Berlin in five days
Thalefang Charles | Friday March 17, 2017 16:36
That is why I did not want to sleep in Berlin.
I was part of the Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) entourage at ITB Berlin last week. Since it was my inaugural visit to Germany I wanted to squeeze as many German experiences as possible in the four days that I was in ‘Deutschland’.
But there was work to do at the ITB Berlin where Botswana was the first ever Sub-Saharan Africa official partner. After 30 hours of travelling from Gaborone to Berlin via Johannesburg, Dubai and Dusselhdorf, there was no time to even freshen up, let alone check in at a hotel. We - that is I and other bloggers, Olebogeng Magogoba of Lebo Explores, the one I like to refer to as Travel Bae, the videographer Jerald Malebe, and Btv crew - were whisked away to the Messe Berlin at the opening ceremony of the ITB Berlin.
The venue felt like Little Botswana, from the music, performances and food (see Mmegi Arts & Culture). We changed to decent clothing in the storeroom and got on with the programme – talk about hitting the ground running. This is what they mean when they say, ‘the show must go on’.
We finally checked into a hotel at around midnight and although I felt a new surge of energy after a quick shower, I decided to stay in and plan for the following day.
I had places to see, monuments to photograph and items to tick off the bucket list. But there was ITB Berlin to cover, my reason of stay in the German capital.
The Messe Berlin is a huge place. At 160,000 square metres it is larger than the size of University of Botswana’s main campus. It has 26 halls and over 10,000 companies from 184 countries were represented at 1,092 stands.
I spent Day One of the fair walking through the 26 halls trying to discover and with my 14kg camera gear, it felt like an adventure walk.
Through my ITB Halls adventure walk, I picked up a flyer inviting us to the IT Grand Opening Party at Puro Sky Lounge and I did not want to miss it. Although my smart-watch reported that I have walked just over 20,000 steps (about 15km) that morning and afternoon, carrying 14kg of gear, I was not planning on sleeping.
There is no fatigue that a hot shower cannot fix – this is my belief and my body subscribes it. Shower is like a master refresh button for me.
My entourage complained of fatigue and said they will pass up the club invitation so I had to embark on a solo mission. There is nothing as adventurous as being on a solo mission in a country that one does not speak the language.
The club was banging English songs and I was surprised to see some revellers dancing while whistling like they are in a Mogoditshane club and are about to say “e mpolaa gone ha!” The feeling I really love inside these foreign clubs is that I get to feel really confident about my dancing moves.
Foreign nightclubs liberate me. So I showed them a few dance moves straight from Southern Africa and with beautiful club light effects, it felt like I was a hired dancer.
The following morning armed with a map I braced the biting cold and decided to get on my own tour of Berlin – on foot. Berlin has a long history and part of it is the reason why you are probably reading this. As a student of European history, I was force-fed German history and most of their iconic old buildings and churches were very familiar to me. So, I did not really need a guide in Berlin. The history lessons came all back to me.
The Brandenburg Gate, for instance, reminded me of the Cold War, of Ronald Reagan telling Russia’s Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall”. A short walk from the Brandenburg Gate is the Holocaust Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The memorial is beautiful, if you do not know what it really represents. I believe all the tourists that I met there taking selfies and playing through the monument slabs like it is a fun maze do not really understand the meaning of it.
A check-in at Checkpoint Charlie was also a big tick on my bucket list not just because I am Charlie sometimes. But because of the historical stories of people seeking to free East Berlin into the Allied forces controlled by West Berlin during the years of the Berlin Wall. While there, I pictured the famous US and Soviet tanks standoff that happened at Checkpoint Charlie in 1961.
Still on tourist mode, I visited old Churches, the Berliner Dom, (cathedral) and the Marienkirche Church, which is said to be the last surviving structure in the city.
The Marienkirche is thought have been built around 1200 and is the second oldest church in Berlin. Walking through these churches, I always wonder what my ancestors were really doing during 1200 when these white people were building these majestic structures.
From the churches, I visited the Berliner Fernsehturm (TV tower) to enjoy the aerial view of Berlin. I spent the last evening at Bar 203 at the tower sipping Berliner Pilsner while watching the beautiful moonrise over the concrete jungle.
With a short time in Germany, I made sure that I sampled as many beers as possible. Germany is famous for their beers and even most of their souvenirs are beers. But while I was on this sleepless lone beer tour (there are tourist beer tours) the Euro was sucking out my bank account dry.
The rate was one Euro equals P11 and after a few German beers in a banging club, a €3.80 beer sounded too cheap.