Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
toothpaste tube with a secret compartment. Aside from these cunning tools, however,
the exhibit relates (in German only - ask to borrow a transcript in English) just what a
powerful and frightening organization the Stasi was, and the amazing degree of
observation, infiltration and control they practised in the GDR.
1
Unter den Linden
Berlin's grandest boulevard,
Unter den Linden
, runs east from the Brandenburg Gate
towards the Spreeinsel and once formed the main east-west axis of Imperial Berlin.
he street - “beneath the lime trees” - was named after the trees on its central island;
the first saplings were planted by Friedrich Wilhelm, the Great Elector, during the
seventeenth century to line the route from his palace to his hunting grounds in the
Tiergarten (see p.101). he original trees were replaced by crude Nazi totem poles
during the 1930s, so the present generation dates from a period of postwar planting.
Until 1989 the western end of Unter den Linden also marked the end of the road for
East Berliners: a low barrier ran a hundred metres or so short of the Brandenburg Gate.
From here it was possible to view the gate, beyond which the discreet presence of
armed border guards and the sterile white concrete of the Wall signalled the frontier
with West Berlin. his reduced Unter den Linden to little more than a grand blind
alley, which - lined by infrequently visited embassies - gave it a strangely empty and
decorative feel. Revitalization since 1989 has helped the boulevard reassume something
of its old role and today it's busy and bustling, fringed by shops and cafés, though their
presence is relatively muted.
Madame Tussauds Berlin
Unter den Linden 74 • Daily: Aug 10am-9pm; Sept-July 10am-7pm • €21, combination tickets with Berlin Dungeon (see p.64), Sea-Life
Centre (see p.63) and Legoland (see p.93) offered •
T
0180 654 58 00,
W
madametussauds.com • U-Brandenburger Tor
he shiny faces and glassy eyes at
Madame Tussauds Berlin
belong mainly to German
celebrities, though a clutch of Hollywood stars also get a look-in. Beyond the reliably
long entrance queues, things kick off with Otto von Bismarck and Karl Marx, followed
by Adolf Hitler sitting wild-eyed in a bunker, with Anne Frank and anti-Nazi campaigner
Sophie Scholl close by to provide a kinder face for the era. Local political heroes and
villains also make their appearances: John F. Kennedy; West German statesman Willy
Brandt; East German leader Erich Honecker; Mikhail Gorbachev. All these waxworks
feel pretty true to life; not so the laughably awkward renditions of Barack Obama and
Angela Merkel. From the entertainment sections there's more local interest in the form
of Marlene Dietrich and Bertolt Brecht, though it's the aggressive stance of former
Germany goalkeeper Oliver Kahn that makes the greatest impression.
Russian Embassy
One of the first buildings you'll see as you head east from Pariser Platz is the massive
Russian Embassy
, rearing up on the right. Built in 1950 on the site of the prewar
(originally Tsarist) embassy, it was the first postwar building to be erected on Unter
den Linden and an example of the much maligned
Zuckerbäckerstil
or “wedding-cake
style”: a kind of blunted, monumental Classicism characteristic of Stalin-era Soviet
architecture. Berlin has a number of such buildings, the most spectacular being those
along Karl-Marx-Allee (see p.130).
Friedrichstrasse
Halfway along Unter den Linden, you come to its most important intersection as it
crosses the busy shopping street of
Friedrichstrasse
. Before the war this was one of the
busiest crossroads in the city, with Friedrichstrasse a well-known prostitutes' haunt
lined by cafés, bars and restaurants. Nazi puritanism dealt the first blow to this thriving
Vergnügungsviertel
(Pleasure Quarter), and the work was finished by Allied bombers,
