Europe Day 4: Berlin

Through history on an electric scooter

In Berlin I had a friend! @theoskarbrown and I had been at Hiddingh together and kept in touch. Now living in Berlin he offered me a place to stay for the night, and also provided a very different kind of city tour - with a scooter. Electric scooters (each with their own name) are everywhere, waiting for people to book the closest one via an app, drive it as much as they want (or until the battery runs out), and then park it for the next person. So with a few finger taps, helmets on, and some initial weariness from me (not being much of a motorised two-wheeler), we were off.

Earlier, Oskar had asked what I wanted to see. As someone who grew up in a country that was a curtain between East and West Europe, being in a city that had once had a wall between the two intrigued me. Now, weaving around the streets (at a max speed of 40km/hr) was like passing in and out of portals into different worlds.

Berlin can be what you want it to be. You want wide avenues and large communist edifices? Yes. Small and narrow streets? Yup. Want some epic monuments, memorials, and historical buildings? Many of those. Landmarks that became infamous in literature? Easy. Quirky architectural installations? Sure. Churches, etc? Got that. Malls and high Streets for the oligarchs? And that. Old-school tv tower? Can’t get away from one. Canals and Bridges? Lots and lots of those. Gentrification? No worries. Giant pink and blue pipes that cross the city above its streets? Niche, but necessary - no problem. You want a park in the middle of the city that used to be an airport? Ooooh, tricky, but Berlin, it got that too.

It was an epic ride. I saw the 20th century Western/Global North world (and its history) in one afternoon. Berlin documented it well.