Berlin, the Beautiful

Germany's liveliest city and one of the most fascinating capitals in the world. There is no other place where art and culture, museums and theatres, entertainment and nightlife are more diverse and exciting than on the banks of the Spree River. Formerly two separate cities until November 9th, 1989, Berlin became one with the fall of the Wall. Once reunified, it quickly developed into a vibrant and energetic cosmopolitan city.

These days, the east side looks more vibrant than the west side, with many a new building project on Potsdamer Platz -- a modern commercial and entertainment center covering an area of 6,700 square kilometers. Global brand leaders have their office buildings here, including Sony and Daimler-Benz. Cultural venues, residential condominiums, restaurants, and a multi-story shopping mall have all set up shop here. In the 1920s, Potsdamer Platz was Europe's busiest square, boasting the first automatic traffic lights in the world, once built to police the sixty unruly vehicles traveling around the city at breakneck speeds of 30km per hour! During World War II, this social hub was razed to the ground. Untouched for almost 50 years, the empty space shifted back into the centre of Berlin when the Wall came down. During the 1990s, Potsdamer Platz became Europe's largest building site with about 17 billion euros invested to create the present square.

Must-see in Berlin:
· Brandenburger Tor and Pariser Platz, the former being Berlin’s most photographed sight and the latter exuding elegance and style with its many embassy buildings.
· Reichstag -- no other building is a more potent symbol of Germany’s history than the Reichstag, with its egg-shaped cupola designed by Sir Norman Foster.
· The tree-lined Unter den Linden boulevard in the eastern part of the city with many a historic building including the Humboldt University.
· Be sure to take a visit to the Pergamonmuseum -- a mecca for those interested in things Greek. And the Kulturforum complex of museums guarantees a unique cultural experience.
· Kurfürstendamm is a hustling and bustling shopping avenue with new restaurants and stylish boutiques -- this is where you will find my life force, Starbucks!

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The best known of Berlin’s symbols, the Brandenburg Gate stands proudly in the middle of Pariser Platz, asserting itself against the hyper-modern embassy buildings that now surround it. Formerly, one of 8 gates of the city, this western gate was the one leading to Brandenburg. Crowned by its triumphant Quadriga sculpture, the famous Gate has long been a focal point in Berlin’s history: rulers and statesmen, military parades and demonstrations – all have felt compelled to march through the Brandenburger Tor. Since its restoration in 2002, Berlin’s symbol is now lit up more brightly than ever before. Built by Carl G. Langhans in 1788-91 and modeled on the temple porticos of ancient Athens, the Gate has, since the 19th century, been the backdrop for many events in the city’s turbulent history. The Quadriga standing 6m above the Gate was created in 1794 by Johann Gottfried Schadow as a symbol of peace. Schadow used his niece as the model for the laurel-crowned goddess of peace in the chariot. In 1806, Napoleon had the Quadriga removed form the gate and transported to Paris. It was not returned to its original position until August 14, 1814. From 1945 to 1989, the Gate and the Wall were terrible monuments to Germany’s division. Today, however, movement between East and West is once again unhindered.

One of the most famous hotels in Berlin is the Hotel Adlon Berlin, completed in 1997, it is favoured by visiting dignitaries. Berlin’s most elegant hotel is a reconstruction of the original Hotel Adlon. This legendary hotel, destroyed in World War II, was host to the rich and famous, including Greta Garbo, Thomas Mann and Charlie Chaplin.

The last gap in the line of buildings around Pariser Platz will be closed by 2005. A dispute between the embassy and the Berlin Senate delayed building for several years: an entire street was to be moved to satisfy the USA’s security requirements. But in the end, the historical street stayed where it was.

One of the best spots for a coffee break on Pariser Platz is Café Meyerbeer, in the Palais am Pariser Platz. Don’t miss its great cake display. The Palais am Pariser Platz was built by Bernhard Winking, a successful modern interpretation of Neo-Classical architecture, is slightly hidden to the north of the Brandenburger Tor. It is worth venturing inside where you will find a café, a restaurant and a souvenir shop around a pleasantly shaded courtyard.

Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche is one of Berlin’s most haunting symbols; the tower of the original church –- destroyed during World War II –- stands in the centre of Breitscheidplatz, serving both as a memorial and reminder of the terrors of war. The ruins of this old church near the zoo railway station have been preserved as a reminder of the senseless destruction that did not even spare houses of God. Professor Egon Eiermann, the architect entrusted with the project, combined the ruins of the spire with bold modern church architecture, preserving a number of surviving mosaics. His design was the subject of long controversy.

Only the tower of the memorial church survived the destruction of 1943, which razed the city to the ground. Today only 63m high, it once rose to 113m. The hole in the tower’s roof has a sharply ragged edge which is why the tower was nicknamed "hollow tooth" by the Berliners. The Neo-Romanesque church was given the name of Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in 1189, to honour Wilhelm I. Next to it, Eiermann erected a new church in 1957-63 where religious services are now conducted.

On the interior, one of the mosaics that has been preserved depicts Emperor Heinrich I on his throne, with imperial orb and sceptre. Originally decorated throughout with scenes from German imperial history, the church interior was meant to place the Hohenzollerns within this tradition and adorns the vestibules of the church ruins. It depicts Emperor Wilhelm I, together with Queen Luise of Prussia and her entourage.

A small crucifix, forged from old nails that were found in the ruins of the Coventry Cathedral, commemorates the bombings of Coventry, England, by the German Luftwaffe in 1940. There is another cross, a gift from the Russian Orthodox bishops of Volokolomsk and Yuruyev, given in memory of victims of Nazism.

The new hexagonal bell tower rises 53m high next to the tower ruins, on the site of the old church’s main nave. The golden figure of Christ created by Karl Hemmeter is suspended above the modern main altar in the new church. In the evening light, the windows behind the altar glow an overwhelming dark blue. The tower bears a clock based on a Classical design, with Roman numerals. At night, it is lit in blue by modern light, emitting diodes to match the lighting inside the new church.

After years of decline, the Kurfürstendamm, or Ku’damm for short, has once again become a fashionable hot spot. Breathtaking architecture, elegant boutiques, and a lively scene with street artists around Breitscheidplatz have made this shopping boulevard Berlin’s most attractive, and at 3.8km, its longest avenue for strolling.

Ku’damm, the nerve center of a city of nearly 4 million, is full of people and bustling with life round the clock. Berlin’s most posh shops alternate with restaurants; and between the endless streams of people of all races, the street entertainers playing for a few coins. Once the riding path of the Electors near their royal residence, its present popularity dates back to the ‘20s, but it only really became the center of the city after the Wall was built.

Artists, Berliners, and visitors congregate around J. Schmettan’s marble globe fountain. Known fondly by locals as Wasserklops, Water Meatball, this huge spherical fountain in front of the Europa Center on Breitscheidplatz is the heart of the city. It was once the site of the Romanisches Café, where brilliant chess-player Emanuel Lasker played and Albert Einstein chatted with ladies. The Reich’s foreign secretary Gustav Stresemann lived in a fine city residence next door. The quarter around the zoological gardens was destroyed during the air raids over the Reich’s capital. After the war a wrestling arena in a marquee was established here. In 1965, it was superseded by the Europa Center; at the time it was the biggest complex of its kind anywhere, marking the beginning of a new generation of office, shopping, and leisure and communication center. The oldest shopping center in West Berlin, originally opened in 1962, is still worth a visit. You will find shops and restaurants as well as the tourist information center. Today, it is a mecca for sightseeing, shopping, and entertainment, with a firm place in tour programmes. In addition to the rows of shops, the Center also houses the noble Hotel Palace, the brassy Stachelschweine (porcupines) cabaret theatre in the basement, peer parlours, exotic restaurants, and the famous water clock.

In 1987, numerous sculptors created monumental works to mark the celebration of Berlin’s 750th anniversary. This work in the Tauentzienstrasse by the man-and-wife team of Martin Matschinsky and Brigitte Denninghoff is meant to express the torn nature of the two halves of the city. Even seen from today’s new perspective, it has still lost none of its original fascination. Together with the Memorial Church in the background, it is a popular subject for photographs.

This is the third in a series of checkpoints monitored by the Americans on the east/west borderline. And no, Charlie is not the name of the soldier whose photograph is mounted on the poster board, although it is often the misconception that it is! The U.S. Army has simply used the name denoted for the letter "C" in the international, call-out alphabet... i.e. A = Alpha, B = Bravo, and C = Charlie.

I was told by our Berlin guide (who happens to be as lauded the best in the whole of Berlin!) that there ARE checkpoints alpha and checkpoints bravo, though they aren't much visited by tourists. Maybe the poster boys placed at those spots aren't as earnest-looking as the one here? And I wonder if the soldiers who posed for these photos are still around...

The Victory Column (Siegessaule), which stands at some 70m high on a round square on Strasse des 17 Juni, is the focal point of the Tiergarten park where the electors used to go hunting. The Lady Victoria stands at almost 9m tall and weighs 37 tons! Its sculptorm Friedrich Drakem originally had his chaste daughter pose in the buff for the statue, but the statue was given decent clothes at the imperial order of Kaiser Wilhelm II. The monument commemorates the Prussian victories between 1864 and 1871.