S-Bahn entrance in front of the facade of the former Anhalter Bahnhof. Berlin, the always surprising capital of Germany, has been my home now for a little over a month, As the title of this posting states, I'm discovering it to be a city of many personalities with a diversity of urban scenery unrivaled by any city I know.
Berlin encompasses quaint villages, rebuilt central zones with cutting-edge modern architecture, 19th century bourgeois districts, vast areas of worker and middle-class apartments from the same period, hundreds of kilometers of waterfront along rivers, canals and lakes, deep forests, countless mysteriously abandoned buildings, forlorn (but inspiring) pre-war industrial zones, and of course in the old east, the socialist architecture of the GDR. This is a city impossible to characterize with a few simple phrases.
Most people are familiar with famous Berlin landmarks such as the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag and the Berlin Wall. I want to highlight some discoveries I've made that show the unique character of this city, and will start in this first posting with two elements that I find particularly fascinating: the water that binds this city together and the abandoned buildings that are interspersed throughout the cityscape.
Berlin encompasses quaint villages, rebuilt central zones with cutting-edge modern architecture, 19th century bourgeois districts, vast areas of worker and middle-class apartments from the same period, hundreds of kilometers of waterfront along rivers, canals and lakes, deep forests, countless mysteriously abandoned buildings, forlorn (but inspiring) pre-war industrial zones, and of course in the old east, the socialist architecture of the GDR. This is a city impossible to characterize with a few simple phrases.
Most people are familiar with famous Berlin landmarks such as the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag and the Berlin Wall. I want to highlight some discoveries I've made that show the unique character of this city, and will start in this first posting with two elements that I find particularly fascinating: the water that binds this city together and the abandoned buildings that are interspersed throughout the cityscape.
A scene along the park-lined Spree River in the heart of Berlin. Berlin is a city where it's hard to get away from the water. In any direction you go (and often without moving in this rainy city) before long you will see water. The hundreds of bridges crossing its many canals or rivers are never far away. I think this may be one of the lesser known facts about this city of water. In total, there are 3 rivers, 11 canals and 24 lakes in Berlin. The Spree River runs through the center of the city and along most of its length lie green parks that are somehow designed to provide small zones of intimacy and seclusion. The string of parkland along the river is connected with well-maintained bicycle paths and I've ridden along most of its length.
The Plötzensee, where I spent part of last Sunday swimming. Last Sunday I discovered the wonder of Berlin's lakes. My friend Yasuko (an artist I know from my time in New York) was having a birthday picnic in Goethe Park in the Wedding neighborhood north of the center. My friend Suh and I rode our bicycles to the park all the way from Neukölln (where I live), which took us an hour and a half. As we neared Goethe Park, we spotted a beautiful lake with a beach and later decided with a few others to go back and have a swim. The water was a perfect temperature and seemed very clear and clean. The beach charges an entrance fee of 4 euros, but we discovered that many people got into the generally fenced-in lake from a terrace along the edge on the other side of the lake. When we went there, we encountered a boisterous, but friendly, group of middle-aged Russian men with a lot of beer on hand. They had all been swimming, too.
Only upon returning home and reading about the lake (Plötzensee) did I learn that it was adjacent to a rather notorious Nazi prison. The next time I go I will look for the Memorial Center, which somehow we missed. It's just one of the constant reminders of how heavily history weighs on this city.
The waterfront in Berlin offers views which seem to be from totally different worlds. On the bottom left is a canal in a quiet spot in Köpenick (in the southeastern corner of Berlin), in the middle the Köpenick Castle along the Dahme River, and on the right a sculpture in the Spree called the Molecule Man by the American artist Jonathan Borofsky, If you look closely across the river behind the sculpture, you can see a remaining segment of the Berlin Wall (click on the pictures to enlarge).
Only upon returning home and reading about the lake (Plötzensee) did I learn that it was adjacent to a rather notorious Nazi prison. The next time I go I will look for the Memorial Center, which somehow we missed. It's just one of the constant reminders of how heavily history weighs on this city.
The waterfront in Berlin offers views which seem to be from totally different worlds. On the bottom left is a canal in a quiet spot in Köpenick (in the southeastern corner of Berlin), in the middle the Köpenick Castle along the Dahme River, and on the right a sculpture in the Spree called the Molecule Man by the American artist Jonathan Borofsky, If you look closely across the river behind the sculpture, you can see a remaining segment of the Berlin Wall (click on the pictures to enlarge).
Eierhäuschen Almost as hard to avoid as water in Berlin are the thousands of abandoned buildings (or ruins of buildings) that pop up in rather surprising places. All have a history and all seem to be fairly well documented on German websites that specialize in this sort of thing. While riding my bicycle south along the Spree yesterday, I came across this rather attractive structure, which turns out to be the old riverside restaurant Eierhäuschen (Eggs Cottage) which was a favorite getaway for Berliners before the war and for east Berliners until the fall of the Wall. Apparently the building was also used as a backdrop by East German television for some programs. Due to legal issues, the site cannot yet be rehabilitated and used.
Below is a sampling of abandoned buildings I saw on the same bike ride yesterday - all on what was previously the east side of Berlin. The first is what seems to be an abandoned home. My friend Simon and I saw a fox there. When it spotted us it just froze and stared at us for a few minutes, at quite close range, before running back into the house, where it must live. The second is a complex of buildings that I think were part of a factory. Finally, on the right is an old building hidden in trees behind barbed wire. There is more than one website devoted to buildings like this in Berlin. You can check them out here: http://www.modernruins.de/ or http://vergessene-orte.blogspot.de/
Below is a sampling of abandoned buildings I saw on the same bike ride yesterday - all on what was previously the east side of Berlin. The first is what seems to be an abandoned home. My friend Simon and I saw a fox there. When it spotted us it just froze and stared at us for a few minutes, at quite close range, before running back into the house, where it must live. The second is a complex of buildings that I think were part of a factory. Finally, on the right is an old building hidden in trees behind barbed wire. There is more than one website devoted to buildings like this in Berlin. You can check them out here: http://www.modernruins.de/ or http://vergessene-orte.blogspot.de/
A very typical border between a street and sidewalk here. In closing my first blog entry on Berlin, I want to highlight a striking aspect of the urban infrastructure here. This is the carefully planned and built surface of the city - infrastructure designed and generally maintained with a level of care unusual in most of the world.
I should mention, before I get started, that although I'm very impressed with what's on display in Berlin, Germans seem to typically view Berlin as a bit of a mess with relatively poorly maintained infrastructure. The city is living, to some degree, on the good design and construction from the past. However, for an American used to cities covered with artlessly poured cement or hastily spread asphalt, there is a lot to impress.
I should mention, before I get started, that although I'm very impressed with what's on display in Berlin, Germans seem to typically view Berlin as a bit of a mess with relatively poorly maintained infrastructure. The city is living, to some degree, on the good design and construction from the past. However, for an American used to cities covered with artlessly poured cement or hastily spread asphalt, there is a lot to impress.
A walkway in Tiergarten, the major park in the center of the city. The pavements that make up the streets, sidewalks and bicycle paths in Berlin are almost never constructed of seamless concrete or asphalt, The use of those materials is spared for high-speed roads. Due to the use of a variety of paving stones, Berlin not only has beautiful sidewalks, but sidewalks that integrate very well with the green world around them. And Berlin is an incredibly green city.
The spaces between the paving stones or bricks allow for water to pass through to the soil below, not only helping to provide water for the trees and plants in the surroundings, but also decreasing the amount of storm runoff that occurs with rain. The city more naturally absorbs water with built surfaces like these.
In longer established sidewalks, it's quite normal to see a variety of plants living in the cracks between stones and bricks. Again, the streets and sidewalks do not exclude and dismiss nature...they are somehow a part of it. It's interesting to note that most of these environmentally 'advanced' designs date from centuries ago, The granite paving stones used in Berlin's streets almost certainly all date from before the war (they would be simply too expensive to produce today, I imagine). .
Below is a sampling of sidewalk and street surfaces.
The spaces between the paving stones or bricks allow for water to pass through to the soil below, not only helping to provide water for the trees and plants in the surroundings, but also decreasing the amount of storm runoff that occurs with rain. The city more naturally absorbs water with built surfaces like these.
In longer established sidewalks, it's quite normal to see a variety of plants living in the cracks between stones and bricks. Again, the streets and sidewalks do not exclude and dismiss nature...they are somehow a part of it. It's interesting to note that most of these environmentally 'advanced' designs date from centuries ago, The granite paving stones used in Berlin's streets almost certainly all date from before the war (they would be simply too expensive to produce today, I imagine). .
Below is a sampling of sidewalk and street surfaces.
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