Matt & I had fantastic trip to Berlin this September following our Civil Partnership. I’ve wanted to go there for ages and what an amazing place it is.
Firstly, it’s history is incredible. I only learnt about the Third Reich really in history at school and I suppose the transition from a divided city is quite recent and at that age I wasn’t really interested in that as a teenager. Now I’m older and fascinated by history, architecture and photography, a city that has evolved through many incarnations and still continues to do so was bound to be an attractive proposition for me and it didn’t disappoint.
There were plenty of tourist attractions, some of which we really wanted to see but I tried to see things in a different light like the bike riding over the Berlin Wall line and the observation tower that was hidden down a back street and was a great find.
The secret police museum was incredible. Apart from its design, it amazed me the way in which people were monitored and the records that were kept, all in paper form back then and in many cases a complete waste of time, money and effort.
A lot of old buildings have been reused mainly by municipal organisations including the former Luftwaffe building which I particularly liked due to its very angular, modernist forms.
One of my favourite buildings was the TV tower, where we had lunch in the revolving restaurant. The 360 agree view was unforgettable and the interior design was really space age.
Some of the regeneration projects have had a big impact on the city’s landscape and I think in a positive way. They have blended the old with the new in a way that neither conflicts but compliments the other. This is because in the main, the regeneration has taken place on waste land, a symptom of the unification. The most significant blend of old and now however is of course the Reichstag building.
One of the highlights of there trip for me was the Bauhaus museum, where we were able to see some great examples of art and furniture, all in a building befitting one of my favourite periods of art and design.
