Sights beyond the Berlin highlights / Schönhausen Castle

What did Udo Lindenberg want with the special train in Pankow?

Not everyone knows the answer and that's exactly why the tour "Sonderzug....." takes us to the beautiful and always popular residential area around Schönhausen Castle. It starts with crossing the Bösebrücke (that's the name of the bridge in Bornhomer Straße), where more than 20 years ago our people came together again. We will make some short stops at the former course of the Berlin Wall, which will lead us to Pankow and document the still existing traces.

Passing the pulsating life of an idyllic Berlin outskirts, via the recently renovated, about 350 years old Schönhausen Castle, which is part of the Prussian cultural heritage, with its permanent exhibition on the history of the castle, we will go to the Mayakovskiring, which should be the destination of the special train. Here Erich Honecker, wore the leather jacket sung about by Udo "secretly in the bathroom." The former house of the Honecker family is now a kindergarten.

But not only he, also other GDR politicians lived here well protected in their "little town". Egon Krenz, the last Chairman of the Council of State of the old GDR government, who was in office for only 49 days, owned a house in the "little town" until May 2003. The world-famous writer Hans Fallada (Kleiner Mann was nun,1932/Everyone dies for themselves,1947) also lived in this small villa settlement in the last year of his life, which was hermetically sealed off until 1973.

The way back leads us through the Bürgerpark, which was given to the citizens of Berlin in 1907. In the Bürgerpark we will make a small stop at the resident cafe and enjoy the idyll. The park is also home to Pankow's first cemetery , a small, artistically designed cemetery no longer in use today, where important personalities for the district found their final resting place.

Two really special stops on this tour are the "Old Bakery", in what is now a small private museum, bread has been baked in a wooden oven since 1875. You can also see there how people lived at that time, as much is in original condition or has been lovingly restored. Station two is in the home of chair manufacturer Heyn, whose home from the Gründerzeit is still almost completely preserved. Once ornate, one can still see the pomp and ostentation of days gone by.

The tour continues past the cherry trees and the split boulder on the site of the former death strip on Bornholmer Strasse. These cherry trees were donated by Japanese citizens who expressed their joy at the reunification of our nation. If you are lucky enough to make this tour in the spring, you can enjoy the wonderfully blooming ornamental cherries. A truly unforgettable picture will present itself to you.

The tour ends with vivid descriptions right where the Bornholmer Strasse border crossing was located.

This is a very popular 3.5 hour bike tour, a little away from the hustle and bustle of the city, with a lot of interesting facts that can not be found in any city guide.

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