A weekend in Berlin

 A wedding anniversary with a zero slipped by and HWMBOd failed to forget.  A remarkable thing given past performance.

We had a weekend in Berlin.  Initially marred by my propensity to travel being around minus 10 due to the recent air events, but we got there.  Mostly as a result of him ignoring my refusals to go and just getting on with it like I hadn't spoken.  In fairness that pretty much sums up our relationship most of the time anyway!

 It's a funny old place.  It feels like it still doesn't quite know who it is yet.  The new and old mixing alongside the new that is pretending to be old.

Who seriously said "Hey, utility pipes let's stick them all above ground and paint them pink and blue. Yeah! that would look good" ?!

It's like varicose veins on a model.

 There is no getting away from the scars of the past it seems.  You don't have to look too hard, even on restored buildings, to see the bullet marks.

 The modern moving city and history often seem to clash wildly.  New glass buildings and neon lights on what was previously no man's land and Checkpoint Charlie.  Not preserved as history proper or cleared away, just both mixing incongruently.

Random pieces of wall as art

 Entire sections of wall as history,

 Beautiful buildings

And buildings that were once beautiful still slowly being repaired.


It was a fascinating weekend.  I love the Germans, the language and general culture.  It was always going to sit well with me.

I'll do some more detailed posts on some of the things we saw.