One of the essential tourist trips in Berlin is East Side Gallery. Located alongside the river, just a couple of minutes walk from Ostbahnhof, it is the largest part of what is left of the Berlin Wall.
To walk alongside it is an incredible experience. Today, it is both daubed and scrawled with graffiti, some official, some added later by tourists; some beautiful and inspiration, some utterly pointless. I think the one that struck me the most was about two-thirds of the way along, where someone had written two words on some painting recording Germany's transition through the twentieth century. Those two words? "Llanelli rule". Indeed. And why not? The Berlin Wall: the seemingly untraversable schism, running through the centre of a previously great city. Oh, and by the way, here's my favourite rwgbi team.
Even though it's just a short section - about a kilometre in all - it's still surrounded by oppressive concrete blocks, and somehow the West becomes completely invisible behind the wall, even painted in vivid colours, with BMWs driving past, and aeroplanes flying overhead to some unknown country far away.
I lived in Berlin for just over three months, but at the risk of over-egging the already eggy pudding, this was the one experience that really inspired me more than any other. And the song is a pretty accurate account of how I felt the first time I went there. Nothing has disappeared, perhaps physically, but mentally there is still a very clear wall. But everything has changed - I've lost count of the times that Germans, both Ossis and Wessis have told me that there is no difference between them. I don't think even they believe it.
We would like to apologise for this entry; we appear to have been invaded by the travel supplement. Normal service will resume next time.
Hypernova are a synthpop duo from the UK, and here are some things which they have said:
