Berlin- a city under construction

Berlin definitely warrants a post of its own, it was quite an amazing place. S2 and I both really want to go back. We arrived early morning on a Tuesday, and left again Thursday afternoon, so we didn't have much time, and there is a lot to see in Berlin. Decidedly more than two days worth. Frankfurt barely manages one day's worth, IMO, but we were really just using it as a base to head out of town to the regional markets anyway. Berlin, on the other hand, was fascinating.

Berlin train station is an enormous construction of glass and steel, and by far the largest station I 've ever encountered!

I liked this sculpture on our first day in Berlin.

TV tower- an omniprescent sight

What made Berlin so good to visit is hard to say, but if I had to sum it up in one word, I would say it was the vibe. It's a happening sort of place. The arts scene is clearly thriving very well, they're very well known for the clubbing, techno in particular I think, and with a slogan of 'poor but sexy' they've obviously got some egoistic humour to balance out the hard-core party crowd. The history is obviously fascinating, how many cities have been chopped up into fragments and governed by foreigners for a few decades before being reunited and told to get along with things?

  A large menorah stands tall in front of the Brandenburg Tor, together dominating Pariser Platz.

It really is interesting to notice that you can really see which bits used to be West and which were East Berlin. Just a glance at the nearest building is usually a give-away, the architecture is quite visibly very different, and I'm no expert. The whole place feels like a city under construction, there are cranes dominating the skyline in almost every direction, half the streets are pulled up or blocked off for new tram lines or metro stations, and the only empty buildings you see look like they play host to some wicked gigs on a fairly regular basis. Basically Berlin is just pretty damn awesome. 'Nuff said!

A taste of the wall- I found this a rather witty comment on humanity and the walls we create.