I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love Germany. And now, after this trip, I love Berlin. I was there for the Berlin Marathon and that's a whole other story, but while there I also managed to see a little of the city itself and it certainly deserves its own page. 

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I flew in via Frankfurt as there are no direct flights from Hong Kong to Berlin. Once in Frankfurt, I negotiated the large airport and worked my way to the in-airport 'flughafen' - very convenient as my train was direct to the centre of Berlin itself. I knew what train I was on, as well the time of course, but as I had plenty of time to spare I texted a German friend of mine what the exact details of my ticket were. Lucky I did as I was at the wrong end of the platform for my carriage and I also gathered that I had a reserved seat which was good to know. Anyhow, all good and I settled in for the four-hour journey. Once in Berlin, I recognized the station from our 24-hour visit here in 2016 and with help from a train app, I found my train on Platform 16 which would take me closer to my hotel in the south west of the city - close to the Zoo and the Tiergarten where the marathon would start from. Once there I paused briefly at Zoo Station (Zoologischer Garten) as a homage to the old U2 song.

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The first full day was my main sightseeing day and I planned to visit the sights that we had seen previously. I was up early and first walked to Victory Column which was close to the marathon start. I actually went up the numerous steps on my last day, hence why the photo is just before sunset. It was relocated to this location before WW2, as part of the redesign of the city by Albert Speer and offers a great view over Berlin.

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My next port of call was the iconic Brandenburg Gate which I would see again at the the 42km mark of my marathon. After that was the Reichstag and I tried to recreate the same photo we made in 2016 when we spent a lovely time relaxing and picnicing on the grass expanse. Unfortunately, and probably due to the marathon itself, the grass area was pretty messed up and most of it blocked off.

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Then onto Potzdamer Platz where, as well as seeing the same chewing-gum adorned section of the Berlin Wall that we saw previously, I took a coffee break at nicely-located Pret overlooking the busy junction. From here I ventured off to Checkpoint Charlie and was happy to see that the area was pretty quiet save for morning commuters. No tourists around so I could take my photos and selfies at will. 

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My final destination was the Platz der Luftbrucke and the old Berlin Airport which was where I would collect my race packet for Sunday's race. This was a surprise treat with it being one of the last places with 1930's Nazi-era architecture and I was also able to hang about on the runway apron itself and see a few old planes that they keep there. Hopefully the photos show some of the history.

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My next two days were pretty quiet, the first was devoted to rest and the second day to running the marathon itself. The race went well but it was a slow hobble back to the hotel for some recovery so no chance for more sightseeing that day.

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So for my final day in Berlin, I wanted to aid my recovery and get in a decent walk, and when looking up a guide of the 10 'must-sees' in Berlin, I settled upon a visit to Grunewald Station which, aside from still being a working train station, also features a memorial to the over 50,000 Jews who were transported to labour and death camps from this station between 1941 and early 1945. The walk to the station itself took me down the length of Kurfurstendam, which is a delightful road and one of the most historical in Berlin. I regret not taking any photos, but did stop for a coffee at one intersection to soak up the history.  

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After a 6km walk, I reached the Grunewald area and walked through the leafy suburbs which still featured some of the old residential buildings. It also struck me that life probably went on as normal for the inhabitants of these houses, all the while thousands of Jews were being rounded up and sent off to the camps just a stones-throw from their front doors. A little bit of a 'Zone of Interest' within Berlin itself.

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The station itself dates back to 1879 and is certainly not becoming of the horrors that it witnessed. As you approach the station, you are directed to 'Gleis 17' which was the platform. It is obviously quite a moving place and I was fortunate to be alone for most of my visit as I walked along the platform to the read the detailed information of every train that left from the station - the date, where it was going and exactly how many Jews were on the train. The early trains were less full, but gradually built up to probably capacity - well-over 1000 for each train - before gradually reducing in numbers as I guess there were fewer Jews left to round up. Towards the end of my visit, a tourist coach arrived, so I made a hasty exit back down the steps and back into the city. 

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It really was just such a simple memorial, but a very moving experience. I say that with some thought as I also visited the Dachau Camp when we were in Munich and I'm sorry to say that I didn't come away with the same depth of feeling. It sure was shocking, but the amount of tourists there (coupled with the ghoulish nature of some - taking photos in front of the ovens for example), made it harder to appreciate. Both worth a visit to understand and see the horrors first hand, but this simple memorial seemed to hit me harder.

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After lunch in the centre of Berlin (when my vegan schnitzel turned out to be chicken), my last afternoon in Berlin was spent packing and preparing for an early start the following day. My train was at 5:55am from the main train station, so I left the hotel around 4:30am, then figured out the local train before getting a nice takeaway breakfast for the four-hour train journey. This shouldn't have been so eventful, however it was memorable after I choked on my breaded pretzel and couldn't breathe for around 45 seconds. Bit of a shock that, but fortunately the only incident until my arrival back in HK. All in all, a lovely few days in Berlin and I'll definitely be back sooner rather than later. 

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