.
The stadium originally had a 100,000 capacity but today that has been reduced to a 90,000 all-seater and was used to stage the European Football Championship final in 2006. Today it is home to the Bundesliga's Hertha Berlin.
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Weather for Biggleswade
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 12 C to 25 C
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