Another Berlin Wall

I shall temporarily suspend my blogging about the Holy Land and write about Berlin, which I visited for a family affair.

There are some musts for visitors coming to Germany's capital:

Walking through Carl Gotthard Langhans's Brandenburg Gate,

My friend Kendall Schneider at the Brandenburg Gate
holding the copyright of the photo

spiraling on foot Norman Foster's steel and glass dome of the Reichstag building,

The photo was taken in 2007

visiting the rest of Walter Ulbricht's infamous Wall, and more.

Red Baron knows Berlin like the back of his hand, so whenever he has a chance to re-visit the city, he is on a quest for unusual places.

Here is a picture of another well-preserved wall from the 18th century, the Akzisemauer (excise wall).

The rest of  Berlin's first wall

Local or federal governments need and like to levy taxes, and citizens try to avoid them. Prussia's Frederick William I ordered a "wall" built around Berlin, completed in 1737. It was erected not for defense purposes but to channel all traffic into the capital through 14 gates where customs duties had to be paid. Coffee was one of the severely taxed luxury goods. It is said that Frederick the Great entertained sniffer police by pinning down those citizens who had smuggled coffee beans and roasted them at home. The Akzisemauer partly consisted of wooden palisades and was demolished during the 19th century. Only a few parts built from bricks survived that are meticulously preserved.

A hundred meters away on Waisenstraße (Orphans Street) is a highlight that Red Baron visits whenever he is in Germany's capital. It is Berlin's oldest inn, although the building and its name are recent. Originally, a groom of the ruling electoral prince opened a brandy pub at the site in 1621. In 1715, it was baptized Zum Bierstübchen am Glockenspiel (Little Alehouse at the Glockenspiel), referring to the 52 bells and chimes of the nearby Parochial Church.

The restaurant was newly decorated in 2008

Later, the pub was renamed Zur letzten Instanz (Court of Last Instance) because many people needed a drink before appearing before their judges in one of the nearby courthouses.

Napoleon lunched at the restaurant when he had triumphantly entered Berlin in 1806. So Red Baron always insists on sitting on the historic seat.

On Napoleon's seat in 2015

Historic photo of 2001 with the emperor's bust watching in the back

Whether the innkeeper had served the French emperor Berlin food was not handed down. Red Baron opted for a Rindsroulade, but sadly, they ran out of beef olive. So I had to content myself with a Kohlroulade as in 2001. The stuffed cabbage was excellent but too big, so I had to drown it with a dark Märkischer Landmann (Mark Brandenburg peasant beer).

The nearby Parochial Church on Klosterstraße (Monastery Street) was destroyed during the war and has only been partly reconstructed. However, the parish people seem to have now collected enough money to rebuild the missing steeple.

A dream is coming true.

About Waisenstraße: Orphanages in Prussia were a must at the time of Fredrick the Great. His Grenadiere (privates), who died a hero's death, often made their pregnant wives (the king needs soldiers) widows. They, in turn, frequently died of a child-bed fever, leaving a couple of children behind. The atheist king ruthlessly used the services of the Lutheran Church to care for those children, e.g., the orphanage of the nearby Parochial Church.

Klosterstraße around 1800 showing the Parochial Church.
The two views were photographed in the nearby subway station Klosterstraße.

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