A case of Ostalgie and the first time visitor to Berlin

As you’ve probably come to realise, Berlin is one of my favourite cities.  Having visited twice before, it was therefore high time that I took Mr Lighty to Berlin.  Over the years we have developed something of a fascination with the history of the Deutsche Demokratik Republik (DDR) and former socialist countries; I’ve been lucky enough to visit quite a few ex-socialist countries, but Mr Lighty has only previously been to the Czech Republic.  It was lovely, therefore, to visit Berlin a third time with a first-time visitor and experience the city through their eyes – as well as indulge in a bit of Ostalgie.

DDR Luxury
For a short break where we were looking to soak up much of the communist history of Germany’s capital city, where better to stay than one of the country’s former most luxurious hotels of the DDR?  The Park Inn Hotel was built originally as the Stadt Hotel Berlin, which was used to house Comecon representatives in its time, and was the premier 4-star hotel of former East Berlin - it was even noted for having unusually fast lifts for the period!  Its location cannot be beaten, either, being centrally located at Alexanderplatz, overlooking the communist TV Tower (which is a very interesting visit in itself), and indeed, on our second day in the city, we made all of our visits on foot, walking a circular route from Alexanderplatz to the Brandenburg Gate, up to the Reichstag and down again past Potsdamer Platz, Checkpoint Charlie, Gendarmenmarkt and on to Museum Island and Berlin Cathedral.  It was lovely to experience the first sighting of the Brandenburg Gate and enjoy the Reichstag audio tour with Mr Lighty; two iconic Berlin landmarks, which for the first time visitor are a must.  Checkpoint Charlie, another must on Mr Lighty’s list, has become horribly touristy unfortunately, but the city can’t have everything!

The Park Inn Hotel at Alexanderplatz...  

...and the East German-built TV tower 
as viewed from our hotel window.

A step back in time
One of the first stops on our tour of all things East German was the DDR Museum.  This museum is dedicated to original artefacts from the period before German reunification.  With the likes of a recreated East German flat and a Trabant car, there’s plenty to engage the visitor within the hands-on museum.  It was really interesting to read about the products available (or not available, as the case often was) in the DDR, and to see how East Germany lived, but I did feel that it made the era feel like it was ‘fun’; yet I’m sure that if you lived in East Berlin at the time, it wasn’t fun in the slightest.  

Mr Lighty in a Trabant in the DDR Museum

A much more authentic experience, if you like, was our visit to the Stasi Headquarters.  The headquarters of the Staatsicherheit, or secret East German police, was ‘Haus 1’ (House 1), a highly secure compound which was the centre of the fight against enemies of the DDR from 1960 onwards, and was built as the seat of the offices of the Minister of State Security and the head of the Stasi, Erich Mielke.  In a bid to make that period of time more open and accessible to people, Haus 1 has now been opened to the public.  You have the sense that it has been left exactly as it was in Mielke’s time.  In fact, Mr Lighty didn’t take to the museum well – I’d never seen him so creeped out by anything!!  I’m pretty sure the museum’s tea room was the original canteen from the DDR;  complete with 1980s retro chairs and little more than a tea urn (although at €1.20 for a coffee including a biscuit, who’s complaining?), and I’d never seen a coffee drunk quicker than I did from Mr Lighty that day – he couldn’t get out of there fast enough!  There was definitely a sense of foreboding in the museum, and coupled with the Stasi records exhibition on Zimmerstrasse, it must have been terrifying to have lived through a period where your every move was watched and recorded.  Indeed, since the archives were opened to the public 20 years ago, there have been approximately 2.8 million requests from people wanting to read what Stasi spies wrote about them.

Haus 1, the Stasi Headquarters

'Enjoying' a cup of coffee in the Stasi Museum!

A foray into the West
Of course, Berlin isn’t just about East German history, and our trip also included excellent visits to the Olympic Stadium, and Berlin Zoo, both of which I hadn’t visited previously but was very impressed by.  The Olympic Stadium’s exhibition on its history, with particular reference to the National Socialist era, is well worth a visit, and although Berlin is a city which has been through a lot of traumatic history in recent years, it is also a city which is trying to be open and honest with the world to prevent it from happening again.  After three visits to this fascinating city, there’s still so much to see and do – the zoo being a case in point, as we simply didn’t have enough time to do it justice, having to get back to our hotel and on to the airport for our flight home that evening.  The one disappointment of this trip was the fact that we couldn’t do the Trabi tour I’d been so looking forward to doing, as we didn’t have the foresight to pre-book – we’ll just have to use it as an excuse to go back!   And with so much to see and do, I’m sure after Mr Lighty’s first experience of the city, he’ll be glad to join me.

Enjoying the view over the Olympic Stadium from the Bell Tower

A snapshot of Suffolk

It is starting to become a bit of a tradition for Mr Lighty and I to venture on what we term a ‘mini-moon’ every now and again.  So much so that every short break we go on is now called a mini-moon, even as we embarked on our second anniversary weekend – you’ve never been married long enough not to go on a mini-moon, after all!  And this time, our choice of mini-moon destination was to that most charming of English counties, Suffolk, on a perfect English Spring weekend, for a snapshot of what this coastline has to offer.

Lowly Lowestoft

We decided to base ourselves in the coastal town of Lowestoft.  One of the most important aspects for us of any of our mini-moons is our accommodation, and this weekend away was no exception.  We picked Lowestoft as a base, I must admit, more because of the fact that we liked the look of the quirky little B&B we stayed in more than due to any major research on the town itself – perhaps a rookie mistake for any travel junkie to make?  We were certainly not disappointed by our guesthouse, the Baytree House, which was full of character and warmth – not to mention a great breakfast, thirteen guinea pigs and seven pugs!

Lowestoft itself, however, looked like it could do with a little bit of love being injected.  It was a little tired, a little rough round the edges.  This isn’t to say that we didn’t enjoy our afternoon spent there; after a lovely gluten free scone and tea served in bone china cups at the Flying Fifteens tea house – which was again, full of character and charm – we whiled away an hour or two on the crazy golf course - not to mention the traditional seaside lure of the 2p drop machines!

Lowestoft South Pier

There were certainly hints of the town’s former charm to be seen; opposite the old town hall, now only used on polling day, there was a quirky chemist’s shop front, dating back to 1817, but now sadly closed, as were many of the other shops on the high street.  Lowestoft is also the most Easterly point in Britain, and so, on our second morning in Suffolk, we walked down to Ness Point, so that we could be the most Easterly people in Britain.  As much as we enjoyed the bracing walk along the sea front, we couldn’t shift the thought that it was such a shame that there wasn’t more made of this spot to attract tourists, locals and those looking to do coast-to-coast bike rides alike.

Remnants of the ancient chemist's

Ness Point

Out of Africa....in Suffolk!

After our departure from Lowestoft, our Sunday morning was spent at the wonderful Africa Alive! zoo.  Set in 100 acres of land, Africa Alive! is a recreation of the African Savannah – and all in sunny Suffolk!  From smaller creatures in the farmyard area (including baby goats on the attack!), through to a wonderful viewing platform over the lion enclosure, it’s easy to see how you could spend most of a day here.  We particularly enjoyed the giraffe feeding, and the fun of the walk through the lemur enclosure, where these cute creatures are able to wander freely around your feet; we loved how fifteen lemurs managed to cuddle up against the cold on one tiny stand, and then how they decided to climb on the back of the sheep they shared their enclosure with!

At the Giraffe feeding

A lemur on a sheep's back!

From Africa to Aldeburgh

We love to pack it in during our weekends away, and therefore we made a final stop in the lovely seaside town of Aldeburgh.  Drawn to the town by the lure of the famous fish and chips, Mr Lighty was particularly pleased to see that a classic car show was taking place on the beach front as we drove into the town.  Aldeburgh is full of cute and quirky boutiques – think upmarket gift shops, interior decor shops and fashion outlets – and after a mooch around these and a stroll amongst the vintage cars on the beach, we were ready for our fish and chips.  The queue pretty much said it all about how famous these fish and chips are: we waited half an hour for ours.  However, having been lucky with the British weather, we took them down to the seafront, eating from the paper whilst watching the waves roll in, which proved to be the perfect end to our day.  Aldeburgh sums up for me what Suffolk at its best is about: beautiful and sleepy, but still upmarket and quirky.  And the chips didn’t disappoint either!

The classic car show on Aldeburgh beach front

 

Mr Lighty with his famous Aldeburgh Fish & Chips!