Second Stop: Berlin
Berlin is an amazing city with an incredibly turbulent past. I stayed in Kreuzberg, which was in West Berlin, but was somewhat overlooked and as a result used to be a relatively poor area in comparison to the rest of the west part of the city. Right now it's undergoing a lot of gentrification.
One thing that stuck out to me while wandering the city is the amount of graffiti, which actually seems to be encouraged as an art form. The wall itself was covered in graffiti in many places, which actually was quite beautiful. The city in general has a very low cost of living as a holdover from being in the GDR, but prices are starting to rise, as it is becoming a magnet for artists and tech companies.
Currywurst is honestly amazing. There are these little shops where you order at a street-facing window, and then stand at some tables while eating your sausage and fries or whatever with a tiny little fork. And it's amazing. I seriously hope there's a currywurst shop in Seattle, because I'm going to eat there all the time. I've been trying to speak German as much as possible, but it's difficult, just because people won't let you. I'll say something like "Currywurste mit pommes und ketchup", and it sounds pretty good to me, but the person behind the counter will just say "Currywurst and fries, is that all?" "Ja." "Alright, that's 4 euros and 90 cents. Thanks!" "Danke Schoen. Tchuss!" At the restaurant where I got breakfast it was even worse; "Hallo!" "Hi! What can I get you?" Ugh! Let me try at least!
This seems to be pretty common here; one of my hosts, who's been living here for 4 years, has the same problem. She speaks German pretty much fluently, but she said that if she even pauses to think for a second while speaking to someone, they'll just switch to English.
When I hear that you can live somewhere speaking only English, I generally assume that signs are going to be posted in both German and English, so most people can read them. And that's true to an extent, but the more likely case is that a sign is posted in German, or in English, but not both. So I sometimes am able to read things perfectly, and sometimes I'm standing in a corner pretending to text someone, while actually translating a few paragraphs of German to English on my phone so I can read a sign.
I was able to seriously use German once, when buying a train reservation to Muenchen. The person working for Deutsche Bahn was the only person I met who didn't speak English. The conversation went something like this -
"Guten tag, Ich brauche zu reservieren einen Sitzplatz morgen."
"Wo gehen sie?"
"Muenchen."
"Was zeit?"
"Ich kenne nicht." I meant I didn't know what times trains were scheduled for Muenchen, but in hindsight, she thought I didn't know what she was saying.
*Lots of fast German talking that I don't understand, and pointing at her watch*
"Ich kenne nicht, was zug zeiten?"
*Lots more German and wrist-slapping*
"Es tut mir leid, sprechen sie Englisch?"
"Nein, nein, was zeit?" More wrist slapping. "Acht, neun, zehn?"
"Oh, neun oder zehn."
From there on out it was pretty easy, she proceeded to book me a seat at 9:52. After that, if I ever move to a non-Anglophone nation, I'm going to spend a few years learning the language first. But the only thing I'm wondering is, how can she read the signs?
Berlin is kind of like London in that there's a mix of old and new. The place that best exemplifies this is the Reichstag, which is the German parliament building. It was originally opened in 1894, but has since been burned (probably either by communists or Nazis, but no one actually knows), disused, and repaired. In today's form, it houses the Bundestag, and has modern glass windows and a glass dome, from which the people can look down into the building, symbolically keeping an eye on their government.
I don't really know what to say about the wall. It's a huge part of Berlin's history, but in my short time there, I didn't even feel any influence from it. There are parts of it still standing in places, although not many. But to my untrained eyes, if you dropped me in a random place in Berlin made me guess whether it used to be part of the East or West, I'd just flip a coin. It feels like - and is - one city. There are parts of the wall still standing, but in most places there’s just a brick line with the words "Berliner Mauer" at intervals.
Honestly, Berlin is a place that I would love to live. Other than the language barrier (by which I mean the sense of inferiority I get when people switch to English), the only irritating thing about Berlin is smoking. Seriously, people in Germany smoke a lot. Gallup pegs it at 29%, which is even getting close to China (33%), but in Berlin and Muenchen it feels like 60%. What gives? Europe traditionally seems ban-happy on harmful substances, but they let everyone smoke tobacco? Does everyone just expect to get free lung cancer treatment?
Anyway, pictures below.
