Botanical Gardens
Berlin surprised me in many ways – despite having lived in Frankfurt for a while and being married to a German (gasp!), this city has many things I did not expect. Here goes!
- Berlin is so green! I was amazed by the sheer amount of parks and gardens. Even downtown, right next to the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag, there is a huge park (Tiergarten) where you can relax from the hectic city life..
A fox in the Tierpark 
Tierpark, view from the Victory Column
Treptower Park 
Lake in Treptower Park
Park “Gardens of the World”
Explosion of colour at Britzer Gardens 
More colour at Britzer Gardens
2. Berliners are also “green” in the sense that they love to bike. It is a fairly flat city and has bike paths everywhere. At our local grocery store most people either walk or take their bike to do the shopping. Most of the time, there are between 50 – 100 bikes parked in front of the store.
Morning commute 
Small commuters 
Combination of bike and public transportation 
Shopping by bike 
Bikes in front of the grocery store
Transporting kids 
Loading groceries in the bike trailer 
On the way to school 
Family outing
3. German bread! I had forgotten how great German bread is and how the Germans love it. In our street we have the oldest bakery of Berlin, founded in 1906. It about 70 meters from another bakery. This is what happens on Saturday morning around 9am: a long line forms in front of the popular 1906 bakery (entrance where blue arrow is), while everyone ignores the other bakery on their right. I have tried bread from both bakeries and find them equally good – but then I am not a German bread expert.
Carbs galore 
Beautiful displays
4. Culture! Okay, I was expecting this but I was still amazed at the broad spectrum of events and exhibitions. We went to a Jazz event, an openair cinema, a classic concert at the famous “Waldbühne” (this is an 1936 open air venue in a forest area) and a spectacular Philharmonic concert at the Brandenburger Gate to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Also, the Pergamom Museum attracted huge crowds – it has finally partially opened after 5 years of renovation work, and it was definitely worth a visit.
A cozy Jazz evening 
Open air cinema in a local park
Berlin Philharmonica playing/singing Beethoven’s 9th in front of the Brandenburg Gate
Classic concert at the Berlin Waldbühne
Urban Nation Graffiti Museum 
Helmut Newton Museum
Pergamom Museum with the Ishtar Gates of Babylon
5. You have to love the cute little traffic light man – it is a relict from East Germany and it makes me happy they kept it after the Wall fell in 1989. The Berliners fondly call it their “Ampelmann”.
6. Throughout the city, there are small commemorative plaques on the ground where Jews used to live who were deported to concentration camps. There are three small plaques right outside the front door of our building: a family of three used to live here, the parents and their 18-year old daughter were deported in March 1943 to Auschwitz. It’s a chilling reminder that this friendly neighbourhood was quite a different place some 80ish years ago.
Berlin is definitely a fascinating place. The Berliners can be proud of their city and how they have come to terms with their turbulent history. We loved our month here. Next stop: back to Zurich.
At Checkpoint Charlie