Berlin at the end of Nov 08

Hello, Franz Biberkopf, here we come! (The main character in Alfred Döblin's Berlin Alexanderplatz)


In the Berlin web site they say that

"some call it wild, colorful, and full of surprises, while others find it a little too hectic and gruff. Berlin is intriguing because it is so versatile and so multi-faceted. Differences are more extreme, conflicts more tangible, and problems larger than they are elsewhere. Yet even Berlin’s contradictions are part of its appeal."

Maybe that's why I had to organise a trip there. I have been there twice: once travelling through East Berlin in 1988, to Chechoslovakia and further down to Budapest, and in 1991 when I participated an international Nuclear Phase-out Conference (the real name of which I fail to remember). The most memorable moment then was a Buddhist ceremony on the minefield in the midle of the wall area. I think it was somewhere near the Potzdamer Plaz and Reichstag.

Seeing the area(s) now, there is absolutely no way I could tell.


Culture! Among several museums we managed to visit the main building of Faculty of Arts. Why? Because we needed to walk through it to the Jewish monument.



... which is right here. Very still, very moving.



And walking through it was not as easy as it seemed at first.


Books were burning, as everything else, under the WWII.


Ku'damm and its festive decorations.


The splendid life of the Finnish publishing editors does not require sparkling wine only.



Mr HP and I had to visit this place, too. First time in Berlin, for MR HP, it was. And at the Checkpoint I was thinking about the Len Deighton books.



Time to go back to Tegel ad take a plane to Helsinki sweet Helsinki. Editors would have wanted to edit this sign a bit.


We saw none of these guys at the airport.