Berlin
Previous pages, left, cold war relics at a stall near Checkpoint Charlie and, right, the iconic Brandenburg Gate. This page, clockwise from top left, Berlin face – architecture student, Kathleen Copietz; café life is raised to an art; a remnant of the Berlin Wall; children playing at the Tiergarten.
C
ities are a feeling, really. On the surface, the average Eurometropolis offers tiny variations on a theme: interchangeable financial districts with reflective glassy towers, down-market artistic hubs, a shopping Mecca in between, and a concentration of hip bars and restaurants along the way. But at street level, each seemingly similar place can be distinguished through its distinct personality; the vibe you get from people, and from the elements (history, food, weather) that shape their unique character. And if every city is a feeling, no city in Europe makes me feel better than Berlin. The population nudges four million yet, walking through the central district of Mitte, one is struck (as with Tokyo) by the order. If there are cars, they purr past. Restrained public advertising displays an aesthetic sensibility (imagine that!), seating in ambientlit, perfectly heated cafés is
comfortable, and children and adults play ping-pong in welldesigned playgrounds. Despite the calm, though, Berliners are wilfully countercultural and you’re constantly being reminded that collective order never trumps the spirit of the individual. Stencil
graffiti and provocative public art abounds, and though many squats have been boarded up, if you can rent a room, you can open a shop, restaurant or bar – speaking of which, they only close when you leave them, which makes leaving them desperately difficult.
Berlin in summer The bleak, dark Berlin winter tumbles almost headlong into a glorious summer that you can bank on. By March, residents have begun to emerge blinking into the sunlight, starved of melatonin, sick to the back teeth of Glühwein, and wielding bicycle pumps and deckchairs. Because of the hibernation, summer in Berlin is
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april/may 2012
a raucous affair. The municipal pool complex in Kreuzberg is teeming (U-Bahn Prinzenstrasse), deckchairs adorn the canal and the banks of the Spree, on the surface of which the public Badeschiff swimming pool (Eichenstrasse 4), floats ingeniously. Further south, the airfield at closed, historic Tempelhof Airport is
over-run with kite fliers and barbecues, and the Tiergarten is a maze of rollerblading and cycling. Okay, so a lot of what we imagine Berlin to be involves snowscapes and heartysausage- based dinners. But come here in June, and you’ll have little trouble forgetting all about your long-johns and ordering sushi.