Berlin O philia

Berlin, as previously stated on this blog, is very cheap compared to most other European cities. So the Saturn stores can make a good example of how low prices can actually be in Berlin.

The Euro’s high exchange rate makes some of Saturn prices expansive compared with the US prices. But if you’re from another region of the world – like me – there’s a good chance you’d be surprised.

Saturn is a chain of about 100 stores all around Germany, which sells all sorts of consumer electronics, computer hardware, gadgets, cellular phones and equipment, etc – if it’s powered by electricity, they simply bound to have it, usually in a very reasonable price. Read the rest of this entry »

Berlin Alexanderplatz is a novel by Alfred Döblin, published in 1929. It is a story about a small time criminal, Franz Biberkopf, who at the beginning of the book had just got out of prison, his struggle to become a good rehabilitated citizen, and his road back to the underworld. It is situated in the Alexanderplatz district, which was a working class district in 1920s Berlin. It’s really a wonderful book, that besides telling a captivating story, also gives you a very tangible feeling of the time and place.

Döblin was a German expressionist writer. His father, who abandoned the family when Döblin was 10, was Jewish, and he held leftist political views, so when the Nazis came to power, he lived in exile in France, and then in the USA, like many other German intellectuals and writers.

The novel was adapted twice into a movie. The first time was in 1931. The author himself worked on the adaptation, and it was directed by Piel Jutzi. It was 85 minutes long. The second time was in 1980, when Rainer Werner Fassbinder (quite an fascinating character) adapted it to a 15 and a half hours long film. Yes, 15 and a half hours. You read right.

Anyway, I really loved the book, and think it’s very worth reading. If you wish, you can purchase it on Amazon. Just click on the picture to do so.

The TV Tower (Fernsehturm) on Alexanderplatz is, as mentioned before, enormous. It can be seen from virtually everywhere in Berlin, and actually, it’s a very good navigation mark. It was built in 1969, and is 365 meters high (so every schoolboy could remember its height, you see…). Apart from fulfilling the former GDR’s technical need for a separate broadcasting system, it became an architectural and political symbol.

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Alexanderplatz (Alexander square) was once called Ochsenmarkt (ox market), but was named Alexanderplatz after a visit by the Russian Tsar Alexander in the beginning of the 19th century. Most of the buildings on the square were destroyed in WW2, and being in the center of East Berlin, the place was used as a showcase of Communist architecture. That means plain bulky buildings, and an enormous Television tower.

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The Berlin Hauptbahnhof (central train station) was opened in May 2006, just five years behind schedule. It is located north of the Reichstag, just about in the middle of nowhere.

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Besides being an architectural gem, Potsdamer Platz is also known for its very lively scene of cultural attractions, fancy hotels, gourmet and other good restaurants, and shopping opportunities.

Shopping

I already raved about the Sony Store, but there is also the Arkaden, our favorite mall in the city of Berlin. It is stacked with food joints of all kinds – Chinese, Sushi, Wurst, Pizza, Australian food, fish, bagels and even Macdonald’s. You can also find there many known brands of clothing, such as Zara, H&M, Mango, Benetton, Bonita and many others. I especially liked the Design Forum store (very good for original gifts).

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Before WW2, Potsdamer Platz was a very busy square, a central transportation hub, with numerous bars, cafés and cinemas. The place was badly damaged in the war, and after the war, it became a junction of the American, British and Soviet sectors, and was cut through by the Berlin Wall. So it became a no man’s land in the middle of the city.

After the Wall came done, the area around Potsdamer Platz became the biggest construction site in Europe. Between the years 1993 and 1998, a completely new quarter was built there, very modern, with high rise buildings and a lot of metallic décor. The square, together with several adjacent blocks, were redeveloped under the supervision of the architects Wilmer and Sattler.

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The East-Side Gallery is the only part of the original Berlin Wall that is still standing, relatively unharmed, with its beautiful historical graffiti on. Located in Friedrichshain, near the Ostbahnhof railway station, it is about 1,300 meters in length (0.8 miles), covered with over 100 paintings, some of which are real masterpieces.

When we went to see it, we were amazed at its poor condition, though. As it happened, except for a partial restoration project in 2000, the leftovers of the Berlin Wall and the East-Side Gallery were seriously neglected. Vandalism and corrosion did the rest. Read the rest of this entry »

The East-Side Gallery was created in 1990, during the first year after Berlin Wall’s collapse. Hundreds of artists from all over the world came to Berlin, and covered some 1300 meters of the remains of November 1989 events, with 106 stunning wall-paintings, most in a graffiti-like style. The paintings are said to reflect the artists’ thoughts and vision about the new era of peace in unified Berlin.
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The Berlin Wall (Berliner Mauer) was a separation barrier between East and West Germany, which divided Berlin for 28 years.

The Wall’s construction begun on August 13 1961 (funny, exactly 10 years before I was born) by the East German communist regime, as an “Anti-Fascist Protective Rampart”, and became an iconic symbol of the cold war.

There was an explicit shoot-to-kill order for attempting to escape to the West by going over the Wall, and some 125 people overall were killed trying.
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