Before leaving the Ostbahnhof area to relocate to a more central location after our day trip to Poznan we want to explore a couple attractions in the neighborhood. The major one is the East Side Gallery, the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall which is just a short walk away. We are not sure how safe the area is, given the couple crazies we have seen when we arrived but there is no one hassling us today and we make it soon to the East Side Gallery area.
The East Side Gallery is a direct result of the fall of the Berlin Wall. In spring of 1990, after the opening of the Berlin Wall, this section was painted by 118 artists from 21 countries as an open art gallery. It is the longest still preserved stretch and sections were renovated and restored around 2010 to some controversy. However that is not the section we see first, we go inside and see the West German side which is pure graffiti as far as we can tell.
We also walk to the Spree bank where we see some goose and a heron and lots of industrial buildings from the time of the Berlin split.
While the interior of the wall is graffiti some of it is fun like the bird section, we initially think it is part of the art installation before understanding that it is actually graffiti.
On the other side of the wall section we walk again along the Spree for a while enjoying the post-industrial views and the new modern buildings before returning to the wall proper.
Now is the time to look at the art installations which surprisingly enough are on the road side of the wall and not the park side which would have been nicer.
The most famous of all the artwork on the East Side Gallery is the trabant flying through the wall and it really is impressive and fun to see it live.
There are lots of murals here, some more interesting than the other, some maybe influenced by the controversies along their renovation. But we have fun taking photos with them and exploring them but soon it is time to return towards the hotel as we have to check out at 12 and we still want to explore the Kreuzberg area before that which is our next goal and described separately.
