The Painted Berlin Wall and Festive Christmas Markets

Our second full day in Berlin began with some snow on the ground. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to make things slippery. We had to walk around cautiously all day. I did see one man slip and fall so it made me anxious. Nevertheless we didn’t spend the day in our hotel. Our day ended up being divided into two parts. We spent the morning going to see wall art and the afternoon and evening at Christmas markets.

Of course one of the major items to see in Berlin is the old Berlin Wall. After World War II the world powers divided the city of Berlin between East Germany and West Germany. The communists controlled East Germany; and Berlin lies within the boundary of East Germany. To stop those in East Germany from escaping into West Berlin, the communists built a wall around West Berlin. Later under pressure from President Reagan, the wall was finally torn down.

The wall had been a symbol of totalitarianism, and pieces of the wall were taken and used in a number of places for social and political ideology. In Berlin some parts of the wall remain. An idea developed to use one very long section as a canvas of sorts for art. Germany invited artists from various countries to come and create art on the wall. This became known as The East Side Gallery.

The East Side Gallery is the longest section of the wall still standing. The gallery is 1316 meters long (about 0.8 of a mile). The different paintings represent a variety fo styles and genres. Most deal with the themes of either peace or the evil that exists in the world. The most famous piece is “The Mortal Kiss” which shows Russia’s Brezhnev and East Germany’s Honecker kissing each other. When we visited, this painting was definitely the most popular piece with people taking selfies in front of it.

On the other side of the wall is the Spree River, and in a few places there is a break in the wall. People could wander over to the river and enjoy the scenic view.

At the end of the Gallery is a bridge with a train track going over it as well. The architecture here is quite interesting. We crossed the bridge and then came back walking in the space under the train tracks. From there we continued to follow the river down. We saw a place where a Christmas market was being set up, but it was not open.

We eventually turned back and found a place to have a hot drink as the weather outside was so cold. Sitting in a warm cafe we plotted our next course of action. We decided to go to a Christmas market that was some distance away in Spandau. The good news was the train across the street would take us there. However, it took over 45 minutes to get there.

This was our first Christmas market in Berlin, and I have to say I was a bit disappointed. The market was quite spread out. Basically the booths lined the street and then turned down another street. My biggest complaint was the market was mostly about the food. I knew that food was a major component of the markets. We had seen that when we visited the markets in Budapest and Prague. However, at this market it seemed 90% of the booths were about food. Very few of the booths were actually selling items to buy for Christmas.

We did partake of the food, buying a chicken sandwich. Chicken was grilled over a fire and then stuffed into a bun. It was simple fare, but inexpensive compared to what we would have to pay in a restaurant. It filled the bill for dinner for us.

One of the different things about Christmas markets here in Berlin is they tend to offer carnival type rides. At this one in Spandau, they had a Ferris wheel along with a few other rides. During our visit there didn’t seem to be any other entertainment. However, this was the first day the market was open so they were just getting geared up for the season. They did have Christmas music playing. The odd thing to me was all the songs were in English. Don’t they have Christmas songs in German?

At one end of the market the booths were in front of an old church. The church was the Evangelische Kirchengemeinde It was a pretty simple church in structure, but I did find the door quite interesting.

After exploring the market we decided to head back. While it was already turning dark, it was actually still pretty early. SiIvette and I decided to check out the Christmas market across from the Berlin Cathedral we had noted the day before. We really enjoyed the winter market on Schlossplatz. First there was a greater variety of items for sale which one might buy. There were still plenty of food items, but even among those there was a greater variety. We saw food booths with Indian food, Jamaican offerings, and some from Africa as well. There was still the grilled sausages, but they did not dominate the food scene.

The other thing we liked about this market was the effort on the decorations. Of course the lights at dark are always more festive. At this market they had lights projected onto the walls creating different patterns. On the small tables where people could eat their food, they had decorations as well. Overall it just seemed a more festive and alive market then the one in Spandau.

By this time we felt tired. We walked back to our hotel to settle in for the night. Silvette’s watch calculated that we had walked around eight miles this day, and our feet were protesting that. it was good to be off them.

Tomorrow we will check out some more Christmas markets and see what else Berlin has to offer. The weather forecast is for slightly warmer weather and no snow. Check back next week to see how the weather holds out.