Berlin

Christmas Market in Front of Charlottenburg Castle

We were in Berlin last weekend and it was a wonderful educational experience for all of us.  We really weren't sure what to expect from the city we knew relatively little about. Berlin is made up of many city centres and not one main  downtown area. Each city centre has it's own vibe and charm.  Geographically, it is large and very spread out which made it difficult to connect with and we found little quaintness about the city. The wide boulevards lined on both sides with shops and restaurants reminded us of University Avenue.  
         

Brandenburg Gate

We stayed in West Berlin, in the area of  Charlottenburg, close to the high-end main shopping street, Kufurstendamn (think Bloor St. on mega  steroids!!) and decided to take a double-decker, hop-on, hop-off tour of the city to make the most of our short visit.  

Architecturally, we found Berlin to have little by way of classical beauty. After World War II, 75 percent of its buildings were destroyed and the city was buried in rubble requiring it to be quickly rebuilt.  The result is a city with many institutional looking buildings of little architectural interest.


Two areas of interest were the Brandenburg Gate which has become a symbol of a reunified Berlin since the fall of the wall and the wall that divided East and West Berlin.  A 1km canvass of the original wall now stretches through East Berlin painted by over one hundred artists from all over the world.  Its presence stands a memorial of the city's divided and painful past.  

Frohliches Weihnachten!!  (Merry Christmas)

    
We were fortunate to visit during the Christmas season, as the scope and magnitude of the Christmas decorations adorning the city were truly magnificent.  Christmas lights, trees and Santas were in abundance as were the traditional outdoor Christmas markets.  Large outdoor celebrations that begin a month before Christmas and go on late into the night these markets have vendors selling food, hot drinks, Christmas ornaments and gifts . Despite the cold temperatures, -1 to -5 and nightfall starting at 4:30 in the afternoon, they were bustling with people milling about and enjoying the atmosphere.

But the true richness of Berlin is it's history and understanding it a little better after visiting the Berlin wall museum and History of Berlin exhibit, gave us a better appreciation for the city.

A city that has undergone  several  cycles of division and unification, in present day has emerged a modern, world class city. Visiting what remains of the Berlin wall and learning  about some of the unbelievable stories of those who tried to escape to the West was a highlight. This is a city whose citizens have endured many  hardships, including the terror during the Hitler era, the Soviet occupation of the East and 40 years of the Berlin Wall.  After learning the history, I felt  a sense of long awaited justice for Berliners, who with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989,  enjoy all the freedoms that we don't think twice about.  

These beds don't look too comfy!! (Bomb Shelter)

Although the kids couldn't grasp the significance of what we were visiting and a lot went right over their heads, it spurred some interesting questions.  After visiting an underground nuclear bomb shelter in the centre of Berlin that was constructed during the Cold War, they  wondered  whether we would ever need to use a bomb shelter in Canada. At least they have  some sense of how privileged we are to live in such a peaceful country.  Although we weren't in awe of Berlin in the same way that were with London or Paris, there was a certain satisfaction in experiencing a city that has paid its dues and whose recognition as a strong world class city has been a long time coming.

The Berlin Wall

Nancy