Berlin takes the cake for most interesting city

Some people have asked me what my favorite city I’ve traveled to so far is. I can’t exactly say I have a favorite (besides London, of course). Dublin had the friendliest people. Amsterdam was the prettiest. Bruges the most fairytale-esque and Paris the most romantic. And Berlin? Definitely the most interesting.

Coming to Berlin (it was the first stop on a weeklong Berlin – Prague – Budapest trip), I didn’t think much of it. Most of what is heard about the city was about hipsters and clubbing. I barely took anytime to think about the history of the city besides resolving to see the Berlin Wall.

Today Germany is a peaceful, powerful country — probably the most successful euro zone country even. Which, for a nation that’s only been reunited for about 25 years, is extremely impressive. But just under the surface of Germany’s recent prosperity is quite a tumultuous twentieth century history. World War I, the Weimar Republic, the Nazis and World War II, and the Cold War. And no place seems to exhibit that more than the capital through it all, Berlin.

It’s hard to walk a single block in Berlin without seeing the presence of this history. The former east side of the city, where most of the main sites today are located is covered in graffiti and street art. While many buildings are new and nice, some older, dilapidated ones still exist, mainly in the shades of brown preferred by the Soviet Union. Besides just from the general look of the are you’re in, you can always tell which side of the city you’re in my the pedestrian crosswalk signs: The east side has the cute Ampelmannchen figure telling you when to stop and when to walk.

There are signs of history going even further back than that. The current tax building used to be Nazi party headquarters. You can stand above Hitler’s former bunker, where he killed himself.

But while this can be jarring for a tourist, Berliners seem to think nothing of it. They go about their daily lives, the constant historical reminders not seeming to register much with them. The resilience of the population and the readiness to move on is I think what makes Berlin so amazing.