Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf

Population: 319,628

Sub-districts: 7

Charlottenburg

Wilmersdorf

Schmargendorf

Grunewald

Westend

Charlottenburg-Nord

Halensee

I would love to tell you how the Funkturm | Radio Tower's windswept outlook is unrivalled. I would love to describe for you how at the top your legs shake and your heart races and everything before you reach this point is suddenly rendered small, ant-like and insignificant, inconsequential beneath the wind-pocked grate metal of the viewing platform; how Berlin unfurls in front like a Muslim man's prayer mat and when you face out to the east your mecca will be, for your time up there, realised. The Radio Tower's viewing platform was, though, unfortunately, closed for maintenance when I first approached it and will be until mid-September 2014. And yet, in spite of my limited experience, I'm absolutely enamoured by it.

Funkturm | Radio Tower

It's fairly safe to say that the Fernsehturm (TV Tower) in Alexanderplatz is the tower of Berlin. Visible from every which way in the city and omnipresent in tourist guides, it is simply unavoidable. It was constructed in the former East in the 1960s to signify Socialist virility. Today, however, it has been firmly amalgamated into the image of a unified Berlin and plump and phallic it is perhaps more of a reminder of a crippling inferiority complex than it is a refutation of the Western system of Capitalism.

The Funkturm then, towering over the affluent neighbourhood of Charlottenburg, should be the other mast of Berlin. The 'langer Lulatsch', or long beanpole as it was colloquially known, was constructed in 1924 in order to improve the quality of radio broadcasts in the city. In the 1930s it was then adapted to send silent television transmissions. Before the Wall it was one of Berlin's most popular tourist attractions and, during the Wall era, was perhaps West Berlin's most significant landmark.

The Funkturm then, oozing historical significance, should be the other mast of Berlin. From the ground to the tip of its antennae, the Eiffel Tower-inspired Radio Tower stands 150 metres tall. It offers visitors two levels from which to look out onto the city-west. The first is the restaurant 55 metres up; the second is a purpose-built viewing platform 126 metres above terra firma. Its design is like a two-piece Russian Babushka doll. Its strong steel lattices tessellate and climb upwards around an express elevator and, unlike the TV Tower, all of this metalwork is exquisitely exposed. From its top you'll be able to see the lush and seemingly endless Grunewald, the former, now dilapidated, NSA listening tower, the richly historic Olympic Stadium and, unlike from the TV Tower, an almost bird eye view of Berlin that includes that giant Socialist member.

The Funkturm then, dripping in quasi-Parisian elegance, should be the other mast of Berlin, and yet, in August 2014, it sits silent and in pieces, begging for a visit, like a former favourite but now forgotten dog.

Other Sites of Interest:

The former NSA listening tower near the man-made hill known as Teufelsberg (Devil's Mountain), is my favourite abandoned spot in Berlin. The Grunewald, which you have to walk through to get to the tower and the mound, is lush and dizzyingly vast

Grunewald, 14055 Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf


S-Bahn: S5, S7 Grunewald http://www.visitberlin.de/en/spot/teufelsberg

Olympiastadion | Olympic Stadium

Olympischer Platz 3, 14053 Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf

S-Bahn: S5 Olympiastadion

Admission: €7/€5 concessions for Individual Inspection; €10/€8 for the 'Highlight Tour'

Open: 09.00-20.00,1st June 2014-15th September 2014

olympiastadion-berlin.de/en.html

And the best (banana) crepes in town can be found at the kitsch and solely – until you head there – local-populated Kibar

Wilmersdorfer Straße 156, 10585 Charlottenburg

U-Bahn: U2 Bismarckstraße; U7 Richard-Wagner-Platz

Open: Daily, 08.00-Late; Food served: 08.00-00.00