
If ‘Paris will always be Paris’, Berlin is…
There is really nothing to see in Berlin, until you take a (free) walking tour and then there is context to every corner.
In one, there is the hotel Adlon famous for its royal guests like Queen Elizabeth until recently Michael Jackson had that scene with a baby.
Then the Holocaust Memorial composed of 2000+ concrete slabs right in the middle of a city so that passers-by will remember.
Then that spot where Hitler killed himself, now a parking lot. And the Berlin Wall that separated the east from west Germany and who dared cross did not see the daylight.
It’s hard to imagine that all these happened only 25 years ago. I am 29 and these things indeed happened in my lifetime.
This is a nice commemoration and a looking-back experience on the last day of yet another year. The band playing at the Christmas market was singing “Freedom”, something this city fought for before, something we take for granted easily.
Our Kiwi tour guide / historian shared that if ‘Paris will always be Paris,’ then seeing what it is today, ‘Berlin is becoming Berlin.’

The Pariser Platz in Berlin, named after the French capital

part of the Berlin Wall which divided the city between 1961 and 1989

at the Holocaust Memorial designed by Peter Eisenman and Buro Happold, consisting of 2,711 concrete slabs right in the middle of the city

Berlin on New Year’s eve

Christmas concert in Berlin

Christmas market

WeihnachtsZauber Gendarmenmarkt

Christmas market
Berlin has a lot of great museums and good Turkish restaurants, plus easy access to Potsdam.
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It’s a pity I wasn’t able to see any museums, we were there only to celebrate new year’s eve last year. I’ll definitely check out the museums and more restaurants when I go back. 🙂
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