Berlin, a city where vergangenheit (past) and gegenwart (present) exist side by side in mindful redevelopment projects that reflect the need for renewal alongside preservation
Our 4 nights in Berlin were a study in past and present and the opposing forces of deep sorrow vs joyful celebration of the power of the human spirit. Memorials to the murdered jews of Europe stand side by side with new buildings with groundfloor bars that pulse with nightlife. Tourists enjoy boat rides in a river that is marked “nicht ankern” (no anchor) because there are still unexploded ordnance (bombs) at the bottom. The symbol of struggle for freedom in Berlin, the Berlin Wall, is notable mostly by it’s absence and a few small memorials that could be missed if you weren’t looking for them.
We’ve all read or seen so many things about Germany and WW2 that it’s hard to separate modern Berlin from that history. Thankfully, a Rick Steve’s walking tour in the heart of Berlin was very helpful in expanding our knowledge of Berlin and it’s looooong history. 12,000 steps a day (average), took us from the Mitte district, to the old Jewish Quarter, Prenzlauer Berg, the East Side Gallery, Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag. Walking the same ground of so much Western European history is a pretty crazy thing.
Like many other things in Berlin ~ our hostel was both awesome and awful. The noise level of the mostly under 30 crowd in our hostel was…….unhelpful when trying to sleep, but you couldn’t beat the location. The public transportation was literally steps from our front door, walking to the Reichstag took 15 minutes and our evening meals of Vietnamese, Italian, and German were at restaurants within a half block of the hostel.
Overall the food in Berlin was both amazing and surprisingly affordable. We feared the only offering would be schnitzle, (which Marla did eat at a mall food court), but in addition to the food mentioned above we also had a French meal that was outstanding. We contemplated eating in the rotating restaurant at the top of the TV tower but decided an overpriced tourist trap meal wasn’t in our budget this time.
Berlin, like Washington DC is built in a place with a pretty high water table. During construction there are aboveground pipelines so they can continually pump water out of the construction zone into the Spree River. The high water table also results in an unexpected “swamp gas” smell everywhere you go. We saw one restaurant with outside seating that had put a turf cover over the manhole grate. We’re assuming this turf cover was an attempt to cut down on the swamp gasses although we cannot say that for certain.
We met a young couple on the train from Copenhagen who were traveling home after running in the half marathon. They assured us that Berlin is “the most in-German German city” and that our next destination of Munich is also “not true Germany”. We were a little confused about this until we thought about Kansas City or Wichita not being the only way to experience or come to know all of Kansas. We look forward to seeing a little more of Germany in Munich while experiencing Oktoberfest and MORE BEER!
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