This is part 4 of 16 of a journey through my home country: Germany.

I invite everyone to take a closer look at what I call home. I will show you sides of today-Germany you didn't know of - especially when you are not German.
A lot of "foreigners" (actually I don't really like this word) connect Germany with beer, cars, lederhosen and sauerkraut. I admit these are parts of Germany and important ones too (especially the beer and the cars), but they by far are not everything!

This article serie will show you the 16 countries of Germany, some quite similar to each other, some totally different. Sure, this serie will mainly feature photography, but perhaps I will link to other styles of art like modern German music or so.

Our journey leads us through (click the ones in italic to see that article):

_{Bavaria
Saxony
Brandenburg
Berlin
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Schleswig-Holstein
Hamburg
Lower Saxony
Saxony-Anhalt
Thuringia
Hesse
Baden-Wuerttemberg
Rhineland-Palatinate
Saarland
North Rhine-Westphalia
Bremen}

Please, come and see...

Part 4 of 16 - Berlin

After having written about Brandenburg last week, let's come to a state that is completely surrounded by Brandenburg: Berlin.
This state is just one city - the city! Berlin is our capital and with about 3.45 million inhabitants, it's by far Germany's biggest city. 3.45 million is almost twice the size of the second-ranking town of Hamburg (about which I'll write in 3 weeks). 3.45 may appear quite tiny to some of you - but believe me, it's enough! We Germans consider our federalism holy and most of us are happy that our capital is not such a rampant monster other capitals are. Berlin is good for federal politics, for representation, for culture and partys, but overall, Germans are happy that the influence of Berlin in the whole republic is rather limited. So, "Berlin is far away" is a relatively common saying to either pronounce the independence from it's political or cultural influence - or to reveal someone's lack of culture, his bigotry or backwardness.

Well yes, what an introduction, eh?!
Let me tell you that Berlin for sure is one of the coolest and most impressive cities of the western world - even if it lacks a prestigious skyline that is thought to be modern, today. Berlin is postmodern!
But to finally start with the pictures, let's chose something everyone will know - so that it's clear what city we're talking about: the Brandenburg Gate.

It's more than 200 years old and once really was a gate to enter the city. Now, it's located a little west of the city center at the Pariser Platz, where you can find several embassys (especially of the USA, France & GB) and the Hotel Adlon, where Michael Jackson dangled his son from a balcony.
The Quadriga on top of the gate is not a symbol of victory, but of peace. Yet, it was misused in history several times - as the whole gate and the plaza were. So, the gate has become a well known symbol for Napoleon's capture of the city, of nazi propaganda, the destruction of Berlin after WWII, for the Berlin Wall and Reagan's speech in front of it ("Tear down that wall, Mr. Gorbachev!"), as much as for the German reunification and the 2006 soccer world cup.

You see, the Brandenburg Gate and the Pariser Platz are full of history, as the whole city is. You can find signs of history everywhere in Berlin, just alongside modern archtitecture. Take the Wall for example, that divided the city for almost 30 years. Whilst coming close to the Wall from the eastern side could cause an immediate arrest or even death through a bullet, the western side was a coloured artwork - and it still is today:

These were the times when Berlin was the supposed host of the big endgame. Everyone knew the place in which hell would break loose: the streets of Berlin, where US and Sovjet tanks were divided through nothing but a bar and 5m of thin air: Checkpoint Charlie.

Today, Checkpoint Charlie is a tourist attraction and a symbol of remembrance. Berlin is full of such symbols: Some are big and spectacular, some are small and hidden. Some remember of victories, others of the Holocaust or war victims. They all are part of the city's face.
Let me introduce you to some - and to their meaning!

The Siegessäule,
or "Gold Else" where Obama held his speech in 2008, was once erected to remember the Prussian victory in the Danish-Prussian War. Yet, in the 7 years it took to design and build it, Prussia also defeated Austria and France and the splitted German kingdoms had united to the German Empire, so it remembers these unification wars.
Today, it has become a symbol of the Loveparade, even if the parade itself no longer takes place in Berlin.

The Holocaust Memorial,
located in the very center of the city, close to the Brandenburg Gate and the political district of the town, is designed to make it's visitors feel lost, small and uneasy.
It's relatively new and caused a lot of trouble during it's construction process - but today it is widely accepted by residents, tourists and most important: victims.

The Gedächtniskirche,
a church on the Kurfürstendamm that was bombed in WWII. After the war, the decision was made to not tear this building down but to let it be a warning sign.

The Neue Wache (New Guard House)
is a war memorial that once served as a real guard house. It's not so very well known, especially to foreign tourists. It remembers the victims of war and tyranny. As you can see, it is a very minimalistic memorial.

The Fernsehturm
is a television tower that dominates the view over Berlin. It is an East German building, so this domination was planned, when it was build in the late 1960s.

The Berlin Cathedral
is a Cathedral that has never really been a cathedral. Sounds funny? Read the wiki-link!
It's an impressive building riparian to the Spree that flows through Berlin.

The Museum Island,
in the Spree, that hosts 4 big and well known museums, among which one exhibits the world famous bust of Nefertiti.

This was just a quick collection of the sightseeing attractions of Berlin. There are a lot more and I could fill 16 whole journals with nothing else but the tourist attractions of Berlin. But let's now go on with our regular tour...

As I said, Berlin is the capital of Germany. When I grew up, Germany (even the reunited Germany) had two capitals: Berlin and the political capital Bonn. Today, Berlin can be seen as the real capital of Germany and it has a quite impressive political district, with the Kanzleramt, the Reichstag and lots of ministrys.

As you can see on the lower pics (that were made inside the Reichstag), Berlin is a city very open to modern arcitecture. Besides other places, the Potsdamer Platz or the new Central Station are very good examples for this, too:

Phew people... I could write 10 journals of this size about Berlin. I think I'll stop here. I don't want to give you the overload. There is so much left to show, so many untold stories, so many great pictures - but that's Berlin!
The last pictures in this article are to prove that Berlin is not only bricks, glas and concrete: pictures from the Tiergarten and other lovely places around the city...

Before I conclude this article, let me say some words about the people living in this city:
It is said that, in Berlin, the people are kind of rude, direct and unfriendly. The socalled "Berliner Schnauze". They are direct, that's right. Their accent may sound rather rude. They are very short-spoken, but the people of Berlin are not unfriendly! Sometimes, one has to get used to their behaviour (to their German behaviour AND their Berlin'ish behaviour) but after that, you'll have a nice time with the people of Berlin.
Berlin is a very creative, artistic and unconventional city - that is mostly because it is such a poor city. Berlin is almost bancrupt, but that attracts people: Poor, yet sexy! Berlin has several universities, it has very low real estate prices, it's culturally rich and has an attractive art and party scene (sorry I did not show you pics of the party scene, but THAT is something you have to go see yourself).
All this makes the city a magnet for young, individualistic people from all over the world...

Now, this was only a very, very short trip through Berlin and I know I missed a lot (if not almost everything). But this is supposed to be a short, informative journal and not a travel guide. I hope you like the pictures - if you do, please give the artists a visit and/or a fav, they really deserve it.

If you have any questions about this station of our trip or Germany as a whole: please ask, I'll try to answer as quick as possible.
And if you have any suggestions about how to make this trip any better, please don't hesitate to write me, either.

Artists featured in this article

Looking forward for your comments - and the next station of this trip...
Malte