Why Go to Berlin? Here’s Why.

This is the final installment in my posts on the fiftieth anniversary of the Berlin Wall:

A couple of months ago I was talking to somebody about having been to Berlin (again).  He had never been there, and he asked me why I liked Berlin so much.  I did a poor job of explaining it, so I wanted to try again, here. 

First, at least for me, is history.  Berlin is full of history.  Maybe its history isn’t centuries old like some cities, but for 20th century history, Berlin can’t be beat.  You’ve got the ‘20s, World War II, the whole Cold War, and everything that has happened since the end of the Cold War. 

There are cabaret shows like in the ‘20s and really neat housing developments (which are also part of one of Berlin’s other great attractions: architecture).  While World War II bombing and the Russians destroyed large sections of pre-World War II Berlin, parts remain – and much has been restored.  My favorite is Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.  The neo-Gothic church was built in the 1890s, but was bombed during World War II.  Only the steeple, which was itself damaged, survived.  After the war, the steeple was preserved, and a new modern church was built next to it.  It is sort of like a German Coventry, which is appropriate since Germans helped rebuild St. Michael’s Cathedral in Coventry, and people from Coventry helped in Berlin.

The Topography of Terror, which opened just last year, covers the Nazi era in complete detail.  The Jewish Museum tells the story of Jews in Berlin.  The Wannsee Conference Center is where the Nazis planned the Final Solution.

But the Cold War is the most important.  The original museum about the Wall, Haus am Checkpoint Charlie, is now called the Wall Museum.  It is getting a little worn, but it can still be interesting.  Having opened in 1962, it is part of the history of the Wall itself.  The Allied Museum talks about the Airlift.  The Airlift Memorial is at Tempelhof Airport, which itself is a prime example of Nazi architecture.

The Berlin Wall Memorial is on Bernauer Strasse, where a section of the Wall complex has been preserved.  At Bernauer Strasse you can also see the Chapel of Reconciliation, which was built on the site of the Church of Reconciliation.  (In my August 13 post, I showed a picture of the Church of Reconciliation from three years before it was torn down.  After the Wall came down, the Chapel of Reconciliation was built on the site of the church.)

Outdoors, there are reminders of the Cold War everywhere.  There are still a few pieces of the Wall left, as well as several old East German guard towers.  On Zimmerstrasse, near Checkpoint Charlie, you can see a memorial at the place where Peter Fechter bled to death in 1962, after being shot while trying to escape over the Wall.  There are also more unusual places, like Glienicker Bridge, where the Soviets and the U.S. exchanged spies, like Gary Francis Powers and Rudolph Abel, during the Cold War.  

You can go to Bornholmer Strasse, where the Wall first opened in 1989, and to the East Side Gallery, where artists came in 1990 to paint in celebration of the Wall coming down.  The Brandenburg Gate, without the Wall around it, and with the American Embassy next to it once again, is magnificent.  At the headquarters of the Axel Springer publishing company there is a memorial to the “Fathers of Unity,” with busts of Helmut Kohl, George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev. 

The Reichstag is definitely worth a tour to see the restoration by Sir Norman Fowler and the history of the building: the graffiti by Russian soldiers, the new meeting place for the Bundestag, and the panoramic view of Berlin from the dome.  Sign up ahead for a 90-minute English tour.  (One thing that is interesting about the various restorations in Berlin is how many of them have been done by non-Germans.  I give the Germans credit for being willing to have so much of this work done by foreigners.)

In terms of culture, plays can be a little tricky unless you know German, but the music is fantastic.  I love the Berlin Philharmonic, not just for the music, but for the hall they play in.  The acoustics are great, the sightlines are fantastic, and all of the seats are really close to the orchestra – because it is “in the round”.  The hall was built in the 1960s in what was then a desolate area of Potsdamer Platz, near the Wall.  When we went there in 1982, it seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere.  With reunification and the rebuilding of Potsdamer Platz, it is now in the middle of everything.

I am not an expert on art museums, but to my understanding, Berlin’s art museums aren’t as good as other places, such as Munich.  However, I particularly liked the Neue Nationalgalerie, which is in Mies van der Rohe’s only building in Berlin.

But Berlin does have other really great museums.  The appropriately named Museum Island has several world-class museums.  The recently re-opened Neues Museum has the bust of Nefertiti.  The Pergamon Museum has, not surprisingly, the Pergamon Altar, as well as the Ishtar Gate, the market gate from Miletus, and much more.  For those interested in more current things, the Film Museum at the Sony Center is bilingual and covers movies from their beginning to today.  (It even has a model of the boat from Werner Herzog’s “Fitzcarraldo”.  {That’s an inside joke.})

There is plenty of shopping.  The Kurfürstendamm, or Ku-damm, was the heart of West Berlin, and it is still very nice, but now there are lots of new stores in Mitte (in old East Berlin).  My favorite store is KaDeWe (Kaufhaus des Westens), in west Berlin near the Ku-damm, especially for its food halls on the sixth floor and all of Steiff stuffed animals on, I believe, the third floor.  On Friedrichstrasse in Mitte (old East Berlin) is a brand new Galeries Lafayette, which I am told is very French.  The flea markets are interesting, and in December there are Christmas markets everywhere.

I am probably not the best person to ask about food since my idea of heaven is bratwurst or currywurst for lunch and wienerschnitzel for dinner, but there are very good restaurants of all types – and all price ranges.  One night we ate in a fantastic Turkish place for dinner for less than 40 euros for four people.  Another night we ate in a Michelin-starred restaurant.

Berlin is full of outdoor activities.  There is the Wannsee, for boating and swimming.  It’s great in the summer.  Also, there are “beaches” in the center of Berlin along the Spree River where sand has been brought in to mid-city spots for summertime R and R.  The Tiergarten in central Berlin is wonderful for walking and resting and picnicking. 

There are several sports teams but soccer, a/k/a football, is the biggest, obviously.  You have two main choices.  Hertha BSC, which is back in the first level of the Bundesliga (the German soccer league), plays in the Olympic Stadium from the 1936 Olympics.  It was renovated for the 2006 World Cup, but it is still full of history.  (Take a look at the listings there of gold medal winners from the 1936 Games, and see Jesse Owens’ name four times.)  On the other side of town, literally, is 1. FC Union, which plays in Bundesliga 2.  Their home is a little stadium that seats 19,000.   Actually, it only “seats” 3,000.  The other 16,000 are “steh platz” or “standing places”.  This is the other side of soccer, and it is a lot of fun.

And finally, what may be the best of Berlin: architecture, especially modern architecture.   As I mentioned, the restored Reichstag is great, as is the restoration work on the museums on Museum Island.  There are also the modern buildings built for the federal government when the capital moved to Berlin from Bonn in the 1990s, as well as the new Hauptbahnhof (main train station).  The 1905 Berlin Cathedral has been restored and is beautiful.  And there are other churches, too, including the 13th-century gothic Marienkirche (Mary’s Church) near the TV Tower.

Of course, there is the TV Tower at Alexanderplatz.  The TV Tower was once a symbol of East Berlin.  Now it is a symbol for all of Berlin.  On a clear day you can get a great view of Berlin from its observation deck.  Alexanderplatz itself was the heart of East Berlin.  The World Clock, another East German symbol, is there.

Our last time in Berlin we went to a 1920s housing development, Hufeisensiedlung, that is an UNESCO World Heritage site.  Post-World War II architecture includes the contrasts between Karl Marx Allee (formerly Stalinallee), East Berlin’s showpiece of Stalinist architecture, and the Hansa Quarter, in a corner of the Tiergarten (in west Berlin), which includes a number of housing designs by leading post-World War II architects.  A boat cruise on the Spree River and the Landwehrkanal gives you a great view of Berlin modern architecture.  And, there is the Bauhaus-Archiv, a museum of the famous Bauhaus School.

One final comment for those of you from (or familiar with) Illinois.  Go to Helmut Jahn’s Sony Center in Potsdamer Platz.  It looks like the Thompson Center in Chicago, except that it is open air, with panels, inside of a full roof, at the top.  In the winter, the snow drifts in for a beautiful effect.

I could go on, but I hope that is enough to convince people that Berlin is great.  And that you should go – now.

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Update (8/26/11 12:01 pm):  For it more on why to go to Berlin, see “Why Go to Berlin?  Here’s Why – Two Last Reasons” here.

Comments

[Tiger Woods]

Pat: Do you get a kick-back from the Berlin Chamber of Commerce? I visited Berlin during the summer of 1966. THE BEER WAS EXCELLENT !!!

[Jennie]

Pat didn't try any beer, but he most certainly paid for a lot of it!