Berlin: the beginning

I went to Berlin.


I had no notion of what to expect of the new capital of unified Germany.  Upon first glance, it seemed just like "home" (Vienna):  same language, same people, same stores, same coffee.  However, upon further inspection, there was way more under the surface that left me intrigued.

I am not a "Hipster" (by definition, one who follows the latest trends while appearing to not really care about said trends and possibly self-denying the label but - who for all practical purposes - create a trend by falling into the "Hipster" category.  Whew!).   I do, however, enjoy the old, vintage, good ol' days, days of old, days of yore that seem to somehow capture the imaginations of the "Hipster" movement.

This would capsulate my experience of Berlin.  Everywhere in this modern city was evidence of the old.  The old being a communist handcuff on a portion of the city, a wall that divided much more than land mass and a sprinkling of Jewish imprints on a city that eradicated over 50,000 of them during WW2.

In the photo below, this cathedral stands as a living testament of the effects of war.  The steeple and back side of the sanctuary were destroyed by a bomb.  Reconstruction was not an option for re builders of modern Berlin.  Instead, they chose to build a new sanctuary of cubist style right next to the original Gothic structure.  The two live side by side.  The old.  The new.  Incidentally, this is the site of the 2016 Christmas Market tragedy where a large truck ransacked visitors attending a Christmas Market killing 12 people in a terrorist attack.



There is a German word, Stimung, that means "mood".  I love the way it sounds in German and have decided that from here until whenever, I will use the word Stimung to capture certain moods.  Berlin, near Check Point Charlie, certainly had it's own Stimung.  I was expecting to find a location similar to what Tom Hanks experienced in A Bridge of Spies but sadly, it's a very understated little white shack nestled in between restaurants and museum gift shops.


Directly across the former check-point allowing entrance between East and West Berlin lays evidence of the infamous Wall.


In fact, all around the city, these brightly colored pipes denote the location of the original Wall separating Berlin into two very different cities.




You can certainly tell the dividing lines between the two former districts.  West with it's modern capitalism and East with it's cubism and concrete.





I'm still fascinated by this city.  Being ill informed on much of it's history, I came home devouring every documentary I could about Berlin.  Of course, being drawn to stories, and how those stories have effected people who lived through them, I'm curious to know more:  more about those who lived through occupation and with a wall, more to know about the Jews who choose to make Berlin home today after its infamous history.  I'm intrigued.  

There will be more about Berlin to come out of this head.  These are primary reflection that just needed to surface.  Stayed tuned for more.  I see three more installments coming:
1.  the reason I went to Berlin in the first place
2.  reflections of the old and new living side by side
3.  the power of images

Loving Berlin,
Christina

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