I <3 Berlin

I'd like to officially declare that I love Berlin.

This city rules. Even during the norm, the atmosphere is that of a metropolis that embraces the electricity of New York but without the skyscapers (undoubtably a relief in my humble opinion), holds onto a greener mentality, and depending where you are, easily resembles the 'burbs. (nb: quiet at night. me likes.) Plus, everything works thanks to zeh German efficiency (I know it sounds weird to say 'everything works', but having just come from Southern Italy, it makes sense!) yet the typical laidback European lifestyle manifests itself despite the industrious German society. I can definitely live here.

Been renting a bike each time I've been here, since the city is flat as a pita and most roads have bike routes, making it pretty safe to be a cyclist. In fact, nearly half of Berlin households don't own a car at all...and considering their extensive public transportation systems (U-bahn, S-bahn, Tram, Bus, Trains), there seems to be no need.

Factoids about Berlin:

• The capital of Germany again as of 1999, Berlin is Germany’s largest city with about 3.5 million inhabitants.
• Berlin (the city-state) covers 891 square kilometers (about 556 square miles), making it:
  1. Almost 9 times as large as Paris
  2. One-third the size of Rhode Island
• The municipal area has more trees than Paris, more bridges than Venice, 3 airports, 3 opera houses, 2 zoos, 150 concert halls and theaters, and 170+ museums and exhibitions.
• There’s more recent construction in Berlin than any other European city (and second only to Shanghai worldwide). But, Berlin’s debt level is around €47 billion (more than €13,000 per Berlin inhabitant).
• The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin during World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.
• The East German government built the Berlin Wall to try and stop its citizens escaping into West Berlin. In the time it was up (1961-1989) over 5000 people tried to climb over it; 3200 were captured, 191 were killed.

Yesterday I went on a 5 hour bike tour of Berlin with this company (whose tour guides rule, by the way) and enjoyed every second of it. Berlin's too big to do a complete tour by foot, by the way- biking it is way more fun and easier on the feet.

Here are some relatively cheesy pics:


Sitting on Carl Marx's lap. Hrhr.



Not just a parking lot: Hitler's bunker is underneath it, still in tact because of the 12 foot (!) concerete reinforcement that took way too much effort to destroy by explosion. So they just filled it with dirt instead. And just in case you were wondering: no memorial allowed, ever. Spooky: The door to the bunker still exists and is right next to a childrens' playground, which is around the corner from this pic.



The history behind this Fernsehen Tur (TV Tower) is pretty funny: The East German government wanted an imposing symbol of communism, such that the West Germans could But they neither had the supplies nor the laborers to construct it so they snuck in a bunch of Swedish men to build it and secretly led them out when they finished. But the Swedes left a little present that the West Germans had a good laugh about: every time the sun shines on the TV Tower a huge cross appears on the Western side, a blatant sign of Christianity in an legally Atheist country.


Also went to the zoo later on and pet some donkeys and goats in the children's petting zoo (something I apparently missed out on while in Sicily, a region still romping with donkeys in more ways than one) and couldn't help but crack up and take a picture of some monkeys scratching each other's butts. Hehehe. I know, so mature of me.