easyJet.com
flies toBerlin from46destinations.
Seeour insiderguideonpage 127.
easyJet.com
easyJet.com/holidays*
Twonightsat4*AmediaBerlin
Kurfuerstendamm, flying fromLondon
Southendon 14 Jan, costs£109pp.
hotels.easyJet.com
Thebrandnew, PhilippeStarck-
designedLeonardoHotel BerlinMitte is
near toprettymucheverything.
DESTINATION
BERLIN
DON’THASSLE
THEHOFF
DavidHasselhoff starred in
Knight
Rider
and
Baywatch
, twoof themost
exported showsof the 1980s and
90s.No joke: hisworldwideappeal
madehim theDavidBeckhamof his
day. Unwittingly, hishit
Looking for
Freedom
, recorded inWest Berlin’s
HansaStudios,was thechart-topping
anthemofGerman reunification.
TheHoff sang the track liveatop
theBerlinWall onNewYear’sEve
1989,whilewearinga strobe-effect
leather jacket. Both sidesof the
Wallwentwild–but not everyone
was amusedbyhis ‘I smashed the
Wall’ strut. YouTube footage shows
revellers aimingfirecrackers at
Hasselhoff’smullet,withone zipping
past hisear at 3m22s.
That said,Hasselhoff remainsever
popular inBerlin.Heflew in to lead
protestsagainst thepartial demolition
of theEastSideGallery, amural-
covered sectionofWall, inMarchof
last year.He’s also recordedanew
versionof
Looking for Freedom
at
Hansa in time for the25thanniversary
commemorations– sobe ready!
For acomplete rundownof
commemorativeevents,
see
visitberlin.de
BritishForces school.Hishousemate, IggyPop,
had thehygiene levelsof acollege student.One
producer called in tofind theAmerican soiled
and starving.All therewas in the fridgewasa
solitarycarrot.Hewaseventually turfedout
intoa rear-gardenflat.
OnSchmied’s recommendation,myfinal
stop-off isNeuesUfer, agay-friendlybaron
Hauptstrasse. Bowie iswarmly remembered
hereasa regular.Heevenpaid for thewindow
tobefixedwhen itwas smashedbyamob in
less tolerant times.Asever, the staracteda
transcendentallyunapproachable role.He
wouldorder cappuccino (thecafé, thencalled
AnderesUfer, hadoneof thecity’s few Italian
coffeemachines)whileostentatiously reading
aBerlinnewspaperand smokinganunlitpipe.
IggyPop, sittingbesidehim,woulddon reading
spectacles to look likean intellectual, even
thoughhiseyesightwasperfect.
ForBowie, playing the introvertedmusician
was just anotherof the roleshe’s inhabitedover
theyears, fromMajorTom to theThinWhite
Duke, butwhathemaynothave realised is the
impacthewouldhaveonBerlin–not least on
that Saturdayevening in 1987, as theechoes
of
Heroes
carriedacross thedivide, unitinga
fracturedcity.Aweek later,RonaldReagan told
theSoviet leaderMikhailGorbachev to, “Tear
down thisWall”.The seedshadbeen sown.
“BOWIE’SCONCERT LIT THE TOUCH
PAPERONASERIESOF DEMOS THAT
DIDN’T STOPUNTIL THOSE EPOCH-
MAKING EVENTSOF NOVEMBER 1989”
DavidBowie inaBerlin
hotel room, 1983
*FOR T&CS SEE PAGE 147. PHOTO
EYEVINE, GETTY
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