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Published: June 26th 2009
Why wasn’t I surprised that the first conversation I had upon landing in Berlin was in Turkish, with my cabdriver, Mustafa? Somehow it was a fitting welcome for me, a former Ottomanist, even if the ostensible reason I am here is to explore the Peaceful Revolution of 1989.
Indulging in a bit of “ostalgia” (that strange nostalgia for the quirks of East Germany), I am staying for a few days in the Ostel (Das DDR Design Hostel) in the Friedrichshain neighborhood of old East Berlin. Every detail, down to the wallpaper and the REMA solo 230 radio in my room are straight out of the East Berlin of the 1970s. Even the lack of an elevator in this former tenement building is authentic…as was the pain of lugging a heavy suitcase up six flights of stairs after having not slept for more than 24 hours on my way to Germany.
Today, after a twelve-hour sleep of the dead and a fortifying frühstück of cold cuts, cheeses, and a boiled egg, I began the process of familiarizing myself with this quixotic city. I knew, somehow, even when I was watching the cityscape pass by my taxi window last night that
I was going to love Berlin. And my explorations on foot have only confirmed my attraction. I tend to fall for cities that wrestle with their pasts, exhibiting a riot of historical layers, sometimes difficult to unwrap. Berlin is such. While not a classically beautiful city - certain areas are lovely, even quaintly so, but others are boldly modern or grittily industrial - Berlin is fascinating as a place that is trying to define itself in the present and figure out its future, but also still grappling with an extremely complicated history. I can’t wait to see what I discover about that process!
But for starts I jumped on a train to Alexanderplatz, centerpiece of the massive redesign that unified Berlin has experienced, all ultramodern and expansive. A short walk away from this massive plaza, however, is one of the oldest remnents of the city, the adorable medieval cobbled streets of the Nikolai District. The first of Berlin's schizophrenic urban juxtapositions that I experienced, but I am sure not the last. I also entered the grand Berliner Dom (Cathedral) to commune with the Hollenzollern dynasty (how many Friedrichs and Wilhelms can one family, even if royal, handle?) and to
get a sweeping view of the city from the top of the dome. A stroll down Unter den Linden to the Brandenburg Gate completed my morning tour, before the rain turned me back to comforts of the Ostel.
***
Beginning on Sunday, I will be taking part in a month long seminar on the history and philosophy of the revolutions that swept East-Central Europe in 1989. I will try to post relatively regularly about what I see and learn from that seminar, as well as what I experience by “accident” during my city ramblings. After the seminar, I will continue my 1989 “tour” in the Czech Republic and Hungary (where I will then slip into an Ottoman hinterlands theme, too!). Lastly, I will swing through Austria, Switzerland, and France to see friends. It will be a long but wonderful summer on the continent.
Now, I am heading across the Spree to Kreuzberg, to get my Turkish fix before 1989 consumes me. Döner kebab, the German national food!
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Zoë
non-member comment
Wurst, anyone?
Hey James, I love Berlin -- and one of the reasons is how openly it wears the past and soars into the present and future. But, the real reason I wanted to comment --- the "wurst, anyone?" photo is too funny!! I love it!