Berlin

Franz said, “Beauty in the European sense has always had a premeditated quality to it. We’ve always had an aesthetic intention and long-range plan. That’s what enabled Western man to spend decades building a Gothic cathedral or a renaissance piazza. The beauty of New York rests on a completely different base. It’s unintentional. It arose independent of human design, like a stalagmitic cavern. Forms which are in themselves quite ugly turn up fortuitously, without design, in such incredible surroundings that they sparkle with a sudden wondrous poetry.”

Sabina said, “Unintentional beauty. Yes.  Another way of putting it might be ‘beauty by mistake.’ “

(The Unbearable Lightness of Being,  pg 101).

Wow! I felt completely unprepared for Berlin. For Paris, Strasbourg, Prague- yes. These cities all had the cathedrals I was expecting- the skyline, the old town, the oblivious foreigners and well-marked tourist centers (two of which we proudly utilized). Berlin, on the other hand, was a refreshing surprise.

We get to Berlin’s international bus station around nine at night, just in time for things to be mysterious and unfriendly. We ask the information man- Do you speak English? He replies, “I speak German better.” Ouch, ok. He nonetheless gives us precise directions to the metro, which we confuse at length as we walk in frustratingly larger circles, testing our calm for the first time in over a week.

Eventually we locate the metro and sigh from relief as we plop our selves and stuff onto a bench. The train pulls up and we board, immediately taken with the appearance of our car-mates. Leather, died hair, flannel, piercings, Doc Martens. Amusingly, not all worn by one disaffected teenager, but spread evenly among numerous adults dressed in otherwise reasonably conservative but undeniably cool attire. It’s like a hip coffee shop, only it’s a random sample of the Berlin public.

Day two we sleep into until pulled into the city by an urgent need for food. We end up in Hackescher Markt, which Wikipedia calls a ‘cultural and commercial centre.’ Some of the hippest people I’ve seen, right up to senior citizen-aged, walking shopping biking eating. Clean modern buildings with minor graffiti interspersed with older but unremarkable buildings reminds me of Chicago. We pass through Tacheles (a sort of anarchic art center) on our way toward Unter Der Linden, central tourist area with the Brandenburg Gate. Re-confirmed: Berlin is super cool. Berliners ride bicycles in droves, dress like alt-rock stars, and wear expressions of thoughtful indifference. Even the tourists are pretty low-key, avoiding the typical displays of foreignness one sees in many other cities.

Something we noticed early on in the trip was peoples’ tendency to

tacheles

recommend enthusiastically whatever they have done or seen in Europe, even without having experienced an alternative. An amusing, but logical reaction of Americans, especially, to traveling in Europe – everything is great. The only exception to this, from our pool of data, is Berlin. At least two friends (/of friends) reportedly didn’t like Berlin, and don’t recommend it. In the context of universally positive reviews by everyone for everywhere, this aberration requires analysis.

And that’s where Franz comes in. By his estimation, my expectations of Europe were identical with this image of a premeditated beauty from an aesthetic intention and long-range plan. Americans, especially, have a strong feeling for this because our country lacks it. There’s no St. Vitus Cathedral in Washington DC. When Americans go to Berlin and don’t like it, then, it’s because it flouts that preconception. Berlin, like America, is beautiful only by mistake. It lacks a Notre Dame in favor of places like Tacheles. Still excellent, just not what you expected. Only the currywurst gives the full experience you expected.