We’re back from our trip to Germany so I thought I’d share some photos and thoughts. I never thought I’d go to Berlin, but Mandi got tricked into doing a school project there, so I tagged along for the second week of her stay. I very nearly decided to not go, but I found some super inexpensive tickets so really had no excuse.

Our friend Silke, who stayed with Mandi’s parents as an exchange student a few years ago, came from Aachen (in Northwestern Germany) to meet us with her baby boy Loris for a couple of days. She took us on a walking tour, helping us find the Wall remnant below. You see more of the Wall in little baggies in tourist shops now – there’s only a little bit left standing due to peoples’ insatiable appetite for little pieces of it. There also doesn’t seem to be much interest in preserving any parts of it. There’s supposed to be a decent stretch somewhere around, but I didn’t make it there (or it’s been torn down and replaced with some apartments).

The Reichstag is like our Capitol building, housing the German legislature. To me, it’s interesting because it’s been rebuilt a couple of times. For its latest reincarnation, the Germans decided to create a blend of new and old – sort of a metaphor for both Berlin and Germany. The dome is a beautiful glass structure a little like the pyramid at the Louvre, except that it’s got spiral ramps for tourists to climb for a view of Berlin. There’s apparently always a long line to get in, but I was lucky to have Silke and Loris for tour guides – folks with strollers go through a special entrance and jump to the head of the line.

There are construction cranes all over Berlin. A big wave of construction happened just after reunification, followed by a bit of a bust. The Sony Center at Potsdamer Platz is an example from that era – huge, modern and shiny, but not very successful. I think the problem is that there’s so much ‘empty’ land around that it’s too easy to build new rather than use the existing stuff. Hence all the cranes. There are also a lot of old museums, churches, and such around and they’re pretty much constantly getting rehabilitated. Pretty much every time I visit a European city there’s one sight on my to-do list that’s obscured by scaffolding or just plain closed.

On our last full day in Berlin we tried to fit in a few sights we’d missed earlier. So, we headed for Karl Marx Allee, a wide boulevard suitable for Soviet-style marches and whatnot. It’s mostly lined with long, blocky apartment buildings. Not the tilt-up super ugly ones, just so long they prevent any connection behind the street and the neighborhood beyond. I guess the idea is that you can hang out your apartment window and cheer for the parade or something. It was deserted when we walked it, a bit like a Stalinist ghost town, but it was Saturday – maybe on weekdays it’s busier. Contrast Karl Marx Allee with Unter den Linden, the main tourist boulevard leading up to Brandenberg Gate. It was also part of the East, but with tons of historical sites and museums it’s now bustling, sorta like Champs Elysee in Paris.

I think part of what makes Berlin interesting to visit is the immediacy of history there. I remember the 1980s and the Cold War. There were a lot of Russian tourists in Berlin too – I wonder what they’re thinking about? To me, Berlin is about the same as Paris or London for general touristic entertainment, but it also has this undercurrent of recent historic flux that makes it especially interesting. I uploaded a few more photos than I’ve included here.

This entry was posted by Isaac on Wednesday, January 24th, 2007 at 10:35 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed.
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