Goodbye to Berlin

I am leaving Berlin, and moving onward to Paris. Since my last post, I have had the opportunity to explore the city in greater depth.

Before I continue on to my final impression of the city however, I must first place a correction. It would seem I misinterpreted my handy military-knowledge source. The Russians took Berlin (in the Battle of Berlin), and razed everything. It was the rebuilding efforts that showed the difference between the Allied and Soviet militaries. My apologies to all who were confused. Don’t worry, I was too when I first heard it, but I deferred to what I understood to be superior knowledge (let’s face it, it is superior knowledge, it was my interpretation skills that need work).

Berlin is a very interesting city. In Paris, where the inner city is almost entirely preserved, and as such, very little commerce-style business is conducted within the Rue Périphérique beyond that which caters to the tourist attractions of the city. By contrast, Berlin is a city where the lovingly reconstructed buildings stand alongside far more modern designs and constructions.  

In many aspects, this gives the city a charm- a sense of life that sleepy Paris doesn’t have, because to me, Paris is in many ways, a city of the past that has someone managed to be transported into the present. But my feeling is that Berlin is unfinished. The number of cranes which dominated the skyline is surprising. 

 A skyline of cranes 

The view from the Berliner Dom 

 

There is so much history in Berlin – it was the site of many of the greatest confrontations and moments that were considered to define the twentieth century, but that meant that it has been drained and shattered – by two world wars, and under a brutal communist regime the marks of which continue to be visible today. I think Berlin may be more finished in ten or so years, and then, boy, I want to see it. 

The Reichstag - in itself an old building that was ruined by the NAZI party, which has been given a modern interior

Until then, my heart will be lodged firmly in Paris.  

I am in Paris, and very excited about this fact.