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greenbagjosh · 1 year

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Friday 10 July 1998 - ICE monoblock once again, after the Eschede disaster - ruins of the GDR in Potsdamer Platz - new cities on the world clock in Alexanderplatz - early evening in Frankfurt an der Oder and Slubice, Poland

Friday 10 July 1998

Hi everyone, Grüß Gott, Guten Tag and dzien dobry

Today twenty years ago, I went on a three day weekend to Berlin, Frankfurt an der Oder, Slubice in Poland and back via Leipzig and Nürnberg Hbf. This would be my second visit to Berlin overall, as my previous visit was in January 1997, not exactly the best time to visit. This time I planned to see more than I did then. Before you read any further, I plan to break the journey into three parts, Friday the 10th, Saturday the 11th and Sunday the 12th. Berlin is a big city, with so much history in the last 60 years at least, and proper time spent to enjoy it is necessary.

I was able to take a day off work, as I had accumulated more than seven hours of overtime. I was not paid overtime but was allowed compensation days if certain conditions were met. I had to validate my Eurail Pass and use one day for the 10th going over to Berlin, and I paid 89 D-Mark for the return trip for Sunday the 12th (1998 FIFA World Cup Final, Brazil vs France). Already in May 1998 I had booked two nights at the Berlin youth hostel located near Wannsee in the former "American Sector". I took the early ICE high speed train called the "Justus Freiherr von Liebig" (1803 - 1873, bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justus_von_Liebig), the replacement for the "Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen", damaged about 11:10 AM on 3rd June 1998 in Eschede. Because the von Liebig train did not go to Berlin, but rather to Hamburg, I had to make a transfer at Fulda, to connect to the train for Berlin Zoologischer Garten, which in 1998 was the main terminus for eastbound trains as the current Hauptbahnhof was not yet built. The train left Munich about 5:35 AM. In 1998 the section between Munich, Augsburg and Nuremberg, were not high speed, neither was the existing section between Munich, Ingolstadt and Nuremberg, so it would not arrive in Nuremberg until about 6:55 AM. The morning was generally cloudy. I had my trusty "coffee bottle" with freshly brewed coffee in my backpack and about eight cans of soda at 330 mL each. The train stopped at Würzburg at 8:15 AM (Würzburg is the birthplace of Dallas Mavericks Dirk Nowitzki). It went not west to Aschaffenburg or Frankfurt, but rather north to Fulda, Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe and Göttingen before going further north to Hannover and Hamburg. The train arrived at Fulda about 9:10 AM. I listened to the Hessischer Rundfunk top of the hour news and heard All Saints' cover version of Red Hot Chili Peppers "Under the bridge" after that. At Fulda I alighted and had to wait for the Intercity train to Berlin. I would have been able to continue with an ICE train but due to the disaster at Eschede, lines operated with the ICE-1 series had many taken out of service. So I made do with the IC, and it arrived on time at 9:12 AM. The train went through Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe, Göttingen, Braunschweig, Wolfsburg, Potsdam and Berlin-Wannsee station. The train arrived about 12:28 PM at Berlin Zoologischer Garten. Before exploring Berlin, there was some business to take care of at the station.

In Berlin, you can buy a single day pass at a reasonable price. I am not sure what it was in 1998 but in 1997 it was 10 D-Mark. For a three-day pass, namely a 72 hour pass, you can also get discounts on tours and various products. The cost was 29 D-Mark. There was a ticket in the booklet that BVG sold, and it had to be stamped before use. Stamped only once, otherwise it would be considered invalid by the ticket inspectors and I would have been subject to a fine of 80 D-Mark. I stamped the pass, and then headed on the S-7 to Nikolassee via Westkreuz. The trains were of the BR-481 series, and stations announced by the voice of Ingo Ruff, as I remembered from January 1997. My hostel was, despite being located near Wannsee, was actually closer to the Nikolassee station. And about a half mile walk from Nikolassee. I checked in and left my luggage on the free bunk bed in the room. As it was the Love Parade weekend, the hostel would be very full. I rested for a few minutes, and before I left, I took my Eurail Pass with me and my remaining cans of soda in case I were to get thirsty on the way. The coffee bottle was empty.

After a short rest, I left the hostel about 2 PM, with only my small bag with sodas, my Eurail pass, and passport. It was time to explore Berlin. I walked back to Nikolassee to take the S-Bahn to Potsdamer Platz. I wanted to not take the S-7 but the S-1, which was possible. The difference is going through Anhalter Bahnhof, Potsdamer Platz and Friedrichstraße underground, where S-7 is either elevated or at-grade only. At Yorckstraße I was listening on my radio to RTL 105.6 FM. Then when the train went underground for Anhalter Bahnhof and I lost the signal. Oh well.

During the Cold War, Anhalter Bahnhof was the last station in the West Berlin S-Bahn, before approaching the Berlin Wall, as the next station would be Potsdamer Platz which was closed then. Both stations in 1998 looked like they were nicely refurbished after Reunification. I exited Potsdamer Platz to have a look around to see how much of the wall I could still see. Most of it had been torn down, and in 1998 there was only the empty space remaining. If you were to look at an aerial photo of it today, you would not be able to really tell that there was once a wall. The area has long since been built up. I did find a wall to take a selfie from, and I managed to find a wooden wall. If I could not find a cement wall, I thought, well, the wooden one will do, it is close to the original site anyway. So, there you have it, the story of the selfie of me trying to climb a wall.

Between Potsdamer Platz and the Brandenburg Gate, there was a small memorial to the victims of the Third Reich. Honestly I do not know if that was erected either during the Cold War or after Reunification. I have only a few photos of that.

Because the Brandenburger Gate was not too far, I decided to walk on over. Brandenburger Tor was probably the most famous landmark of Berlin, that showed the division of West and East Berlin. On the west side there was the wall blocking access to it. It was accessible during the Cold War only from the East, namely, USSR controlled, side. Even when the Soviet troops had withdrawn, many former Soviets, in 1998, Russian citizens, remained behind and sold USSR memorabilia, such as military caps, belt buckles, insignias of the USSR, Matryushka nesting dolls. On Saturday the 11th July 1998, Brandenburger Tor would be quite busy and so would Unter den Linden up to Alexanderplatz. For that reason, Potsdamer Platz and Unter den Linden stations would be shut for the day. More about that tomorrow.

I wanted to see the Reichtstag building. It would be a short walk to Scheidemannstraße to see the Reichstag. The rebuilding of the Reichstag into the new Bundestag, would not be complete for several years. On the front it had "Dem Deutschen Volke" (to the German People). During the Cold War, the Reichstag building was located in the West. The government in 1998 was still in Bonn but would transfer to Berlin during the Gerhard Schröder (SPD, 1998 - 2005) government.

After that I thought it appropriate to explore into the former East Berlin, where there were no significant attractions. I took the bus to Französische Straße, the U-6 to Oranienburger Tor, then a tram to Brunnenstraße/Invalidenstraße. Note, on the U-6 from Stadtmitte to Reinickendorfer Straße, were "ghost stations" that the U-8 went through but did not stop. The tram went through an interesting part of the former East Berlin, looked like what I had seen in high school German class. The stop "Monbijouplatz" did not exist in 1998 so after Oranienburger Straße, was Hackescher Markt. For some strange reason or whatever, I got the idea to take the train further east to Frankfurt an der Oder and cross into Poland, before it got too dark. So I did that, taking the U-8 from Rosa Luxemburg Platz to Alexanderplatz, taking the S-Bahn to Ostbahnhof, and taking the Berlin-Warszawa-Express to Frankfurt an der Oder. I had my Eurail Pass and unless I was going further to Warsaw Centralna, I did not need any reservation. The PKP train was as nice as the Intercity train. The train passed by Ernkner which is the farthest east on the Berlin S-Bahn system.

I think I arrived at Frankfurt an der Oder about 6:30 PM. The train station looked like time stood still from the Cold War. Station signs looked similar to the ones I saw in Prague. The trams ran from the station to Magistrale, where the car and footbridge was located to cross the Oder into Slubice, Poland. Back then all Frankfurt an der Oder trams were from the Tatra factory in the Czech Republic as a legacy of the Cold War. There was a McDonalds at the intersection of Karl Marx Straße and Rosa Luxemburg Straße, for some reason it had a more profound effect on me that I would have preferred. At the time McDonalds was featuring Greek-style hamburgers with feta cheese, called "McKronos". I could not resist, so I had a simple McKronos burger and small drink. After eating and going to the bathroom, I made my way across the "Most Graniczny". At the time I did not know the Polish phrases "nie mówie po Polsku" (I do not speak Polish) or "nierozumiem" (I do not understand). After passing the German customs booth, I had my passport stamped on the Polish side. The first thing I saw was Rondo Solidarnosci (solidarity roundabout) and I walked along to the DK 31 road, otherwise known as aleja Mlodziezy Polskiej.

I withdrew some Polish Zloty at an ATM since the D-Mark was not accepted. Just enough to get by in town. The only thing I bought was a Döner Kebap and some soft drink. Most of the rest of the time I wandered around for half an hour. Some things I noted, were a Zywiec beer sign at what is today's King Nazar Kebap, the post office sign "POCZTA", a cigarette shop, a movie poster for "Seven Years in Tibet" with the title in Polish, a few FSO Polonez sedans and Fiat 126p, the Polish version of the Fiat 500 or Yugo. There were some kids playing soccer and one had a big net over him and I did not know enough Polish to ask why. If you see the photo and ask me why that boy has a net on him, I don't think I can explain the circumstance even twenty years on. I had the radio with me, and I recorded some Polish broadcast, including the song "Siedze i mysle" by Beata Kozidrak off the airwaves. I do not know the radio station anymore. I walked back over the Most Graniczny to Germany, had my passport stamped both by Poland for exiting, and Germany for entering. Then I took the tram back to the rail station, and took a RegionalExpress back to Berlin Ostbahnhof. I heard "Music was my first love" by John Miles, prior to accidentally changing the station to one that was playing "Achy breaky heart" by Billy Ray Cyrus. From there I took the S-7 back to Nikolassee, and made it back to the hostel before 11 PM.

I felt I accomplished much on Friday 10 July 1998, but for Berlin there was still more to see. There is still Saturday the 11th and Sunday the 12th. And the final games of that year's FIFA World Cup to be played.

Until next time.

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