Berlin
A French railway station in the German capital
Image credit: flickr.com/photos/gertrudk
'Gare Française' proclaims the sign on a half-timbered railway station which certainly wouldn't look out of place in the heart of the French countryside.
But in fact it's located in the Berlin district of Tegel, a relic of the days when the area was under French military control.
Image credit: flickr.com/photos/gertrudk
Inaugurated in 1947, the quaint building sits alongside the current Tegel S-Bahn station - a curious sight for unwitting travellers.
Once used to transport French troops in and out of Berlin, the last train left the platform in 1994, five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Now a listed monument, the building (rather oddly) belongs to a next-door nursing home; and although rarely open to the public, the wood-clad waiting rooms and vintage ticket offices remain virtually unchanged.
Nice to know that this small but poignant piece of Berlin's post-war history still exists - and for Francophiles, another vestige of the city's former French presence (complete with miniature Eiffel Tower) is just waiting to be discovered in nearby Wedding. Bon voyage!
See also:
Paris in Berlin
Berlin's first skyscraper
Lakeside travel on a vintage bus
A colonnade of abandoned railway bridges
Gare Française: Buddestraße 2-4, 13507 Berlin.
