Culture Vulture - Berlin, Germany

Guten abend freunde! As my pals on facebook may already know, I recently took a 5-day-long trip to the German capital, Berlin (Okay, I have been photo spamming - but I haven't been abroad in 4 years, so gimme a break!). Instead of providing a standard play-by-play of my holiday I thought I'd do something a little different and blog a bit about my observations on Berlin culture.

Now, don't go expecting any deep, social, psychological commentary here - these are just the things that really struck me about Berlin life that I thought would be fun to share! Sooo if you're insterested, here is ein bisschen taste of life in Berlin! :)

#1 The Germans fucking love baked goods

As beautiful and poignant and gritty and vibrant as the things I saw in Berlin were, perhaps my biggest takeaway was the German love of the humble bakery. There is honestly a bakery on every single street, sometimes more, from national chains to local independently owned shops, there are bakeries as far as the eye can see. Just walking around the districts or taking the U-bahn, at any given time of day every second person you see will have a little brown paper bag filled with some sort of tasty baked goodness - in the morning mostly pastry and in the afternoon/evening mostly bread (or brot in deutsch). Needless to say we dived into this particular part of German life with gusto and had a beautiful, carb filled holiday!! 

A blurry pretzel on the go

#2 Graffiti is a city-wide pastime

Of course Berlin is famous for it's amazing street art - East Side Gallery say no more - but I didn't realise the extant to which the city is absolutely covered in the stuff. I really seemed like there wasn't a single plain space left! You might think this might make for a bit of an ugly landscape but in my view (and I think the general consensus of the people of Berlin) it's really very beautiful. Unlike in Britain even the less artful examples don't really feel like vandalism and are not treated as such, with whole shops in the trendier districts entirely devoted to spray paint and face masks. The overall effect is a big colouful, citywide collage of graffiti - from insane murals to political statements to the slightly less impressive 'Hans woz ere 2k13'.

A full spray paint array at an unprotected section of The East Side Gallery

#3 The not-so-distant past definitely lingers 

Berlin may have one of the most turbulent 20th century histories of any city in the world - and this is not something that will escape your notice if you visit. Between the great economic crash, the rise of Hitler and the Nazi's, their defeat in WW2, subsequent brutal division and the fall of that great divide the Berlin Wall, Berlin has seen some serious turmoil over the past 100 years. Whilst in previous years this hurt and turmoil had (somewhat understandably) been pushed to the background of the City's collective memory, in modern Berlin it's recognised, commemorated and memorialised. With a reminder of Berlin's dark past around every corner, Berlin in 2016 does an amazing job of not only acknowledging this past, but fully attempting to educate anyone who visits. Everything is very much laid out in the open, from life in the Cold war at the DDR museum and Wall memorials, to the tragic persecution of Europe's Jews at the chilling Holocaust Memorial and information center. By being so open about its less than ideal history, the city today allows you to observe, reflect and (crucially) then celebrate the amazing city it has since become!

A striking image of a Nazi-era couple on holiday from The Topography of Terror - the museum that sits on the grounds of the former Nazi SS headquarters.

#4 They either spoke perfect English, or not a lick!

When interacting with the local Berliners I really found the language situation was one of these two extremes. Now, in an attempt to be a good citizen of the world and not look like too much of a clueless tourist, I with my 'B' at German GCSE tried my best to sprechen die Deutsch! Because of the aforementioned extremes this went down one of two ways; in the central tourist heavy areas they would hear my shaky attempt at the German language, maybe snicker a bit and proceed to speak to me in flawless English (doh!) or further out (where English suddenly was not an option) they miraculously understood me and we had a sort-of conversation, probably about what type of bread I wanted and how much of it (lots, please)! While it was nice in some places to rely on European multilingualism and speak in English, it did also really feel good to put that GCSE to good use and have some successful conversations auf deutsch!

The smug face of someone who ordered their croissant in German

Well, that's all for now guys. I could probably blab on some more but I know there's nothing worse than someone harping on about a trip you didn't go on! Hope you enjoyed this little window into Berlin life and culture and if you are ever considering going - do it!!!

Danke Schoen for reading!

Daisy