Berlin has been on my GOTO list for a long time. Many of the people I meet who have heard a bit about my travels kept asking whether I’ve been to Berlin yet. Having moved to the Netherlands, and having visited quite a few German cities, it was only a matter of time before I would make it to Berlin, and this month I decided that it’s time – before the winter comes and gloomy cold weather takes over I should atleast do a quick weekend getaway to go and get a taste of this city.
I haven’t seen as much as I wanted, and the weather kept going back and further between cold blue skies to miserable cold raining making it very difficult to simply enjoy the city, but I believe I did get an impression of the city. There’s no doubt that there are some impressive things about Berlin and it feels like there is a lot going on, yet I couldn’t escape the nagging complexity of the second world war, holocaust, and cold war reminders in every street corner. These are important, to be sure, and the Germans seem to want to make a point of confronting and acknowledging their dark history, but to me it was – at times – too much. This is also a sensitive topic to me, and so having to confront this wherever I go in Berlin was expected but overwhelming.
I do hope to go back in warmer weather while it’s more lively and see a bit more of the lively trendy Berlin in the future.
In the meanwhile, here are some of my photo impressions of Berlin, from the couple of days wondering around and getting lost around the city…
Location:
More on specific places in Berlin to follow later…
Berlin is a great city – I took a Trabi Car tour around the city – it was a great way to see the city and experience a little bit of Berlin’s automotive history