Yesterday (05/03/10) I had the entire morning to myself in Berlin with a multitude of options, so i decided to head west and visit the old olympic stadium, quite easy to get to, a short trip on the U8 to Alexander Platz then the U2 to olympia Stadion. I had no idea what to expect apart from remembering someone saying if your looking for things to do you may as well visit this place. So after a 30 to 40 minute train ride I got off at the stain with no idea where to go so just followed the most obvious route.
Its just a 2 minute walk up the hill away from the stain and your into the carper faced with this imposing Nazi architecture. Its crazy, it does look impressive and grand but its linked with so much bad history, to think on the tower where the isn’t a clock face once was a swastika is quite crazy to comprehend.
It cost 5euros to get in which I didn’t think was unreasonable, and from entering the fenced stadium you are given a map and left to your own devices. I expect may other people have done the same as me and headed straight towards the innards to get a view of the oval. Once you go from the outer perimeter walls and get view of the expanse of the whole thing its quite amazing. Its reminiscent of images if seen of Rome’s Colosseum which i haven’t visited yet and discovered later that the controversial designer Werner March based some of the ideas on the Colosseum.
I spent another hour wandering round the site reading the information boards and taking in the history of the place. There is no point in me typing what read hear as it would no way do it justice, wikipedia it, its all there. I left the Stadion and headed back East towards work where we had a show that eve and i was amazed to find a slightly jaundice and box eyed Paul MCartney sat on my desk, Amazing!
