Germany: Exploring the Capital

Me & the Bahns

What is Berlin like? Well, first off it is a massive city. Like any other European city of import, that means it will have a thorough and reliable system of mass transit. Berlin does not disappoint on that question. The system here is so extensive that printed maps are of little use to my 50 year old eyes. In order to squeeze its totality onto an 8 1/2 x 11 page they have to resort to what looks like a four point typeface to list what must be more than 200 stations, strung upon two dozen separate lines. (I did not stop to count). You can cover a lot of ground and you can do it relatively economically at about eight dollars for an unlimited day pass without any discount or monthly purchase.


But then Berlin needs a massive infrastructure because it is, of course, two cities merged only recently. East Berlin was a European capital in its own right and needed all of the accoutrements of that status. Museums, operas, theaters and the like, in addition to the government buildings. West Berlin was not just a capital in waiting but a show piece. It

Pergamon Museum Ishtar Gate

had to out shine it's twin. Then, the wall separating the two came down and the reason for the duplication disappeared. But all of those resources did not. Berlin is an extraordinarily cultured city.

It has more than 60 museums and even though that list includes the “German Curry Wurst” museum (did not visit) it also includes the sum of the cultural heritage of two great cities and competing political regimes.

Today, without knowing, you would be hard pressed to tell where capitalist Berlin left off and socialist Berlin began. The fall of the wall created extraordinary opportunities for urban redevelopment and corporations (like Sony at Potsdamer Platz) have stepped in and entirely remade the landscape. Today there is just one Berlin – modern, vibrant and efficient.