The road leading to Berlin is 30ks long! The ride we had gave us a guided tour. First he passed over Check Point Charlie - the most famous passage across the ex-wall, then he drove into East Berlin, Strangely the greatest monuments are on the East side - the State Opera, the Brandenburg Gate and a burnt up synagogue which was destroyed during the Crystal Night Nazi attacks on the Jews. The synagogue hasn't been rebuilt there is just a sign saying "never forget this". I have never in my life seen such depravity, on the streets of East Berlin there are down and outs, out the bottom dangerous people. The streets feel like dead. We were dropped at the daunting East Barnhof Station - even I gripped my rucksack tighter. Our guide book says "autonomous rebels express aimless discontent through destructive activity and armed opposition to police - especially on May Day, May 1st blow outs! These animate the streets with obligatory car burnings and molotov cocktails." So what do we do but arrive on the eve of May 1st.
50% or more of Berlin's population is Turkish, there is very high unemployment and general discontent. We had been dropped at the wrong train station for information so we had to take a tube to West Berlin. The city is huge. Because the people in East Berlin are still recovering economically tube prices are 0.20 in the East and 2.5 Marks in the West. The tubes were very old, graffiti every where, abandoned bottles, litter and people with faces of stone. The people were staring with constant terror, they look dishevelled, dirty and mumble to each other and themselves about the war. Berlin has over 100 theatrical productions each nights and numerous museums so I think we just saw the bad side.
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