might have been like feels quite special. by 1989, the berlin wall had forcibly divided the city for 28 years, with the communists controlling the eastern part of the city whilst the capitalist west controlled the rest of berlin. travel between the two was strictly controlled and, in most cases, forbidden. but i m heading down into the u bahn, berlin s underground rail network, which i can access with the deutschlandticket. 0k, u8 this way. ooh! now, alexanderplatz was in the east, so anybody getting on the u bahn three stops in that direction had to wait on board until they got safely four stops down that way. this was effectively a ghost station.
the german government s recently been investigating the possibility of restoring bunkers like these for use in the future. i know immediately following the russian invasion of ukraine, the topic came up a lot in germany. and the ministry for the interior did do a preliminary survey because, in the height of the cold war, there were quite literally thousands of these places around all of germany. most of the experts in the areas of civil defence have agreed that it s not really a productive use of money. it costs an insane amount of money to even just repair the ones that they ve let fall into disrepair. but i m surfacing for some fresh air now and back to the hauptbahnhof, the capital s modern main station, in search of trains bound for germany s industrial west. so, i ve been able to use my deutschlandticket for this
might have been like feels quite special. by 1989, the berlin wall had forcibly divided the city for 28 years with the communists controlling the eastern part of the city whilst the capitalist west controlled the rest of berlin. travel between the two was strictly controlled and, in most cases, forbidden. but i m heading down into the u bahn, berlin s underground rail network, which i can access with the deutschlandticket. 0k, u8 this way. ooh! now, alexanderplatz was in the east, so anybody getting on the u bahn three stops in that direction had to wait on board until they got safely four stops down that way. this was effectively a ghost station.
you need to subscribe to a deutschlandticket, which means a monthly direct debit. door beeps so, if you re only here for a couple of weeks, you need to remember to cancel that as soon as your trips over otherwise, you continue paying after you ve headed home. my next stop is in the west of the country, not far from the industrial giants that have made this part of the world such an economic force. so, this is wuppertal. it s sandwiched between the two powerhouses of cologne and dortmund. it s much smaller in comparison but it does have one thing going for it that s made it world famous, and it s right there! the schwebebahn is a suspended monorail. the carriages hang from a track about 12 metres above the streets and rivers
it s also quite fiddly to buy. you need to subscribe to a deutschlandticket, which means a monthly direct debit. door beeps. so, if you re only here for a couple of weeks, you need to remember to cancel that as soon as your trips over. otherwise, you continue paying after you ve headed home. my next stop is in the west of the country, not far from the industrial giants that have made this part of the world such an economic force. so this is wuppertal it s sandwiched between the two powerhouses of cologne and dortmund. it s much smaller in comparison, but it does have one thing going for it that s made it world famous and it s right there! the schwebebahn is a suspended monorail. the carriages hang from a track about 12