How can I describe Berlin? It is completely different from any other city I have ever visited. As the capital city of Germany, it is also the largest, but not in the way that Americans would think of a “big city.” We identify a big city as one with skyscrapers; a defined skyline is one of the first ways in which we will judge whether a city is “big” or not. Berlin, however, has no skyscrapers–I have heard Germans refer to them as “ugly American buildings.” Instead, it has all the size of a big city without much of a reference point as to where the center is, at least when looking at it from the train. It has 12 different boroughs which are all incredibly distinct from one another, so that when you step off the U-Bahn a few stops down the line it’s like you’re in another city entirely. It’s very multicultural and I heard more English in Berlin than I have since I left America, plus half a dozen other languages. Berlin is a beautiful city, with some areas having very traditional old architecture styles and others seeming rather new. Graffiti is, apparently, not illegal and seems to be Berlin’s favorite way to decorate apartment buildings and doors.
I’d decided to go to Berlin after I found out that Die Deutsche Oper was performing Wagner’s Lohengrin last Saturday. Of course Berlin is a must-see while I am here, but it is around 6 hours away by train so I thought I’d see as much as I could while I was there. I stayed in a hostel because my friend, who I met through Die Deutsche Sommerschule, is still searching for an apartment there. (Everyone wants to live in Berlin and it’s impossible to find housing right now.) Four days is hardly enough to see everything, but I managed to visit more places than I thought I would while I was there. My hostel was right next to a large bus stop and train station so it was easy to get to the main areas of the city. Everything in Berlin runs almost 24/7 too, a big relief for late nights spent exploring or at the opera.
Like many tourists, my first stop was the Brandenburger Tor. I took a class about Berlin while at Die Deutsche Sommerschule and knew that if I visited this first, I could follow Unter den Linden (the main street) to other sightseeing places. Plus, it’s just so impressive! I was in awe seeing it for the first time. There’s something about finally standing in front of something that you see everywhere–books, postcards, posters, films–that is at the same time very special and surreal.
This is the Reichstag building, where the German parliament meets. It’s also a very popular tourist destination, and not difficult to find as it is almost directly behind the Brandenburger Tor. (it doesn’t look busy here because it’s about 9:00 in the morning.) I had a map of Berlin but didn’t like to use it that much because then it was painfully obvious that I was a tourist, so I wandered around finding things based on my knowledge of Berlin from the class this summer. It worked out well and felt a bit more like an adventure in the end. I must have looked like I knew what I was doing because people kept asking me for directions–in German. I blend in without the camera; with it, people ask me for money and speak to me in English. Oh well, I have nice pictures now!
Museumsinsel was without doubt one of my favorite parts of Berlin. It’s an area of the city which houses 5 different museums; visiting 2 took me almost an entire day, and I ended up rushing through the second one a bit. They were very impressive; the Pergamon Museum was my favorite. Inside, they’ve reconstructed (as in, transported) the Pergamon Altar (depicting scenes of the Greek gods at war), the market gate of Miletus, and the Ishtar Gate from Babylon. Absolutely breathtaking to step inside a room housing such large structures from the ancient world. The second museum I visited was Neues Museum, which is actually a very old museum damaged so badly during WWII that it only re-opened 4 years ago. On a side note, that’s something I noticed a lot in Berlin. They’re still repairing some war damage, still re-building things completely destroyed 70 years ago. Thinking about it, it’s only been 23 years since the wall fell and the city has come so far in that time. It really has grown fast. Anyway, the Neues Museum was interesting for a number of reasons. First, it has a huge collection of Egyptian antiquities including 4 copies of the Book of the Dead and the bust of Nefertiti, a 3,300 year old artifact in surprisingly good condition. Second, the building itself has an interesting history and layout. Listening to the audio tour, I learned which rooms were damaged the most, what they used to house, and why they are designed the way they are. Often the rooms were designed after what they contained, eg, painted in a Greek style for the busts of the philosophers. Some of that has been preserved while other rooms are more neutral. It was very strange, because oftentimes the collections were arranged by who donated them or when they were found, which meant that I had to read the captions very carefully as something from the Stone Age would be sitting next to a Greek artifact or a Medieval sword. I would definitely go back and take a closer look at things and visit some of the other museums.
The Berliner Dom is the most beautiful Protestant church I have ever seen. Church architecture is fascinating to me, but I usually find that Catholic Churches are the most intricate. This was a pleasant surprise for me and I would have liked to go inside but there was a huge line and it was getting late. Tourist tip: the big grassy area outside the Dom is full of traps. That was the one bad thing about Berlin. This girl came up to me asking if I spoke English and having never encountered this, I said “yes,” thinking maybe she was lost. DON’T. She started asking me for money and I realized I’d read on the internet that these people take money from American/English tourists. She was very persistent and I just had to walk away. Sad, really, but the smartest thing to do when you’re alone like that.
Holocaust Memorial. It looks from here to be rather flat but actually, you can walk through it and the stones are all different heights. You can’t see anybody in there because the ground slopes downwards. Very well done–without so much as a word written anywhere, the memorial still speaks; it communicates to the emotions.
And finally, East Side Gallery. Though they’ve marked all over the city where the wall used to be, this is the only place where a large part of it still stands, covered in paintings and visited daily by tourists. It’s really amazing to see the inspirational things painted on that wall, making the symbol of division one of re-unification and hope.
All in all, I had a wonderful time in Berlin, sightseeing, visiting my friend, going to the opera (which was amazing!), and just wandering around. However, I was really relieved to return to Koblenz on Monday. Koblenz is quieter and smaller than Berlin; it just feels more relaxed to me. I think if I were with a large group of people I would feel alright studying in Berlin, but as the only St. Edward’s student in Koblenz I feel more comfortable there. Still, I would definitely go back to Berlin if I got the chance–there is too much to do there for just one visit!