Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine March 2018 | Page 118

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Travel | Berlin
The gardens of
Charlottenburg Palace
on the outskirts of Berlin.
Germany’s capital was once known primarily for its Cold
War stand-offs, with the Berlin Wall looming as a potent symbol
of all that was bad about East–West relations. Then the Wall came
down and Berlin was reunited. It now has one of Europe’s most
buzzing arts, cultural and media scenes and boasts a host
of new skyscrapers, nightclubs and fashion stores that make
it one of the capitals of cool.
In short, Berlin is again one of Europe’s great
cities, and at no better time is the capital’s
newfound confidence felt than in spring,
when residents have a new bounce in their
step, the first leaves appear on trees, cherry
blossoms bloom and boat cruises start up
once more on the city’s lakes and waterways.
Easter is another spring highlight. In Germany,
this is a time for chocolate eggs, and marzipan
rabbits and lambs. Birch branches are
brought indoors and decorated with wooden
eggs, and children carry baskets decorated
with painted hares, in which they collect
chocolate eggs and other small gifts on Easter
Sunday, which falls on April 1 this year.
Charlottenburg Palace features ‘Easter
Concerts – Spring Awakening at the Palace’
transformed into a medieval marketplace,
with recreations of battles and jousting
by knights in armour, and other family
entertainment. Kids will also enjoy the
month-long Spring Festival (March 28 –
April 22) on Kurt-Schumacher-Damm, with
its bumper cars, carousels and roller coasters.
If you’re there on Easter Sunday, the Easter
bunny is sure to be handing out chocolates.
(March 30–31) with a gala dinner and
musicians in historical costume playing light
classical music. The grand palace started as a
simple hunting lodge to the west of the city
and morphed into a great masterpiece of
German baroque architecture. The vast
palace is crammed with artworks and
Chinese porcelain, and is surrounded with
lakes and gardens that pop in March with
daffodils and tulips. The gardens and lakes
alone might take half a day to stroll around. In the city centre, the Brandenburg Gate
stands as the symbol of Berlin past and
present. The triumphal arch was erected
between 1788 and 1791 at the western end
of Unter den Linden, the broad avenue that
runs through the city centre, making it a fine
place for visitors to start off an exploration of
central Berlin. Walk along Unter den Linden
and you’ll find museums, churches and the
buzz of a university campus, not to mention
plenty of cafés setting out their tables in the
spring sunshine after their long winter retreat.
Another monument is Spandau Citadel
in Berlin’s northwest, a former summer
residence of the Hohenzollern royal
family, and later Prussia’s main military
headquarters. Its Easter Knights’ Festival
(March 31 – April 2) sees the fortress Follow Unter den Linden to its eastern end,
where it turns into Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse
and leads into Alexanderplatz beneath the
soaring Berlin TV tower. Alexanderplatz was
once at the heart of old East Berlin, as can be
seen in the rather unappealing façades of the