"Berlin 2008" a Berlin Travel Page by iblatt

September 2008: My first time in Berlin.
It's a unique city with a very heavily-loaded past, especially for me as Jew and Israeli, but it is clear that Berlin does not try to hide what happened here during the Third Reich period or to forget it, and there are monuments and reminders in many locations all over the city, which no one can ignore.

There are also the gloomy shadows of the Cold War, epitomized by the Berlin Wall and all the suffering it caused.

Nowadays it is amazing to see how although the shadows of the past are looming large, Berlin has again become a truly great European city, vibrant and lively, rejuvenating itself with cutting-edge 21st century architecture and an ethnically mixed population with lots of young people.

The number of museums in Berlin is unbelievable. It is a city so rich with cultural treasures, from the reconstructed city gate of ancient Babylon and the ancient Egyptian sculpture of Queen Nefertiti, through all the important periods of European civilization, to the Bauhaus period of the 1920s and a stimulating scene of contemporary art.
In spite of monumental museums in every corner, Berlin is far from being a "museum city". It is very much alive and kicking. This unique combination makes Berlin so unique.

Berlin is a celebration of architectural pearls representing so many different architectural styles; there are palaces (Charlottenburg), museum buildings (old and new), office buildings (Potsdamer Platz), embassies (British, Nordic countries, Austrian, Egyptian to name a few), shopping centers (Quartier 205 & 206, Galleries Lafayette), entertainment complexes (Sony center), residential buildings... And the construction is still going on...