Berlin marks the wall's fall

• Source: Global Times
• [21:30 November 10 2009]
• Comments

A tourist in front of a new painting in the East Side Gallery. Photos: CFP

By Ming E. Wong in Berlin

Even before the Berlin Wall came down 20 years ago, the city always felt edgier and more vibrant than other German cities, but the fall of the wall saw the vibrancy escalate even further. In a symbolic gesture, 1,000 huge styrofoam white pillars were toppled Monday, in the two-kilometer stretch between the Brandenburg Gate and Potsdamer Platz, along the line where the Berlin Wall once stood.

The most famous symbol of the Cold War and a divided country, the Berlin Wall stood for almost three decades. The dominoes tumbling Monday lasted half an hour and "The Party of Freedom" lasted all night. It is Berlin after all.

Here, compared with other German cities, the music and fashion always seems grungier, the spirit a little more rebellious, the citizens insistently helpful but also brusque and slightly eccentric. Today, the reunited capital of Germany is a place where countless cyclists jostle with chauffeur-driven limousines and where buzz-generating hostels and elaborate hotels accommodate the crowds that have made it the third most visited city in Europe (after London and Paris).

It is a highly energetic mix, one that promises to be even more potent as more and more newcomers, both German and foreign, bring creative and entrepreneurial talent. In Berlin, everybody has a project, but nobody has a job, according to a local saying. However, because the city is still reasonably cheap and there are so many cultural freebies, there is a lot of fun to be had.

The city is obsessed with food. During the Cold War, Berlin was surrounded and isolated. Food had to be airlifted into the city on a daily basis by the Allied forces. Today, Berlin's falafels and spring rolls are equal to the best in Istanbul or Ho Chi Minh City. It helps that half of its 3.4 million people have come from elsewhere, including more than 100,000 Turkish and 12,000 Vietnamese. You can get fresh sushi, Polish stews and American baked goods. In the city's cool pubs, hot clubs and funky lounges, you can drink fancy cocktails and vintage wines. Chinese who are homesick will find authentic food at Ming Dynastie where both the German government and the Chinese Embassy, which is across the road, entertain guests.

For a quick but comprehensive feel of Berlin, nothing tells its story better than its architecture. From Bauhaus to fascist-era to modern international, from Daniel Libeskind's Jewish Museum to Norman Foster's glass dome on the Reichstag, Berlin's buildings fascinate, enchant and challenge. Even private apartment blocks have unusual entrances, gardened courtyards and sweeping stairwells.

My boutique hotel had individually decorated rooms filled with Art Nouveau furniture and an antique lift that looked like a giant birdcage and a confessional booth. Other more history-laden establishments include the 102 year-old Hotel Adlon Kempinski which looks out onto the Brandenburg Gate and has housed world leaders, royalty and celebrities.