Brandenburg
Aug. 6th, 2021 01:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lupestripeA few Saturdays before, at the tailend of my trip to Hamburg, we found ourselves with a spare Saturday. It was the same day as the St Christopher's Day Parade, essentially Gay Pride in Berlin, but as our second vaccine wasn't due until the following Tuesday (moved from the Wednesday as it happened), we didn't want to risk getting infected by being around large numbers of people. I was a little saddened by this as I had really wanted to go, not least because I had received an offer to do some pony play. It was actually quite a difficult decision not to go, not aided on the day itself when a few of the Fureigners were posting pictures of their exploits. It was a wonderfully sunny day too, but I didn't want to just sit in the sweltering house, so we decided to head to Brandenburg to see what we can see.
The train itself was quite busy, raising my waryness due to COVID, although the majority of people got off at Potsdam. Indeed, by the time we got to Brandenburg, which was only a forty-five minute journey from Charlottenburg, there was barely anyone left and this was a similar feeling as we wandered through the town. The train station is about fifteen minutes' walk from the main city, which is divided into an old town and a new town, and one thing we noticed was just how few people were about. Aside from two relatively main roads full of shops and restaurants, there was barely anyone around and we were only one of three groups of tourists we saw all day. It was all rather eerie really, but did enable us to have a good nosey around the various sights on offer.
Brandenburg an der Havel, the same river that runs through Spandau, was actually the old capital of the region until it was replaced by Berlin in 1417. It has a charming old town of tall buildings and cobbled streets, with the modern day trams somehow enhancing its quaintness. The National Archaeological Museum, formerly St. Paul's Church, is the first thing that catches your eye as you walk north from the station, with its red brick exterior setting the tone for the rest of the town. Over by the St. Peter and Paul cathedral on Dominsel, the oldest building in the town dating from 1165, we started to notice the pug-like statues which were littered throughout the city. Climbing on stairs, drinking in fountains and generally causing mischief, these steel dog statues with antlers commemorate the German satirist 'Loriot' (Vicco von Bühlow) who was born in the city. Walking around the cathedral, we noticed some TV crews setting up for a concert, with violins practicing inside. Consequently, we didn't really get the opportunity to look inside, while we also skipped the Treasury as these things tend to be quite dull, plus we needed a negative test to go inside.
We did get to go inside St. Catherine's Church, which was resplendent with white roofs and red brick columns, built in 1410. It was incredibly atmospheric, while at the door we also got a fact sheet detailing a number of the key things to spot as we toured around the place. This, alongside the church of St. Johannis, we did manage to inside, with the latter having been rebuilt with a huge glass frontage, with the space now acting as a concert venue. There was an old lady curating there with her rather friendly dog, who just padded around, claws tapping on the concrete floor. There was a public toilet near here which Wolfie and I visited simultaneously as there was one urinal and one actual toilet, although coming out at the same time, any casual observer may have thought the worst.
The Altstädtischer Markt is a rather beautiful town hall, outside of which stands a huge stone statue of Roland, a Christian hero popularised as a loyal paladin of Charles the Great by a twelfth century poet. The Roland statues were erected across Germany as a sign of the King's protection and granting of civic freedoms. There has been a Roland in the town of Brandenburg since 1402 but it has shifted back and forth between various places, ending up outside the town hall in 1946. The hall itself was built in the market square between 1270 and 1290, with the current incarnation appearing in 1468. Outside this there was a fountain next to which stood a pug figure, while Google maps promised us a brewery next door which sadly was closed.
Everywhere was closed to be honest and after a lengthy walk in the sun, seeing the sights, the four towers dotted about and wandering next to the languid Havel, we wanted a beer. After discovering most places were closed, we managed to find somewhere near the centre of town, but we were sat next to a chain smoking, regularly kissing couple who really ruined our enjoyment. The bar itself was average and the beer not great, but the experience significantly improved when they had buggered off. This allowed us to drink our beer in peace before heading off to find food. On the way back to the railway station, we noticed an Indian restaurant that looked interesting, but they were very lax with the COVID laws, saying they were fully booked outside but would let us come inside even though we had had no test. If they were this flippant, we thought, we thought it best to avoid the place altogether.
We did try to go to another place, but it looked more like a catering venue than a restaurant, so we decided to just head back to Berlin. This we did, heading past towns that Wolfie had visited before, having been deposited here due to working in a nearby warehouse back in the Spring. Once were back in the capital, we alighted at Charlottenburg, where we had to change to go back to Spandau, so we decided to head back to our old stomping ground and see what restaurants we could find there. After much to-ing and fro-ing, and judging restaurants by their waiting staff's mask wearing policy, we finally opted for a sushi place on Kantstrasse, which served some of the greatest sushi we had ever had. This was the first time we had had Japanese food since our move, so perhaps it was more of a novelty, but it was a really wonderful experience just sat on the pavement as pedestrians wandered by, sampling a succulent range of maki and negiri. It was a really nice way to end the day, even if Brandenburg had turned out to be a place rather lacking in atmosphere or people.
The train itself was quite busy, raising my waryness due to COVID, although the majority of people got off at Potsdam. Indeed, by the time we got to Brandenburg, which was only a forty-five minute journey from Charlottenburg, there was barely anyone left and this was a similar feeling as we wandered through the town. The train station is about fifteen minutes' walk from the main city, which is divided into an old town and a new town, and one thing we noticed was just how few people were about. Aside from two relatively main roads full of shops and restaurants, there was barely anyone around and we were only one of three groups of tourists we saw all day. It was all rather eerie really, but did enable us to have a good nosey around the various sights on offer.
Brandenburg an der Havel, the same river that runs through Spandau, was actually the old capital of the region until it was replaced by Berlin in 1417. It has a charming old town of tall buildings and cobbled streets, with the modern day trams somehow enhancing its quaintness. The National Archaeological Museum, formerly St. Paul's Church, is the first thing that catches your eye as you walk north from the station, with its red brick exterior setting the tone for the rest of the town. Over by the St. Peter and Paul cathedral on Dominsel, the oldest building in the town dating from 1165, we started to notice the pug-like statues which were littered throughout the city. Climbing on stairs, drinking in fountains and generally causing mischief, these steel dog statues with antlers commemorate the German satirist 'Loriot' (Vicco von Bühlow) who was born in the city. Walking around the cathedral, we noticed some TV crews setting up for a concert, with violins practicing inside. Consequently, we didn't really get the opportunity to look inside, while we also skipped the Treasury as these things tend to be quite dull, plus we needed a negative test to go inside.
We did get to go inside St. Catherine's Church, which was resplendent with white roofs and red brick columns, built in 1410. It was incredibly atmospheric, while at the door we also got a fact sheet detailing a number of the key things to spot as we toured around the place. This, alongside the church of St. Johannis, we did manage to inside, with the latter having been rebuilt with a huge glass frontage, with the space now acting as a concert venue. There was an old lady curating there with her rather friendly dog, who just padded around, claws tapping on the concrete floor. There was a public toilet near here which Wolfie and I visited simultaneously as there was one urinal and one actual toilet, although coming out at the same time, any casual observer may have thought the worst.
The Altstädtischer Markt is a rather beautiful town hall, outside of which stands a huge stone statue of Roland, a Christian hero popularised as a loyal paladin of Charles the Great by a twelfth century poet. The Roland statues were erected across Germany as a sign of the King's protection and granting of civic freedoms. There has been a Roland in the town of Brandenburg since 1402 but it has shifted back and forth between various places, ending up outside the town hall in 1946. The hall itself was built in the market square between 1270 and 1290, with the current incarnation appearing in 1468. Outside this there was a fountain next to which stood a pug figure, while Google maps promised us a brewery next door which sadly was closed.
Everywhere was closed to be honest and after a lengthy walk in the sun, seeing the sights, the four towers dotted about and wandering next to the languid Havel, we wanted a beer. After discovering most places were closed, we managed to find somewhere near the centre of town, but we were sat next to a chain smoking, regularly kissing couple who really ruined our enjoyment. The bar itself was average and the beer not great, but the experience significantly improved when they had buggered off. This allowed us to drink our beer in peace before heading off to find food. On the way back to the railway station, we noticed an Indian restaurant that looked interesting, but they were very lax with the COVID laws, saying they were fully booked outside but would let us come inside even though we had had no test. If they were this flippant, we thought, we thought it best to avoid the place altogether.
We did try to go to another place, but it looked more like a catering venue than a restaurant, so we decided to just head back to Berlin. This we did, heading past towns that Wolfie had visited before, having been deposited here due to working in a nearby warehouse back in the Spring. Once were back in the capital, we alighted at Charlottenburg, where we had to change to go back to Spandau, so we decided to head back to our old stomping ground and see what restaurants we could find there. After much to-ing and fro-ing, and judging restaurants by their waiting staff's mask wearing policy, we finally opted for a sushi place on Kantstrasse, which served some of the greatest sushi we had ever had. This was the first time we had had Japanese food since our move, so perhaps it was more of a novelty, but it was a really wonderful experience just sat on the pavement as pedestrians wandered by, sampling a succulent range of maki and negiri. It was a really nice way to end the day, even if Brandenburg had turned out to be a place rather lacking in atmosphere or people.
