49
Every cyclist has a story about how and why they got their first bike. It
could have been a childhood dream, inspiration from watching others, or
simply because you live in Berlin and it’s easier to navigate through the
city on a bike without fear of being hit by a bus.
So when my mojo for a quick city break be receiving history lessons from my located at the junction of Friedrichstraße
kicked in, my friend invited me to visit German diplomat and photographer (Frederick Street) with Zimmerstraße
her in Berlin. “Can you ride?” she asked. friend Kat, while I’m dripping wet from and Mauerstraße, (which for older
I bought a ticket, with expectations the rain and living in a city that’s going historical reasons coincidentally means
of the city set to a minimum and one through a profound metamorphosis. ‘Wall Street’). Today Checkpoint Charlie
memory of my first bike. I was seven My tour de Berlin was a time for is the gateway into contemporary Berlin
years old when I got my BMX. My friends to rekindle lost moments, (East) with its modern buildings and
parents were bribing me to go visit in a city trying to define itself over construction work, which can only mean
family members while they took time historical monuments, great food and one thing, money has been pouring in.
out. Will I remember how to ride one? German hospitality! I let Kat transport me into her
They say you never forget? recollections of old Berlin and the Wall,
I had never been to Germany and
The best way to see Berlin
her memories as well as her desires back
what I knew about the country and the
is on a bike
in those days. I was fascinated, drawn in
people revolved around its divided Berlin is a cyclist’s dream. Cycle by her stories of human beings asking
history, which in some ways resembles lanes are everywhere and the traffic to be treated with dignity and freedom.
my own country, South Africa. accommodates cyclists, so I hopped on Kat was one of the thousands who
a bike Kat had already organized (hoping broke down the Berlin Wall, in search
Berlin
I would recall how to make it move) so of that freedom which the Germany
Berlin is of course the largest city we could explore the city together. government had denied them.
in Germany offering a wonderful Originally from the East of Germany When I asked her, what was the first
combination of history, nightlife, Kat is much “happier” living in the West thing she did when the wall came down,
architecture and culture. Nearly two of the city. She grew up during the years she said quite cheerfully: “I had yoghurt
decades after the Berlin Wall tumbled of the wall that separated East Germany with fresh tropical fruit. That was the f
down, the city’s two sides are still from West Germany for more than a irst thing I wanted, yoghurt and fresh
locked in a kind of cultural dialectic, as quarter of a century and was there with fruits, because it was such a luxury in
the center of gravity shifts to the once many others who brought it down on the East Germany.”
desolate boroughs of the East. 9th November 1989. We rode our bikes deeper into the
I never anticipated that my Our first day trip started at Mitte (city), stopping whenever Kat
experience of this wonderful city would Checkpoint Charlie, the well known had a story to share about a particular
revolve around cycling or that I would crossing point across the Berlin Wall, historic place and her memory of it.
avantoure
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adrenaline rainbow
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