It was a short walk to our very nice hotel and another short walk into town where our sight-seeing began in earnest. The open-top tour took us past 89 sights of interest, starting from Kurfurstendamm, referred to as 'Ku' Damm' by the locals, whose two-mile length offers cavernous shopping malls and boutiques, cafes, restaurants and bars, cinemas and theatres while many of Berlin's luxury hotels are situated around this centre of non-stop bustling activity.
It was very warm in Berlin with a haze (could have been pollution) overhead but after whizzing around town all afternoon, we both ended up with sunburnt faces. The former West Berlin is almost completely rebuilt with East Berlin now undergoing restoration on an impressive scale. The difference being though, that much of the pre-war architecture is being preserved in the east while it appears that the west were anxious to remove all scars from WWII bombing raids and any reminders of Hitler's reign of terror. The entrance to his bunker where he holed up with Eva Braun as the Allies approached and where, after their suicides, their bodies were burnt according to his instructions has been built over and no plaques or statues or any symbols of recognition mark the spot. It's as if the German people want to wipe him from memory and would like the rest of the world to also. A different story at Auschwitz but that will come later.
In a perverse way, I was impressed with Berlin; it signifies what the German people are known for - an appreciation of art, a love of nature and an obsession for precision and efficiency. If the time-table says that the train will leave at 11.02 - it leaves at precisely two minutes past 11. Here in the UK, if we are running 10-20 minutes late for the station there is a very good chance that the train wont have left yet because there is also a very good chance that it hasn't arrived yet!
Despite all the efficiency and beautiful buildings and parks, an eerie atmosphere pervades which is difficult to describe. Even the sight of nude sunbathers in one part of the Teirgarten and families enjoying afternoon BBQ's in another had a strange feel about it. Five days later, as we were passing it again in the early evening on our return from from Poland, I mentioned to Pete that I wouldn't fancy walking through the park at night - it looked sinister.
The train trip to Krakow on Tuesday 24 August took 10 hours. For much of the journey we were passing through Polish countryside which near the border had an impoverished look. The settlements were fewer and further apart, forests abounded where the soil must have been less fertile judging by the scrubby plants growing on their edges and the houses appeared dilapidated - I thought some must have been abandoned altogether until glimpses of washing hanging on sagging clotheslines, dejected dogs and ragged chooks scratching in the dust or a motionless figure standing in a doorway enviously watching the train slide past proved otherwise.
Then we were passing acres of arable land where crops were growing, predominantly corn followed by beetroot. Settlements became towns, albeit little evidence of department stores or 'bright light' night entertainment. Heralding the imminent approach of a town were allotment gardens backing onto the train tracks. Each allotment was an oasis of greenery and profusion of coloured flowers. It was as if each allotment owner combined all their desire for beautiful surroundings with a practical need to supplement their diet in their individual small plots. The high rise apartment blocks people and families were obviously crammed into were stark and ugly. I couldn't help comparing the attractiveness of the Polish allotments with the untidy hotch-potch of English allotments (which are a dying tradition in any case due to people pinching the produce at night and councils wanting to build more low budget terraced houses on the land to house the flood of Eastern and European immigrants in).
Only after a good 8 hours of travelling did any hills come into view. Until then, the terrain was completely flat. Nonetheless, I found the scenery interesting and the numerous stations we either flashed by or stopped at amazing. (See attached photo!)
As dusk approached, we drew into Krakow station - the most civilised looking station throughout our journey with Katowice perhaps second. Until my trip to Berlin and Auschwitz, I'd never heard of Katowice.
To be continued....