About Berlin

by Quezia De Angelo (Brazil)

I didn't expect to find Germany

Berlin wasn’t in my plans. It never was. But I met a German guy in Amsterdam who spoke with such enthusiasm about his city that I decided to spend a few days there. It was halfway to Prague, so why not? Actually I had a single fantasy about Berlin: Berghain! Since an ex- boyfriend told me about a super exclusive club, very difficult to get in, where he, a German, tried many times but never been before, Berghain started to inhabit my imagination. Is it almost impossible? I want it! I didn’t visit Berghain, unfortunately. No, I wasn’t blocked at the door, but the club works only on weekends and I left Berlin on Thursday. Berlin is much more than that. I’ll forever thanks Kilian for his Berlin List. Berlin is austere. Architecturally, I mean. Clean, ex-tre-ma-ly clean. Angular buildings, almost all with the same number of floors. Definitely doesn’t figure in the hall of the most beautiful cities in Europe. Even less trough the eyes of those arriving from two weeks trip between Paris and Amsterdam. But Berlin has its charm... Berlin is austere. I know, I already said that. The people, I mean. It’s because the architecture reflects the personality of the berliners, I guess. The language sounds harsh, just like the city. At the same time they are extremely polite and helpful, behind their closed faces at the first time.Like the people, Berlin, at first impression is cold and har but has a pulsating and warm life inside.That’s it!! A mask, behavioral and architectural, a silence in the streets and a people who talk quietly with each other, but which vibrates inside, in warm and lively, restaurants and hearts. Oh,Berlin ... I'm glad I came! It was the first time on this trip that I really missed a friend. Not a trip partner, that I just met at the hostel. A friend of a lifetime, who had attended the history classes about the Cold War with me at school.. Someone to share and discuss the inexplicable feeling of going through where the Berlin Wall once occupied, and taking pictures at the East Side Galery. An old friend to stamp the passport with me at Check Point Charlie and cross over to West and capitalist Germany. It’s all so symbolic and full of meaning. It's living history being thrown in your face. In fact, I really wanted be with my mom to cross that "border" with me, and visiting the Memorial for the people killed in the second war. She was a history teacher and whould absolutely loved Berlin! I saw just a few about underground Berlin, unfortunately. But, there are graffitis all over the city,most of them about political themes. Some subway stations reminds me any station in the popular neighborhoods of São Paulo. The Berliner girls are so modern that they make the most stylish girl you ever know looks like old fashioned, I swear! Even some elderly ladies in Berlin are much more stylish than you, with their blue, gree or pink hair and eyebrow piercing. This amazing kind of grandma you can only find in Berlin! What I didn’t spect to find was that the former Soviet side is much more beautiful and modern than the ex capitalist side. The opposite was to be expected, right? At least according to they teaching us at school. No! The side under socialist control has the best buildings and parks and the TV Tower, a very famous tourist spot. The Brandenburg Gate and the Parliament. Everything on the ex socialist side. Even after almost 30 years of the fall of the Berlin wall and, the physical difference between the two sides is remarkable. Unfortunately I didn’t had a chance to talk to an older person, who has witnessed this remarkable historical moment. They don’t speak English and all I know in German is Danke, Strabe and Platz. Berlin is definitely worth a visit and I certenly will bereturn! The people are not exactly warm, but they are attentive and friendly. All the Berliners for whom I asked for help were polite and helpful, in English, deutcsh or gestures. Please visit Berlin. Unpretentiously unmissable.