The largest capital city of Europe, the country producing the cars, the medicine and most important; the currywurst. The capital with about the bloodiest history of Europe, internationally respected and visited. The Brandenburger Tor as a gateway into its heart where the old Berliner Dom forms a contrast with the peeking TvTower. The artistic painted streets of Kreuzberg and the financial glass heart of Potsdamer Platz. No longer divided by the by now artistic remains of bricks inbetween them, nevertheless still showing an undeniable difference: the rather closed off, socialistic east and the capitalistic, well-faring west. The Russians left their marks in the east that therefore has a Russian vibe going on still, whereas the west, once owned by the Britts, Americans and French, has a more modern stamp. In my opinion, Berlin has the most interesting history of all cities and also managed to keep history alive better than anyone, it’s everywhere. Status, bombed buildings, graveyards, crosspoint, nothing is hidden; berlin wants the world to be aware of the consequences of war and basically shoves that in your face while proudly and deservedly showing off that they concurred this once 45km long wall. No more division, no more war, but Berlin is flooded with beautiful, emotional and inspiring historical aspects. It’s the city that has it all; modern art, creepy massive buildings, beautiful design, amazing food, tiny innocent markets, interesting museums, historical hotspots and, before I will end my endless list; a constant switch of character inbetween neighbourhoods.
It was one of these first real autum days where you had to accept summer really ended, which the world shoved in my face by pouring down some rain on me. Quite some. But it was okay, due to the strange appearance of corona it felt like the summer lasted forever, and I was ready for the charm of the cold. But maybe this was a bit too much charm. The rain planned to drown us all and by the time I arrived, I was already soaked. But hey, it is an adventure, and adventures cannot consist of walks in the park and coffee’s to go only. So we just decided to find an indoor activity that would also fulfil the needs of our empty stomachs; but we still needed to get there. Luckily umbrellas are cheap and if so, don’t buy them. Ours snapped after only 3 massive wind bumps and we made peace with getting cold and wet, which is quite doable when you have some distraction around you. Now I hope I do not offend anyone, but in my opinion Berlin is far from being the average pretty city. It is not your fairytale city with towers and colours, like Paris or Prague. It is city that has experienced it all and says; this is what happened, come and see, join us, but don’t judge us.
The history can be sensed throughout the whole city, for starters by the disappearance of most beautiful old brick buildings, now replaced by the quickly build, nevertheless still at least 50 year old, after-war buildings. Massive, plain, many, mostly hosting a little store beneath it that offers either one of 4000 beloved kebab places, or assecoires. Yet the quick rebuild of Berlin after the war, after the wall, also led to a new appearance. The streets of berlin are massive and filled with the better cars, and the public transport is a dream taking you comfortably and cheap through Europes biggest city. Food, clothing, souvernis, anything you can think of therefore is always closeby. I sometimes felt like I saw the same kind of store at least 10 times in 10 minutes, yet they are almost always louring people inside which gives the city an open atmosphere. Unlike the rain, that by now turned me into one of its own rain drops, that no longer tried to not be a part of it. Still being in the east, the buildings are generally a bit older. That also means some old pearls have been preserved whose colours start to leak and whose bricks start to break. And it is my taste that the biggest amount of buildings in the east give me the creeps, but that is just because they are mysterious and still, whereas I come from a country with extra large windows and decorated windowsills to basically invite people to have a look. Travelling is about experiencing the differences, the opinion that’s shaped is always personal. And my opinion was that Berlin had been trough so much and came out as an amazingly strong, economicially thriving, touristic hotspot.
The east is not under-developed at all, just a bit more quiet, messy and mysterious than the west. I will give you some little fun facts that you can turn into an exciting game to help you figure out whether you are in formal east, or west Berlin. Of course we are all happy this city is now one and also managed to become one of the most international and successful cities in Europe of which it may be proud, but as a culture-lover, I enjoy the history, and Berlin happens to be filled with that. Firstly, the east still prefers the name ‘kaufhalle’ to supermarkets, whereas the west adapted to the international name ‘supermarket’. Secondly, the slightly dangerous because they are so easy to overlook- tramlines, are not to be found in the west anymore. ‘Too old school’ - west said. Also, former east Berlin was more concerned with kiddos, which means it comes with plenty of public playgrounds. In the west you will sense how the Turkish culture emerged with it as many citizens have a Turkish background and opened a Turkish barbershop, foodplace or store. The Vietnamese culture can be traced back in the east, scoring second highest on Europes highest population of Vietnamese (bringing along a series of amazing Asian food). And lastly, my favourite and the easiest reminder; traffic lights. In west berlin, the green man with a hat on became a massive souvenir and still helps you safely cross the street, as well as realizing you are in former west.
Check-point Charly is a spot where you can feel the history by means of a stand in the middle of the road, where on could cross from east to west if one had the rare special priveledge to do so. In a non-corona world, 2 soldiers would be standing here mainly to present history and of course for your important city-trip picture. Now, it was so rainy that I doubted if I wanted to have my soldier-free picture taken, but being quick is an option as well. Here you also find some remains of the wall scattered over a square and beautifully painted by artists, which I absolutely love because it helps turn a sensitive solid piece of history in something beautiful, yet not to be forgotten. This is where you pass towards the west, and the west was put into a total new jacket made out of glass. Which I say, because many buildings here got reboosted into massive glass skyscrapers that now all have one or another important function, such as the Mercedez-Benz factory, the old from inside – modern from outside Kaufhaus das Westen, the Starbucks chains and fancy brand stores. The places that benefitted most from this renewal are certainly Potsdammer platz, Alexander Platz and Kurfurstendam. All of them are basically beating hearts, commercially and financially. They all have the big skyscrapers, the endless entertaining stores, attractive tourism-spots and flowing veins to their business heart.
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