The Berlin Dispatch

In my headphones: Guided by Voices—Game of Pricks (1995)

Me in Mitte, a centrally located district of Berlin.

Greetings from Berlin! My arrival here a few days ago marks the start of my two-month stay in the city, and though I’m still somehow battling jet lag, I get a better sense of the city with each new day and with every street corner I round. Berlin is many things, but cohesive is not one of them. Its culture today arose from the city’s continuous reinvention throughout the twentieth century, the architectural styles are all a jumble, the divide between East and West is still palpable and perhaps as a result there is no real city center but rather a series of neighborhoods each with their own nuclei, and many of the city’s residents display a distinct, and often creative, individuality. It is clear that East Berlin maintains a sort of grittiness while West Berlin feels a bit more staid, but due to the confusing map with which the Berlin Wall was drawn, the surest way of telling if you are in the eastern or western parts of the city is through the Ampelmännchen (the figures on the pedestrian cross walk signage). If you look up to a traffic light and the Ampelmann has a silhouette reminiscent of a 1950s candyman wearing a straw boater hat, you are on the eastern side of the wall. If the Ampelmann has a more classic pedestrian form, you are in West Berlin.

The Berlin uniform is very clear: Dark trousers, white t-shirt, dark sweater, cool sneakers, chic bag, great sunglasses.

Berlin feels very much like a working city; it does not exist for the tourist’s enjoyment but rather for the resident’s. I have not yet been here a week, but I am beginning to realize the city does not come alive for you unless you ask it to. Unlike Marrakesh or Rome, Berlin requires a bit of effort from the traveler to make the visiting experience meaningful. There is a way to “do” Berlin in which you see the sites, visit all of the up-and-coming neighborhoods and all the storied kieze, eat out at the right restaurants, et cetera. But I think the key to Berlin is to explore it with depth in mind instead of breadth. In a city made up of so many interconnected neighborhoods, you should follow your instincts, allowing you to naturally discover an area where you feel at home. And the more you enmesh yourself in a particular community in Berlin, the more exciting things you’ll learn about that niche. But you have to want to discover the city’s secrets in order to find them out!

Berlin at the tail end of September.