Berlin

Berlin is way too big of a city. I've traveled its streets for 3 days, and I still can't comprehend its enormity. There's so much going on here that it's overwhelming. It's remarkable what the city is like today when you realize that this all developed within the past few years. Since the world wars, Berlin has been bankrupt and only after the Berlin wall fell less than 20 years ago has stuff really started to pop up.

One of the things I like about Berlin is that stuff is open late. Usually in european cities everything closes at 5, maybe 6 at the latest. But in Berlin they stay open to 9 or 10. Even the Reichstag, the seat of German government stays open for visitors until midnight! So for the sheer novelty of it, I went as late as I could go. There was still a line to get in, and it was difficult to estimate if I'd make it in before they close since they admit groups of people at a time. When the call for last group went out, everyone surged forward, squeezing against the walls, and I just barely made it in. Inside, you walk around a transparent dome directly overhead the government chambers. There are footwalks that circle the dome and mirrors placed in a column in the center so that anywhere you are in the dome, you can look down upon the government officials. Or perhaps more importantly, throughout the entire time they are working, they can look up and see the public, and remember who is really in charge.

On the museum front they have quite a few unique offerings that I'm glad I didn't miss. The Pergamom museum has the famous Altar of Zeus, which is a huge carved relief that circles a large auditorium. It also has the Ishtar gate of Babylon and the Roman market gate of Miletus. An egyptian museum had mummies and a bust of Nefertiti and a jewish museum had some interesting modern art displays like a sensory deprivation chamber and a floor filled with solid metal frowny faces. There were also the repetitious museums, another incarnation of the Guggenheim, another painting and sculpture gallery and so on.

Quite a few of Berlin's sights center around the Berlin wall, or what used to be there. Checkpoint Charlie, was the last checkpoint of the wall to fall, and for some reason they commemorate it. There are quite a few interesting stories about people escaping from East Berlin to West by ingenious methods including cons, dressing as a soldier, driving a car low enough to pass under the barrier, and a hot air balloon. There was also a section of the wall still remaining nearby, but it is not a particularly impressive wall, just a concrete slab barely a couple of inches thick.

On my last day, I got pretty tired of going to museums, and I saw that the Berlin zoo claims to have the largest number of species in the world. I feel kind of guilty since I've been to many zoos and maybe I should take the time to go see things that are only in Berlin, but walking by it I saw that it was practically empty and reasonably priced. While lacking the acreage of most zoos, they did have quite a few animals and the facility seemed very much like San Diego Zoo in terms of how the habitats are designed and what animals they have. Another thing they share is they take advantage of their signature baby bear. Whereas San Diego has the panda cub, Berlin has Knut, the baby polar bear.

I like Berlin, but the size of it is just overwhelming. It's pretty hard to get from place to place, even with the public transport system. It's expensive, infrequent, complicated, and it usually takes multiple transfers to get to where you want to go. Even though there were many things I didn't get to see, I still got tired of it and was happy to leave for Brussels.