Head back east on Eberswalder Strasse to return to the Station.
A brief history: Mauerpark was once a train station. The original Nordbahnhof (north train station), however, a newer one was built and it became used as a freight yard instead. When Berlin was divided, this Train station was right in the path of the wall. Due to some issues with the steep slope on the east side, an agreement was made to give a little more to East Berlin, so they could properly setup their Death Strip and effectively patrol the border. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the space was designated Public Use and one of several Green Spaces to be used. With a large contribution of funds, 4.5 million DM, the park section was built on the eastern half of the space. The western half of the space was owned by a company, which refused to merge it. Instead, it holds the land and has rented it out piecemeal every Sunday. There are sections of the wall that you can see and visit here, but that's not the reason that most people come. Most people come for one of four reasons typically.
Seriously had no idea what this place was all about. Then one day someone said let's go to Mauerpark for the Flohmarkt. I had never been to a Flohmarkt. Nor did I know what awaited me. On the way there, we picked up a few beers and when we arrived, the place was packed. There were people all over. We also came from the wrong direction, we took the long way to get there. Seeing as we'd only been there for a couple weeks, no biggie, but I wouldn't suggest our original route. We came in from the north end of the park. This was good for one reason though as we weren't immediately sucked into the Flohmarkt. We saw people lounging and playing games with friends, having picnics, and just enjoying being outside (little did I know what a commodity that would become later on.) Suddenly we heard singing. That's when we wandered over to the Amphitheatre and found the Karaoke. I saw lots of regular people sing, but also, someone dressed as a chicken, someone dressed as a baby, and other strange random things. Finally we wandered into the Flohmarkt. That was my introduction to Flohmarkts. It had... everything. I got lost in there for hours and hours just cruising around looking at stuff. This is also where I felt my first counterfeit US coin. There was so much to see, you couldn't possibly see it all in one day. So the job would never be done. The sheer number of people made getting through it difficult, but still it was exciting. I think I only made it back to Mauerpark for the Flohmarkt a few more times. It was just TOO big and overpriced. Yes, you could haggle with them, but the starting number was still much higher than if I'd gone to one of my others that I would discover later in the year. Still, many fond memories. When we left that day and started back along the correct path, we saw that people were even setup on the edges of the park that wasn't for rent. They had stuff they wanted to sell, but didn't need the space that the stalls gave them. So they just claimed a spot on the concrete steps at the south entrance. Regardless of whether it is my favorite or not, it's still something that everyone should experience at least once.
No, not me. The first time at night I arrived here was actually to go to a rather silly party for the foreign exchange students at the Biergarten/Wannabeminiclub? It was quite silly considering the real scene for partying available in Berlin. However, still it happened, and that's fine. It was a nice gesture on behalf of our Foreign Exchange Advisers. But this party wasn't just all the Americans, it was for all the foreign exchange students. After we'd been there for a couple hours, I went outside and there was this girl, I believe she was Finnish if I remember correctly. And she was totally destroyed. She'd thrown up a couple times, I knew who she was by acquaintance and wondered what was wrong. We tried to get her to be at least semi-conscious but that wasn't happening. At some point we were smart enough to check her eyes. Unresponsive to light. That's when we realized we needed to call an ambulance. Never happened again, during my stay in Berlin, but it happened. Those emergency numbers they try to get you to memorize that you think you'll never need? You never know, because someone else may need them and you might be the only person around able to remember them, sober or not.
Heh, reading this stuff is just like being there. :-) Thanks!
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I'm glad you're enjoying the stories :D
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Funny you tagged that one picture with "strange things in the park" when I thought "that's so cool!"
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You're funny. It is a strange thing.... I picked the picture for a reason, though, I liked it :D
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So, is this that station we've seen in a lot of movies that happens in Berlin, about spies during Cold War? Are there any ruins for the station itself?
The second image was about this, right?
The guy in the 7th picture looks like a Turkis man?
And I liked the crafts that are in the last picture. ^^.
I need to find the second one, I think.
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No, I think you're thinking of Friedrichstrasse :) That was the station that was nicknamed Palace of Tears
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Friedrichstra%C3%9Fe_station
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Wow, what a story! Good read, thanks again keo.
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Glad you've been reading and enjoying :D
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Thank you!
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yw :D
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