Well I checked off some things that were and weren’t on my list today. It started with the nearby Kaufhaus Des Westens. (Shopping Mall of the West) and is the second largest shopping mall in Europe, after London’s Harrods. I thought it would be fun to go through, but it turns out it’s just five floors of purely high-end and expensive jewelry, fashion and that weird modern home decor. There are no regular shops, only fancy expensive stuff, except at the top floor which is a bunch of markets selling anything you’ll find in a grocery store, from fish and meats, to Nutella, and any grocery goods, along with several chocolate and candy stores.

Next I took the S-Bahn system west a ways to the Berlin Funkturm (Radio tower). I did some research ahead of time finally, which had been badly needed, and it was open from around 10-6. Though when I got of course, naturally there was a sign saying the observation deck at top was closed for maintenance. Lame!

So then I got back on the S-Bahn and headed further west, to the Olympiastadion – the stadium of the 1936 Olympic Games, where famed American runner Jesse Owens defeated Hitler’s champion Lutz Long. Ironically after the race the two became friends, and stayed in contact, though Lutz would later be killed in WW2 fighting in Italy. I had also done some quick research, finding it was open today. Sadly when I got there, I found out you can only enter via tours, and the next English tour wasn’t for another 90 minutes. Oh well.

So then I headed a long ways south into the hills of Drachenberg, (Dragon Mountain), and then to the bigger hills of Teufelsberg, (Devil’s Mountain – referenced in yesterday’s post). My research had also told me this place was open to the public and available for touring, though using a 3rd party travel site it also said you needed to go on a tour, and tours were booked for the next couple days, but I decided to go anyways. It was a nice scenic walk, up a massive foresty hill. Though just like Birkenkopf in Stuttgart, this is no ordinary hill. It is a colossal 98 million cubic yards mountain of rubble from the ruins of Berlin after WW2. From Wikipedia:

“While part of the rubble from destroyed quarters in East Berlin was deposited outside the city boundary, all the debris from West Berlin had to be dumped within the western boundary. Due to the shortage of fuel in West Berlin, the rubble transport stopped during the Berlin Blockade.

Although there are many similar man-made rubble mounds in Germany and other war-torn cities of Europe, Teufelsberg is unique in that the never completed Nazi military-technical college (Wehrtechnische Fakultät) designed by Albert Speer is buried beneath. The Allies tried using explosives to demolish the school, but it was so sturdy that covering it with debris turned out to be easier. In June 1950 the West Berlin Magistrate decided to open a new rubble disposal on that site. The disposal was planned for 12,000,000 m³ (16,000,000 cu yd)”

So I made it to the top, and remember I needed a tour, I saw an attendant there explaining to another visitor that the place is closed, and that the Berlin Building Agency has closed tours of the listening station on top. Around 1961 the NSA had built a large spying and listening facility at the top. The office and unique structure was abandoned with the Berlin wall fell, and the country reunited. It was later bought out and turned into a neat visitor and tourist place, where you can go through the old abandoned and decrepit ruins of offices and radar domes. There is trash, broken glass and graffiti all over the crumbling walls and structures, though the graffiti is welcomed and encouraged by the owner, as a form of art. I then hiked around the outside fence of the facility, and eventually headed back to a local pizza place where I has harassed by more wasps, this time I was even inside.

After that I headed back to my hotel, it was around 4, and I was getting a bit tired, so I spent sometime in my hotel room before deciding to head out late once more, around 9:30. My plan was to go visit a famous image on a section of the Berlin Wall, and then head to a place called Burgermeister. A burger restaurant set up in an old bathroom of a trainstation. It is very famous around Berlin, and often has up to 90 minute wait times for a burger and fries. So I finally found the painting on the wall, photo below. And as I was going to the burger place, something I saw along the way massively distracted me, and I just knew that going to the burger place would be an impossibility.