Berlin :: Germany
The bit before Love Parade.
Places: Helsinki, Rostock & Berlin
Coolest thing I did: Went drinking in a converted squat where the beers were 1 euro a pop and there was free pool and table soccer.
Coolest thing I didn´t know: The British weren't the only archelogical gold diggers of the early 1900s. The Germans have the other half of Greece and Mesopotamia that isn't in the British Museum.
I have to warn you at this point, I may start on like a gushinig school girl at this point, but man, I do so love this city.
Thanks to the always sharp forethought of Joerg in Muenster, I'm being put up and shown the better parts of the city by his (and now my) friend Mike. After a 40 odd hour train, bus, ferry, bus and train ride from St Petes to Berlin, he was more than welcoming to a complete stranger from some remote island in the South Pacific. As a rickshaw driver by trade he's given me a ride around town to show me the things I should be looking at, including the hotel where I was supposed to show up dressed like Robbie Williams so the girls waiting outside would mob me. This, however, didn't come off without a hitch.
Going out with him and his people is also a different experience. Much of what was close to the Eastern side of the Wall was almost immediately taken over by West Berliner squatters, as it was lying dormant due to issues with East Germany having no money. Thanks also to laws that favour squatters over landlords, it was also quite hard to throw these people out. These areas, in the past decade or so, have become increasingly more gentrified, letting outsiders like me have a peek into the cheap bars and pubs hidden behind the grafitti tagged doorways. There is also an outdoor art gallery (The East Side Gallery) located inside (and on) the largest remaining section of the Wall nearby. They are currently showing an excellent display of sand sculpture. I now really, really want to know how they keep the things from falling appart or washing away in the rain.
I spoke alot about the history of Berlin last time, so I won't repeat it here. I've been far more interested in the after effects of the last century on this place, rather than the causes.
The Norman-Foster-does-the-19th-century restyling of the Reichstag building has to rate as one of the best symbols of the new Berlin and of architecture as art. You can only go up to the new glass dome, but this is one of hte highlights of the city. As you walk up the twin helix ramps that wind to the top of the dome itself, you can watch yourself reflected in the multiple, mirrored surfaces lining what can only be described as the apple core that holds the thing up. The fact that the original outer walls have been retained despite the high tech interior only adds to the building's charm. If they can churn out more like this, instead of the new concrete and glass monstrosities next door, the new face of the city will be far more attractive.
Due to it's freak postition between the two Berlin's, Potsdamer Platz was left untouched since the Second World War. This was one of the first places to get massive construction in the 90s, and I'm quite impressed by the results. The highrise of the Sony, Daimler and DB buildings are awe inspiring, and laymen like me can only guess at how such structures of glass and steel cables are made to not topple over. I was also willing to waste quite a bit of time playing with Sonys latest toys in the multi-story Style shop. All, all those shiny things I can't quite afford.
The art galleries here are a welcome change from the over whelming size of those you'd find in Paris or Florence. About an hour and a halfs worth of 13th to 18th century masterpieces, without the millions of unknown (to me at least) pieces you'd have to trudge past to see them elsewhere. A few Michelangelos, some Rubens and a fist full of Rembrants. Perfect. Lourve, take note. The Pergaomon Museum, my other big cultural foray, is testemant to the level of archelogical theivery Europe embarked upon during the 19th century. Entire buildings excavated from Pergamon in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) and large sections of Babylon (including the entire Ishtar gate) are all on display in the middle of Berlin. Whilst I don't doubt the scholarship and knowledge these finds have given us, or that the Ottoman Empire probably wasn't the best guardian of the culture of their subjects, but the level of imperial arrogance shown by relocating so much of this stuff to Europe would give George Bush pause. I think it's probably time that Elgin lost his marbles, possibly back in Greece where they belong.
Ok, rant over.
I mentioned in Estonia that the urban ruins from the Soviet era were quite something else, but Berlin takes this up another notch. Artists have taken over quite a bit of the bombed out ruins of WW2 that neither side had the money to fix. Besides the Wall itself, the most impressive is the way the last remaining wall of a department store has been turned into a gallery/cafe/bar right in the middle of town. Whilst it lacks the edge of some of the up and coming squats in the former East, the large scale (and mostly illegal) reconstruction of the last open wall shows just what's possible if you put your mind to it. It's the contrast between these places and the inhuman glass faces of Potsdamer Platz that gives this place it's unqiueness.
Whilst I feel the 90s were probably the time to watch vast changes overtake this once divided city, it's still and exciting place to be. You can see the natural progression as former derilict sections move to squats, bohemia, trendiness, yuppification and finally staleness before your eyes. As that unnatural barrier came down, both halves of the city have moved very rapidly to reclaim each other, and it's that bit closest to the edge that's more interesting. Give it another decade and this may well have changed.
So, I've been going pretty easy since I got here, having alot of sleep (very necessary after you lunatics punished me so much in Russia! Yes, you know who you are), staying off the beers and eating vegetables and things. I have a feeling I'm going to need all the rest I can get before this place turns into a lunatic asylum tomorrow. For what? Just this. See you on the flipside.