"The City of Juxtaposition" a Berlin Travel Page by mydreamquest

So at the end of March 2006, I got on a plane from San Francisco International Airport to Kennedy, New York on my way to Tegel (TGX) International Airport in Berlin via Delta Airlines. They say for International flights in the US, a traveler should get to the airport at least 2 hours in advance. I am learning that it is better to get there an hour before the flight because the huge line of travelers there 2 hours earlier have already checked in so the line is shorter, and since my luggage is the last to be added to the plane, it seems that it is the first piece of luggage to get off the plane! Sneaky me. Maybe I shouldn't be giving this tip to all of you. Maybe you all are just like me.

My inspiration to go to Berlin was pretty much a whimsical visit. The only reason I ever would have wanted to go to Berlin would be because of my love for the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Simon Rattle. I am a lover of Madredeus, a Portuguese Jazz/Folk band who were immortalized in Wim Wender's "Lisbon Stories". When I learned that Madredeus would be playing at the Philharmonie sometime around January 2006, I started considering the idea of traveling to Berlin to see them. In March 2006, after watching Lisbon Stories again (I own a copy of this movie), I ordered concert tickets and made arrangements to visit Berlin.

As I researched about Berlin, I watched Wim Wender's "Wings of Desire" a wonderful movie filmed in West Berlin about 5 years prior to the Reunification of Germany. I also watched Cabaret, The Tunnel, and Coming Out, all movies filmed in Berlin and about Berlin. Two other great movies filmed in Berlin are Run Lola Run and some other comedy about a pro-communist East Berlinner who was in a coma when the reunification happened and awakened to a united Germany. In this movie, the family tried to make feel as if Communist Germany was still Communist Germany. It's a hilarious movie.

When I arrived at Tegel Airport, I was impressed by how efficient things were. With my stop watch, I timed how long it took from when the plane touched ground to when I got my luggage: it took only 20 minutes. Then from the airport bus stop, I timed the X-9 Bus I took to the Zoologisches U-Bahn Station to where my hotel was: 17 minutes! In less than an hour, I was in my hotel room suprised that even at 11am, the Swissotel checked me in early after my long 18 hour journey.

Over the next 6 days, my impression of Berlin was formed primarily from the wealth of modern architecture everywhere. It seems that because of the city having been 90% destroyed by World War II and, after the reunification of Germany, there have been plenty of opportunities for this city to modernize. What is impressive is that many of the buildings that survived World War II still have scars from being half bombed such as the Kaiser Wilhem Cathedral in this night picture of the Charlettonburg District, or scars of bullet marks on walls where towards the end of World War 2, there were Street Battles fought primarily between the Nazi Germans and the Russians.

In my 6 days in Berlin, I spent the bulk of my time in Charlettonburg (K'Damm area), Potsdammerplatz, Unter den Linden, Friederichstrasse, the Tiergarten, and the area between the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag.

This will not be my last visit to Berlin. I see myself returning here again someday. I really enjoyed it here.

I often found myself staring out windows while simultaneously reflecting on the dim reflection from the glass as I stared at things. Every I went in Berlin, there seemed to be a juxtaposition of things. Everywhere you go in Berlin, there seems to be multiple meaning. When you stand on the edge of two bricks that indicate where the "Wall" once was, you can't help but think of the wonder of how Communism was born and more or less, died in this city.

Karl-Marx studied here. Lenin studied here. Katarina Witt's apartment was just in front of the very spot where Hitler, only 30 years prior killed himself as Russian soldiers fought SS in street warfare.

From 1961 to 1989, I would have been shot had I stood here. As I explored East and West Berlin, and as I thought of the inefficiencies of East Berlin when it was under GDR rule, I learned why Communism is such depressing form of Government. The problem is that Communism is theoretically a government ruled by the common worker (the people). The problem is that the Common Worker, when placed in a state of political power, has no vision for making the world of the common worker none more than from that perspective of a Common Worker. The architecture and treatment of people in East Berlin was extremely oppressive in that beauty was suppressed. The abilty to think beyond that of a common ruler was suppressed. Hence, East Berlin; East Germany for that matter, was an abyssmal failure. When I think of 35 years that were a waste of time, I realize with clarity the significance of East Berlin's liberation.

Wherever you go, you see the offspring of youth and history; old and new; modern and classic; destroyed and restored. In many buildings, there are bullet holes that remind us of street combat that happened once upon a time in this glorious city.

My top highlights were:

1. The Interior of the Philharmonie
2. Seeing the portion of the Berlin Wall still up
3. The Judisches Museum (The Jewish Museum)
4. The Imax Center and spectacular modernized architecture around Potsdammerplatz
5. The Panoramic View of Berlin as seen from the Europa Center
6. Walking underneath the Brandenburg Gate
7. Walking thru the Holocaust Monument for the Jews Killed in WWII.
8. Seeing Nefartitti
9. The Pergammom Museum
10. and the visit of the History of Berlin Museum.