Berlin und Berliner Geschichten

On May 1, 2011 I was in for a special treat: a guided bicycle tour of East Berlin. Local expert guide Stefan Danziger from Berlin on Bike took me through the Friedrichshain neighbourhood to the Bornholmerstrasse Bridge, the first former East German border crossing that opened up when the wall came down in 1989. Then we went through the picturesque Volkspark Friedrichshain which even features a fairy tale fountain! Along the way Stefan shared his local knowledge of Berlin and its fascinating history with me. We continued on to the famous Karl-Marx Allee, the former Stalinallee, with its monumental socialist realist buildings. After a tasty lunch on the Boxhagener Square Stefan showed me a really neat cultural and entertainment area that is housed in a series of former railway sheds on Revaler Strasse. Finally he took me to the East Side Gallery, one of the few remaining sections of the Berlin Wall, an international memorial for freedom that features many famous paintings by artists from all over the world. Discovering Berlin by bicycle with local expert Stefan was a real highlight of my trip! After the bike tour I visited the New Synagogue on Oranienburger Strasse, a fantastic building from the 1860s that was the main synagogue of Berlin’s large Jewish community. After being partially destroyed by the Nazis during Kristallnacht in 1938 and following more damage due to air raids in 1943 it was largely demolished after WWII. The street facade and the impressive gold-leaf …