Wunderbar!! Impressions of Berlin

Lucy and her unhappy cat

The forces of lethargy have so far been winning the war against my productive urges. 
I'm going to make an effort to write more about the different places I've travelled and thoughts I have because it's good to get the creative juices flowing. More updates about other countries soon. F

Already on this journey I have seen and experienced a lot of stuff. Some cities and towns charmed me instantly while others grew on me and there were a couple that I thought were a bit crap (Paris underwhelmed me).

Kunsthaus - a cool area where Artists hang out

Berlin falls into the first category. I would go as far to say that its the best European city I have yet visited.

First thing to know; It is MASSIVE. Seriously. It would take many, many hours to walk through all the districts.

The public transport is excellent and rarely inspected (which suited me ;) so you can get around the place very easily.

Here is why Berlin rocked my socks....

Dynamic mix of old and new:


In the newer parts of Berlin such as Alexanderplatz you have giant, open squares packed with ultramodern buildings and trendy industrial art..The museums such as the Jewish History, Stasi (former  East German secret police), Deutsch History and Pergammon are all awesome. If you are a cultural buff there is plenty to get your teeth into.

 Move into some of the Eastern districts and you find something different altogether:

Some street art on a shop's doors

Grungy, dirty, fascinating streets.. Berlin is well known for its street art. The art is most common in run down areas and is beautification as opposed to destruction. I took an alternative Berlin walking tour today and was amazed to discover a side of the city I may have otherwise missed.

Street Art

Graffitti in the city comes in many varieties.. There are the stock standard scrawls "X was here" "Berliners eat cock" "Z loves Y" and so forth. But there are also much more juicy offerings.

 At the Eastside Gallery

A cartoon girl called Little Lucy (see picture at top) is dotted around the city in various outfits. In each scene she kills her cat in a creative way.. Down an alleyway near some distinctive pubs there is a giant painting of a polar bear smoking weed (as an aside, Berlin zooś famous Polar bear Knut died at the young age of 5 while I was in Berlin :( .
Banksy, a famous anonymous street artist from Bristol, had down a few pieces around Berlin but apparently his works are now so desirable people will actually chisel out the bit of concrete the grafitti is on and sell it..

Once someone points out a particular artists work to you, you start to notice them everywhere. If I had much in the way of artistic ability perhaps I would be inspired to try some of that action.

Cheap.
As a traveller, how much I enjoy a place partly depends on how much money I have to spend to do basic stuff. Fortunately Berlin is one of the cheapest European capital cities. You can pick up a meal for between three and six Euro. The living costs are low too. You can find yourself an enormous room in a decent apartment for just 200 Euro a month.

Berlin people:

There is a real multi-cultural cosmopolitan mix here. Most native Berliners were friendly and their English ability is pretty good. It feels tolerant too. People can drink alcohol on the public transport and long time residents told me that they walk the streets at night and feel safe.

World War Two History.

Some Nazi propaganda from the German History Museum

Another aspect of the city that smoked my tyres was WW2 history. Berlin was obviously a major centre of Nazi operations during that era so I enjoyed seeing the various locations of significance and rereading the stories behind them.
I saw the location where Hitler's bunker once stood. In a strange twist, the land above where the bunker once sat is now a children's playground. There are no signs to acknowledge the location because Germany prefers to commemorate the victims rather than the perpetrators of the Second World War. The bunker was collapsed in on itself and the concrete was reused to make the soviet-style apartments that now surround the area where the bunker once stood.

Pergamon Museum where I dropped my camera

There are a lot of sombre exhibitions outlining the horror of the Nazis.. The former location of the the SS was one such place. To be in locations that I had previously read so much about and try and imagine the terror of the Nazi regime is very sobering. I didn't feel I could truly comprehend the terrors of that time. It's just too awful.

A view of the city from the river

Tributes to the Berlin Wall are also thick on the ground. I stayed in East Berlin and talked to a few Germans about what it used to be like before the wall came down. Strolling along next to the East Side Gallery, which is a giant section of the Berlin wall preserved as a monument that has been beautified by artists, I tried to picture what it must have been like living in divided Germany. Many people tried to escape from East to West and some were shot trying to escape.

The East German state was pretty much big brother personified with every aspect of the populaces life  under observation. In the Stasi museum - you could see the lengths the secret police went to spy on their people including all manner of spy objects such as briefcases, ties and even tree stumps with concealed cameras. Most of the people responsible for human rights abuses in the East German regime never saw justice after 1989, which is a shame.

Night Life:

Berlin is quite famous for its nightlife and you can find pretty much any type of club you want. There are even leather fetish clubs that are known for giant orgies if that's your thing. I hit a few clubs in an industrial area near hackescher markt and enjoyed strolling through run-down warehouses that are packed with interesting people, artisans and grafitti. There are some smoking bans in bars in Germany but they are weakly enforced so people puff away.

No city is perfect, parts of Berlin are pretty dirty and it certainly can have a heaviness to it from all the horrible things that happened there, but overall, awesome.
If you get a chance, go to Berlin! I will certainly return there one day.

Post script:

At the time of writing, I have been living and traveling in Europe for 11 weeks. Moving between places can wear you down but I keep meeting great people that energise me for some more. For me, travel is far more about that people you meet than the things you see. Couchsurfing is an excellent aid to that end because you get to actually live with locals. My couchsurfing blog will come soon.

Questions or comments welcome!