The Bahnhof Learning Curve
Our stay in Berlin has been a whirlwind. It seems we’ve only just gotten here and tomorrow we leave. Berlin is a very different type of city compared to Munich. It is much more “cool” and “hipster” while also being very cultured and historic. Some of my favorite things to do in Berlin were walking through the Tiergarten, the city’s central park, visiting the Neues Museum on Museum Island, and our journey out to Potsdam, a suburb of Berlin, to visit Sanssouci, the palaces of Frederick the Great. Berlin has so much to offer and it would be impossible to see everything within a year, let alone only 5 days, but I’m happy with everything I did manage to see and do and I’ve been inspired to visit again someday to continue my explorations.
Getting around Berlin, and any German city for that matter, is easy in principle but slightly more complicated in practice. As can be expected, the German public transportation system is extensive and efficient. There is a train, subway, or tram to every corner of the city and beyond and as long as you know how to navigate it, you can get anywhere you want in a relatively short amount of time. But therein lies the problem: as a foreigner, figuring out the system is far from intuitive. In fact, I found it confusing and somewhat overwhelming. The language barrier, the bustle of the stations, and the sheer volume of options makes it quite challenging to conquer, but once you figure it out it’s pretty straightforward.
However, not being able to figure it out didn’t lead to such a bad outcome either. One night we got lost downtown and after an hour of taking the trains back and forth we just gave up and called a cab. That cab ride ended up being our first interaction with a local Berliner and we learned a lot about the city. He pointed things out as we passed and talked about how Berlin has changed since when he was growing up. He told us that gentrification had eradicated most of the old essence of the city, but if we visited the northern neighborhoods we might still find some of that original culture. He also recommended that we avoid the downtown area and visit the suburbs if we wanted to experience the “real Berlin.” All of this information we took to heart and have since put his suggestions to use. It was really interesting to hear a local’s perspectives on the changes that have be made to Berlin in that last couple of decades and to learn how Westernization and globalization are affecting even a modern European society like Germany.
