Berlin #3 I'll see you soon again

Once I’d made a day trip to Paris, allowing me to spend exactly 12 hours in the city. This was an amazing little adventure, and I now realize how funny this would be in Berlin. You would say you travelled to Berlin, and that you saw its highlights. You would say you were in Berlin. But you are not able to say you know Berlin. And I think this is even the case for many of its residents. Many mentioned me to discover something new every day, whether its in its massive concrete streets filled with BMS, or its old-fashioned little neighbourhoods. A new statue, a new park, a new spooky building, or a new glass tower. The beauty in Berlin lies in the eye of its beholder, and I truly understand if people don’t think Berlin is the prettiest city. I agree, but for a true traveller it is not about finding the colours and castles, the towers and alleys. It’s about sensing what is home to others and how they create is. It’s about learning history whilst witnessing development. It’s about hearing stories, by tasting culture. The outcome after the trip doesn’t have to be about those memorable pictures and happy memories alone, it can also lead to self-development; the realizing how good you have it or maybe how you would like your life to be. The exchanging of cultures can be done best in Berlin, where every neighbourhood represents a different country and a different time area, emphasised by the buildings variating between the fanciest skyscrapers surrounded by fountains, to the big concrete buildings full of secrets, to the old fashioned brick apartments, to the smooth walls decorated with statues & little balconies. And we started today’s day at the place where all the division started: the remains of the wall at East Side Gallery.

The best way of travelling within Germany is to buy yourself one of these 8 euro unlimited travel cards allowing you to get around for a full day, in which we mostly enjoyed the U-bahn, Berlin’s underground. Despite its gathering of worlds worst smells like urine, farts and trash, it’s the closest thing one can have to spaceshipping your way through the city: fast. That’s how we quickly arrived at Oberbaumbrucke, connecting Kreuzberg & Friedrichshein by means of 2 brick towers. This also offers an impressive view on the modern riverside of the Spree, existing out of extremely modern buildings with an industrial vibe by means of glass and steel, and some rather unnatural shapes. And of course there’s iron tree of the Spree, the 3 molecule man, aluminium sculptures bumping into each other in the middle of the river and embraces unity, which is probably the most important value of Berlin after what it’s been through. I bet one can witness the most epic sunsets from this bridge on, but despite her absence I was mainly greatful that it didn’t rain today, and we could peacefully walk to the East Side gallery. The East Side gallery are some very real remains of the wall, that after its fall was painted by artists to turn what was once so ugly into a memorable piece of art to ensure nobody would forget what happened. You will find anything up from a big angry-looking Panda, to kids dancing in Africa, to an explosion of colours, to the truth: Mein Gott, hilf mir, diese tödliche Liebe zu überleben. My god, help me, to survive this deathly love. It paints a formal Soviet leader with an East German president involved in a passionate kiss, and I think it’s beautiful. The wall is a beautiful, colourful confrontation with so much more than the wall itself alone; its about all kind of truths that we tend to ignore or judge in our world, as well as some beautiful creations of unknown artists that deserve some credit for their work.

You can have a beautiful little stroll inbetween the river and the wall to enjoy both its colours and the activity of the Spree, sending little boats trough the city as well as hosting some massive warehouses hidden behind the little stripe of green beside the river. You can enjoy international foodstands, beautiful art, and the kind of life only a river adds to a city, whereas you can realize how crazy it was that this wall was actually there, throughout the whole city, scattering families and friends, and lovers. I absolutely love seeing how tiny the wall is by now, and how easily we can walk by it onto the next neighbourhood: Friedrichshain. Now this isn’t one of the most known areas which surprises me a little, because I really enjoyed its atmosphere, due to its town-alike vibe and the warmth of the neighbourhoods. It’s mostly the place to be for artists and students and became another kind of heart of Berlin; the creative one. This mostly expresses itself in restaurants from endless origins, covering every centimeter of the city. Biergartens, skateparks, jazz bars, and it’s all rather small and simple, nothing too big or outstanding. Small stores, colourful bars, little cornershops. Even the streets and its cars were no longer that massive, and the pleasant atmosphere even led to me trying Thai food despite my fear of getting sick of anything with some kind of spicy herb in it, but I enjoyed it as if I didn’t eat for days. I could have a whole food-tour in this interesting, cozy neighbourhood, where many streets were empty and actual houses appeared besides colourful apartment buildings, whose windows were blocked by paintings and plants. Kids played on the streets, people chatted on the painted little tables of the terraces, and birds peacefully picked up the crumbles left behind.

Now it was time to travel on to probably the most modernized part of the city; Kurfurstendam. This is clean, organized and clear: bright coffee bars, healthy lunch places and all too well-known stores. I enjoy its atmosphere for being thriving, for being on the move, for being so developed. If you are a shopper you will adore this place, but if you adore culture, like me, also. It’s home to the Gedächtniskirche, a church that is living proof of the bombs Berlin had to endure during the war. Its roof basically got blown off, and now with the help of some reconstruction, the beautiful old church is still there, rather random in a further so renovatd, modern neighbourhood, with its roof still damaged and cut off. A beautiful contrast with a strong story, the silence in the middle of movement. For the animal lovers, one of Europe’s most popular aquaria as well as one of Europe’s better zoos lie in the middle of this labyrinth of big modern buildings. One could entertain themselves endlessly in this modern place, if on a rainy day by means of KDW: a shopping center for more than shoppers only. It’s the cleanest, shiniest center ever that offers both affordable and unaffordable design as well as, what we came for, a whole floor dedicated to world’s most prettiest looking food. You feel rich walking through, but I mostly came to admire the beautifully organized cheese corner.

Lastly, on our return to Neukolln, that like Friedrichshain is a more artistic, old-fashioned neighbourhood with surpsriingly quiet streets and many parks as well as little stores and busy streets. It has old, simple apartments, but also some rather colourful or old brick buildings, that survived all changes to the city. It is not, yet, as thriving as Friedrichshain or Kreuzberg, but it is definitely booming. Its hipster, with new places opening their doors every day. It is charming, but it is also messy, sometimes slightly abandoned, and loud. But a place where one can see the life and the consequences of life, is basically just a sign of how alive it is. Not that that’s an excuse for the fact that trash hangs around where it shouldn’t be, but it does explain its noisy vibe. And what I love most about Neukolln, is that it’s home to the less known pearls of Berlin, and to ensure I shut up at some point I will just pick my favourite for the time being: Tempelhof airport. It has been closed 12 years ago already and although it sounds quite frightening, an abandoned airport where one can walk on the airstrip, feeling as if a massive plane could appear behind you any minute, is quite the adrenaline boost. And it is also very relaxing, as it is basically a park so large you cannot see its end despite it being one big stretch of green. Dogs are playing in the grass, people are cycling and skating on the airstrip, the airport itself is nothing but an abandoned building at the far end of the roads. Yes, I enjoyed the strange experience of doing something totally illegal and suicidal in other countries, along with many other picnickers, cyclists and dogs.

- It's an amazing life