Germany – Berlin

It is mind-boggling to try to reconcile Berlin’s infamous past with the sheer awesomeness of its present.  To recap: in the 1940’s it was the headquarters of the Nazi party and the German Secret State Police, in the 1980’s, it was the focal point of the Cold War and half the city was under Soviet Control, and today it is an outrageous blend of canal-side bars, cafes, beer gardens, techno clubs, curry wurst, doner kebab, black stockings, half-shaved hairstyles, and good vibes.  More succinctly, fascism → socialism → hipsterism!

I love this place.  I didn’t know much about it when I arrived, but it is making a huge impression.  This is all despite the clouds and drizzle that have me backed firmly into a one-pair-of-jeans-and-one-sweater corner.  The people are attractive, polite, rule-abiding, happy, and relaxed.  There are always enough of them walking outside and sitting in cafes to make the atmosphere lively, but never so many that it seems crowded.  The automobile traffic appears light and low on road rage.  The public transportation system is clean and efficient.  They use Mercedes as taxis.  There is good and cheap food available all around.  There is German beer.  There are canals, tree-lined streets, cool buildings, and public parks.  Good bands visit here on tour.  One of my friends called it the coolest city in the world…might he be correct?

Tuesday I arrived and found my way to my Air B’n’B apartment in a Turkish-dominated corner of the Neukölln neighborhood.  That evening I went to see a South African indie folk-rock band called Dear Reader at a cool club named Lido in the Kreuzberg neighborhood.  I found that Berliners make very polite and very still audiences–once the show started, there was very little talking and almost no one weaving through the crowd.

On Wednesday I took a long walk from the Brandenburg Gate (city gates) to the Reichstag (parliment building) and along the Spree (river that runs through Berlin), then went to the club B-Flat in the Mitte neighborhood to see a bebop jazz band (4 dudes supposedly playing the same song).

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Thursday I visited the Eastside Gallery, a one-mile stretch of still-standing Berlin Wall that was transformed into a permanent art installation when the city commissioned artists to paint murals along its panels.  On a sunny afternoon with Berliners sunbathing and having picnics on the lawn between the wall and the Spree, it was impossible to conceive that this was the former epicenter of such hard feelings, tension, and oppression.  It is impressive to me how Berlin acknowledges and and commemorates its history rather than trying to build over it or pretend it never happened.

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Topography of Terror is another example of Berlin’s accountability for its past.  It is a museum constructed on the former command center of the Secret State Police documenting the rise of the Nazi party and its atrocities.  There is no excuse-making, low-balling, or fact-denying in this exhibit; it is a bone-chilling story, and most eerily, a true one that took place only 80 years ago!  That’s scarier than a German fairy tale!

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After touring the museum, I walked through the Gendarmenmarkt (plaza framed by cathedrals and a concert hall) and then had a very German dinner of roast pork with beer sauce and sauerkraut at Potsdamer Platz (showy shopping and entertainment district).

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Saturday I visited the art galleries and cafes that line Auguststrasse and then took a long break to drink pilsner at Strandbar Mitte, just across the canal from the Bode Museum.  It’s been a long and very good week already!

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