A BRIGHT NEW BERLIN

Recently much has been made of Berlin and the 25 year anniversary of the end of “The Wall” that made it so famous. When I thought about traveling here, my contacts begged me not to write another story about these grand celebrations, nor about the wall.

I arrived on a cold day in January and as the driver whisked me in from the airport, I was amazed at the modern architecture popping up on the horizon around every turn. I took a city tour to find out more about Berlin and was constantly reminded but the guide’s commentary, about “this area was completely devastated by the allies in 1945”… or “this entire quadrant of the city was obliterated by bombs during the Second World War”. I heard that so much that I began to feel guilty, even though I had not even been born at that time.

Berlin, by in large, was a Prussian/Russian City. Its kings and queens mostly of that decent, lived lavishly in huge palaces that dot this area of Germany. Even though theses too were turned to rubble during the war, they are perhaps the only buildings to have been rebuilt to their original glory using historic references from what remained. Historic buildings other than these are few and far between. Most of the downtown MITRE District near the Brandenburg Gate is also very modern with a few buildings built to imitate that past glory of German history.

There is however one small area with beautiful buildings still standing. The Gendarmenmarkt is surrounded however by modern structures, some looking like they were the creations of spacemen, and others with straight lines and sharp edges, designs of European architects in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

The one soft area of Berlin that I did see, was the beautiful Tiergarten Park, smack in the middle of the city. This was a beautiful and very huge area where locals could go for a picnic, hikes, boat rides and just every day general enjoyment.

Berlin is now a city of shopping, entertainment and restaurants. There are also museums galore here. Everything from Modern Art to the History of Terror Museum built alongside the remnants of the famous “Wall”. The locals have a saying in German about the Wall that it is the most “picked” at place in Germany, seeing as so many come and take little souvenirs for personal collections.

You will not be at a loss for German food here. If you are a lover of Wiener schnitzel or Spätzle or any number of sausages, lots of beer and any other kind of food you want to eat, Berlin is your city. Since the Second World War, Berlin has become one of the most international cities in the world with people from everywhere and restaurants of every national type as well.

It is the seat of government for the German people, and the Parliament Building as well as Angela Merkel’s version of our White House are huge modern structures surrounded by what they call the Peoples Park. Embassies from around the world are all located nearby and are also structures of great architectural interest.

I was expecting to see a German city, like Munich or other smaller towns with picturesque architecture and German buildings with flower boxes in the windows. If this is the Germany that you want to see….don‘t come to Berlin! Berlin is an architect’s dream. As modern a city as I have ever seen. There is so much to do and see….in the New Berlin.