FLASHBACK #18: European Adventure (Part 4) - Love & Hate in Berlin & The Final Days

On July 30th, 2002, we departed from Nice via the mountaneous, winding route. Knowing that we were now leaving France behind, I could now form an opinion of it. There's just something about France that doesn't appeal to me. It's not unique, there's nothing special about it and, oh, the people smell and ain't that polite! As we travelled along the hills, I had to admit that I hated france. This conclusion reminded me of an episode of Absolutely Fabulous, aptly named 'France', where Eddy and Patsy as two typical British toursits moan about the place and decide to visit a Vineyard not to taste the wine, but to get drunk on it. The hilarious part of the scene is when, inebriated, they return to their hire car and Eddy declares that 'somebody has stolen the bloody steering wheel!' Hilarious!

Anyway, by the evening, we had amazingly reached the city of Berlin in Germany. I can't remember how we get there, but I do know we were confronted with lot's of traffic jams along the way. We arrived in Berlin after 8pm and the search was on, once more, to find a hotel. We had arrived in Berlin a day earlier than we expected so we would be able to rest for two days. We parked in Potsdamer Platz and I hit the phones, trying to get through to the local tourist board. With no joy, we decided to head into the city centre and start approaching hotels for availability and prices. We found a nice hotel - I can't remember the name of it - but staying there would be quite expensive, UNLESS we could make an internet reservation and come back. What did we do? We got my free company phone, called a friend back in Finland who made the reservation, gave us the reference number and back into the hotel we went! Problem solved! We practically stayed at the four start hotel half price!

The hotel was lovely, very plush and the rooms were spacious, perfect for unloading all of our stuff to see what we had accummulated during the trip! We quickly showered, then strolled around the warm city centre. The rush hour traffic was now dying down and it was a pleasure to take in the place, getting orientated for the next days frantic sightseeting. Having spent an hour or so browsing around some nearby stores, we stopped for some dinner. Althought we had the cash to pay for the lovely Italian food we had, I was quite shocked to learn that they didn't accept Visa cards. This was the third time a place in Germany had refused a Visa card. Funny, isn't it, how Switzerland accepted only Swiss-issued cards and Germany didn't accept Visa cards? After dinner, we strolled around the city once again. By now, the streets were pretty deserted and I remember grabbing Bree's hand in mine. I pulled him towards me and gave him a kiss. He didn't pull away, simply smiling at me. It was a rare moment of affection between two men in a public place and it was then that I felt a huge surge of love for him.

The next day was a very active one. After a hearty breakfast at the hotel, we began with a bus tour where you could hop on and off for 24 hours. Donning headphones giving us a commentary of the city in English, we passed monuments such as Checkpoint Charlie (used to monitor movement between East and West Germany), the colourful cranes at Potzdamer Platz and the Reichstag. We got off the bus at the Jewish Museum and the next few hours would tug at our heart strings! It was a very emotional day, depicting the struggle of the German-Jewish people over 2,000 years. Forced to close in 1938 by the State Police, the museum is now on of the most visited museums in Berlin.

Illustrating the struggle and unfair treatment of the jewish people, you are faced with two corridors named the 'Axis of Exile' and the 'Axis of Holocaust'. The Axis of Exile is a wide corridor with exhibits on the wall, document the lives of the expelled German Jewish communities. One story told of how one lone woman travelled all over the world, changing her nationality in each country in order to 'hide' her Jewish origins. At the end of this corridor depicting such sad experiences lies the 'Garden of Exile'. Comprising of forty-eight square pillar towering twenty feet high on ground that is slanted in two different directions at the same time, the garden imbalances visitors illustrating the imbalance associated with exile, a unsettled feeling of not belonging.

Along the Axis of Holocaust, heartbreaking stories line the corridors. Exhibits contain possessions of Jews who endured the Holocaust. Among the item are a grammar school autograph book, the drawings and love letters of couples torn apart by deportation and letters from a mother who was trapped in Berlin. At the end of the corridor is the 'Holocaust Tower', a bare, narrow unheated chamber that rises as high as the building itself. Silent and unlit, except for a small hole high up, the Tower depicts the Jewish person's ability to hear the world with the individuals rights to participate removed. Two people at a time are allowed in the Tower for 90 seconds. I left the tower and shed a tear - the whole museum is an emotional experience and the Tower personifies the experience. Even though it sounds depressing, I recommend a trip to the museum. If anything, the museum teaches us how stable our lives are and you leave the place with a sense of gratefulness.

After our visit to the museum, we waited for the bus and continued the bus tour. The bus took us around the whole city which, considering it was literally levelled just sixty years ago, has made a lot of progress. Through this progress, you sense how the Germans, despite the cruel intentions of their wicked and twisted leader, are determined to move on.

Later on, we ended up in a department store, not far from the hotel. After a bit of shopping, we headed back to the hotel and decided to enjoy a swim and a sauna in the hotel. It was great to just relax for a change, with no rush to visit somewhere or track down something. After the swim, we looked through the photos taken so far during our trip. We had seen and done sooo much and it was nice to look at photos, many of which reminded us of things we had already consigned to the deepest parts of our memory.

The rest of the evening was a bit of a blur. Bree and I got into a fight and, just outside the hotel, he walked in one direction and I walked in the other. I was so pissed off, but determined to enjoy my evening so off I went. I ended up in a gay bard called 'Tom's'. I ordered my usual Bacardi and Coke and got talking to this English guy who sat down next to me. He started chatting away, relieved to find someone who spoke English. Within a minute, he had told me everything: he was English, had been living in Berlin for six months and hated it like hell. I turned to him, smiled and listened intently. I was in a gay bar for no good reason. I didn't want to meet anyone, yet this guy worse his heart on his sleeve, asking my advice. I told him to go back home, that Germany and France are two countries that I would never live in. The two nations are too dominant for us, I explained. We must have been sitting together nearly an hour when the guy said that the conversation we had was the best one he had had in six months. I told him to go home, that life is too short to live that way. He nodded. The guy wasn't hitting on me, that much was clear. He looked genuinely unhappy.

I didn't get back to the hotel until 4am the next morning. I remember singing to myself as I navigated my way through the streets. I wasn't drunk and I certainly wasn't lost - I was feeling blue, unhappy that Bree and I had fought. When I got into the hotel room, I made every effort to be quiet so that I didn't disturb Bree. I don't like bad feeling or animosity so, lying on my side, I part my arms around him, spooning tightly. He grabbed my arm and I knew then that everything would be okay. I slept.

When we woke up the next morning, we discussed our argument. It had been about a political disagreement over the Jews, a stupid thing to argue about. We agreed that we should not discuss politics anymore and the issue was handled. Over breakfast, we planned our day. We would visit the Reichstag (which was very impressive), visit what remained of the Berlin Wall (which stretched 155km and separated West from Soviet-occupied East Germany) and the Berlin Bears.



The Berlin Bears consists of a circle of 'United Buddy Bears', a symbol of tolerance and peaceful co-existence among nations. Each of the participating 125 countries has designed a bear that tells something about its home country. The collection of unique bears is located next to Brandenburg Gate, very close to the Berlin Wall. We were lucky to see this collection as the pieces were to be auctioned off in aid of UNICEF later in 2002.

In the afternoon, we checked out of the hotel and it was back in the car as we sped towards Rostok on the North coast of Germany. To cut a long story short (this story is getting long now, isn't it?!), we caught the SuperFast Ferry from Rostok which would take us to Hanko, the same dock where I had first arrived in Finland the previous November. The cruise lasted nearly 24 hours and when we were onboard, there was a sense of calm. There was nowhere to rush to. We had nearly a day on board to just chill, relax, read, chat, sleep, whatever! Bliss!

The evening went quickly with a meal in the only - and bloody expensive - restaurant on board. There was nothing else to do on this vessel so we remained in the restaurant for as long as we could, taking time to enjoy our last dinner on holiday. It was an early night for us (where could we go, after all?!).

The next day at sea was sunny and warm, despite the vessel's dash across the Baltic Sea. While Bree laid on the solid chairs on-deck, I updated my notes on the trip, sorry that the hours of our holiday were coming to a close. We finally arrived in Finland at 6pm and then began the two hour drive towards Helsinki. The mood between us over the last couple of days had been tense. Looking back, it wasn't for any good reason. We had spent the two weeks together, every moment of everyday. In hindsight, it's amazing that we didn't kill eachother considering we had known eachother little more than three months and, prior to the trip, had only seen eachother during weekends.

When we finally arrived in Helsinki, it didn't take long to unload the car. I way amazed that we survived on so little clothing considering we had travelled more than 7,000 kms! What a fantastic trip it was!