Visited with Bekoir, 40ish tourists, a tour guide, 2 secca & a shed-load of hippies.
Massive props go out to JST for being a legend and lending me his 5d for my time in Berlin. Mine didn't make it out of the repair shop in time & he saved my arse. Also, cheers to Gone for a bit of a heads up on what to expect when arriving here.
After speaking to Gone (whom visited the day before we did), we discovered that there had been a hippy festival held in the grounds of Teufelsberg. This was going on the same day that he visited, and the Securitonz wern't allowing people up the tower as most of the hippies there were probably a danger to themselves on level ground - never mind having height thrown into the mix. However, he managed to sneak past these and get up anyway. This news gave us some hope that we would do the same if the festival was still going on.
Upon arriving, we sneaked onto site in the usual fashion - looking like a prick and rolling about like Rambo. Our mission impossible skillz failed however, after we walked straight out into the open in front of a rather confused hippy sat on a speaker. I spoke to him briefly about what was happening and he told me that the festival was slowly being packed down and people were free to have a wander around.
Makeshift Bar
Being told this always takes the fun out of it slightly, but with us not being in it for the adrenaline alone - we made our way around the site and towards the top. We walked past and around so many tourists - the kinds of tourists who (if they had the chance) would buy mini Teufelsberg models that glow & sparkle on their key ring.
We finally made our way around the more boring & trashed outer buildings and up the central staircase to the domes; only then to be greeted by two men in high vis ranting at us in muffled German. After a quick pause whilst i remembered to say 'Sprechen sie Englisch?', they then told me that in order to come up on top i needed to pay five euros to a man all the way back down at the main gate. Never before have i been asked to pay for an explore.... is the NSA now National Trust property or something?
With the promise of the domes, and having trekked all the way up the hill and up through the building, we couldn't just leave now - so we reluctantly agreed and went to pay the man (whom had even set up his own bloody desk by the gate).
I tell you what though - all of this effort and money was worth it once we reached the second to top floor of the central dome. The views are like nothing i have ever seen. It is truly a remarkable place.
Luckily, the time we spent up here was just on our own - but to top it all off, when we returned back down to the platform, we were greeted by a smiling, shouting tourist guide & approximately 20 people dressed in polo tshirts, sunglasses & bumbags.
This is one seriously amazing place to simply relax at. I am incredibly gutted that i don't live locally (in the slightest) to this.
