Slinking Throughout the River Spree

by

Mackenzie Patel

Guten tag world travelers! Berlin was the final destination of my stellar vacation, and its controversial history, thriving art scene, and uncontrollably delicious food was amazing for a culture buff like myself. After a thrilling day of exploring Checkpoint Charlie, the Brandenburg Gate, the Berlin Wall, and the illustrious Deutsche Oper house, I rested my legs on a gritty ferry and sailed throughout the meandering Spree River. Like the Rhine and Elbe tours before this, the sun licked my face lazily and the atmosphere was suffused with cool, clean air that made my mind achingly clear. The Spree is the main River that bisects Berlin, and most small ferry tours can be booked at sporadic docking locations. My particular boat was run by a humble crew of an upright captain and an efficient German anchorwoman looking official/fierce at the same time. Find out more about Berlin River Cruises here. Although the guided tour was orated in German, just drinking in the spectacular views of the city of contention (i.e. the Berliner Dom looming over you like a HD photograph from a swanky art history book) was satiating enough. When given the option and the granted the weather isn’t a tempestuous whippersnapper, ALWAYS sit on the viewing deck on top: seeing the breath-taking panorama from inside a grimy window pane is a snooty insult to the urban wonders.

After staking out the optimal plastic chair atop the ferry, I was a goner, submitting myself to the historical, religious, modern, and civil beauties of my Berlin. The time was around 17:00 and the sun was just strong enough to warm the red highlights in my hair, but tame enough not to sear my skin to a gentle pink. The first sight the tooting vessel encountered was the impressive Deutsche Bahn building, the massive train station plated in steel and adorned with the massive “DB” lettering painted in red. Although my train from Hamburg alighted in this modern monstrosity, I never actually beheld its cold and extraterrestrial exterior. This trip had me falling in train stations right and left (i.e. the ravishing Hauptbahnhof in Hamburg), and the Berlin one was no exception. Crawling through the murky waters (that were nonetheless surprisingly clean), my ship traversed the café strip that lined the Spree River like the famous ones do in Paris and Rome.  All types of people were loitering in the narrow band of sparse grass that separated the seawall from the posh street hovering above. Homeless people, a young couple kissing softly in the warm sunlight, and ragtag hooligans messing about conquered the Spree that day with their individual stories and lives. Ditching the café scene for something a little more “official,” our captain steered us in the heart of the city, particularly to the elegant Reichstag Building. The designated German Parliament, this marble structure was sporting German flags everywhere and looked like a ritzy palace from the Holy Roman Empire of old. Tipping its civil hat to modernity, the tip of the glass dome was peeking out from behind the smooth façade and bronze statues held in soaring niches. Also appearing in my line of sight was a row of white crosses, memorials for citizens killed during the tense Cold War years.

Gliding northward over imperceptibly choppy waters, I next saw the rounded dome of the Bode Museum. Indeed, a sliver of the monstrous Museum Island, clothed in ragged, gray marble and millions of classical decorations, presented itself to me with aged grace and priceless culture. After running wild in the stellar Pergamon and Neues Museum, seeing those buildings from a different aquatic perspective deepened my artistic reverence for them. Although I did not go into the Bode Museum (it would have cost me another 16 euro), I know this collection houses Byzantine and antique coins/tokens. It was hard to believe so much culture was merely floating in the water, but its location made it all the more unique. We also saw up-close the long-term renovations that are occurring in the Pergamon (and other) Museum; these renovations have even barred the stunning Altar of Zeus from public viewing!

Finally, the last major building on my tour was the flooring Berliner Dom, the largest Cathedral in Germany and one of the most important Protestant havens in the world. As I wrote in my religious crawl post, “Yes, the façade is absolutely breath-taking and perfect for a photo backdrop, but this impressive Dom was not my favorite one on the trip. First of all, all guests had to pay 7 euros just to enter the opulent place of worship. The other five churches (and mostly all of the other ones I have been to in Europe) were free because houses of the holy are supposed to be accessible to all. Also, the money used to finance the intricate mosaics, the hundreds of fluted Corinthian columns, the gold-leafed dome, and the throne-like pulpit could have been used to actually help people.” While all of that is still true, craning my neck to its limits in order to memorize this holy beast was unlike anything I’ve done before. The pictures cannot accurately convey just how uniquely light blue the sky was and just how incredibly faultless the weather was. The marble, although it was stained with age and grime, seemed to shine brightly from within, the blinding sunlight activating photons of perfection and divinity. Adjacent to the Cathedral seawall was a rather interesting gallery of iconic National Geographic images (i.e. the Afghan girl with the piercing eyes).   Making a wide turn once our ferry had reached its boundary, we swung back around, analyzing the same sights from an altered angle.

Finally, I am enamored with what Claudia Schiffer said about Berlin because it is undeniable: “Berlin is like being abroad in Germany. It’s German, but not provincial.” So many urban vibes. So much built beauty. And eons of contention and history.