5 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About Berlin

The Untimely Post strikes again! I've had this as a draft on my dashboard for nigh on five months. Procrastination: 1, Ambition: 0. So let's begin at the beginning. Starting with #1:

1. Berlin Architecture.

History is thoughtfully told through the architecture and memorials of Berlin. Planners and designers always consider the question of Who is telling the story, and why? Subsequently, the memorials to the victims of World War II and the Berlin Wall have a prominent place and role within the city. By contrast, the perpetrators of these events get almost no voice at all. For example, you might wonder: Where is Hitler's last bunker? The answer is that it is unmarked, covered by a parking lot. Additionally, Hitler's ashes were scattered into an undisclosed location, possibly a body of water, so that he would have no final resting place.



Berlin's Holocaust Memorial


2. Berlin's finances.

Berlin is bankrupt. The city's financials are in a constant state of massive debt. Therefore, the city doesn't have the funds to buy up its many abandoned lots and buildings in order to develop them. On the flip side, this means that real estate is cheap, and Berlin is one of the cheapest international cities you can live in, although it is currently gentrifying.



Abandoned factory in Berlin

3. Berlin graffiti.

Due to the aforementioned debt, Berlin is a city that is hugely popular with artists and other folks who have little money, generally speaking. Consequently, there is a HUGE underground art scene. Graffiti is in fact illegal in Berlin, but you'd never know it by looking.




4. Berlin baumhaus.

Berlin is host to many interesting residents. One of them, a conscientious objector, a Turkish man now in his 80s, has been living in a "tree house" which he built himself since before the Berlin wall came down in 1989. When he built it, the land belonged to East Berlin. However, due to a construction anomaly in the wall, the Eastern forces couldn't claim it. It sat on the Western side but didn't belong to West Berlin. Thus it was a sort of no-man's land.



(If you look towards the right of the frame, you will see the tree growing up and out through the house.)

Fast-forwarding, a few years after Berlin reunified, city planners wanted to build a highway through the property. The neighboring Christian church came to the rescue, producing a dusty deed proving that the land was, in fact, theirs. Once the matter was settled, the church left this Muslim man to live there in peace, and he's been residing in this home ever since.



Old Berlin Wall

5. The Berlin Wall.

The history lesson isn't over yet, kiddos. One of the reasons the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 was due to a simple PR mistake on the part of Günter Schabowski, an East Berlin official. Schabowski was a man who enjoyed drinking and cavorting, and was infamous within his party for not showing up to meetings on time. Thus, on the day that Schabowski spoke at a media conference to discuss how East Berlin would react to immigration changes in the USSR, he improvised. He hadn't read the official briefings, and said that changes were "As far as I know effective immediately, without delay." This change included allowing border crossings into West Berlin, which up until that point, had been forbidden on a "shoot-to-kill" basis. Once he'd said it, the government couldn't backpedal, and East Germans began to gather at the wall, demanding to be let through. The guards had no choice but to acquiesce, and the wall began to come down rapidly. If not for the remarks of Mr. Schabowski, the East Germans might have had to endure the wall for years to come. For a longer version of the Wall's demise, check out Wikipedia's entry on the Berlin Wall.

The Berlin Wall today

Note: The source of these facts varies. Most of these stories I learned from two Berlin tours: Alternative Berlin and Sandeman's, with a little help from Wikipedia. If you're ever in town, check out both these tours - they're free and they're awesome! Also, all the photos, with the exception of the graffiti photo, came from Wikimedia Commons.

5 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About Paris

First, a little background. I am finishing up my year in Europe with a jaunt through some of its major cities. One of my new favorite ways to see a city is to take a walking tour, and in doing so, I find that I learn tons more about the place than I would have ever known just by wandering around on my own. So, to apprise yourself of all the things you never knew about Paris...

1. The Latin Quarter, which is over by Notre Dame and generally has tons of restaurants and nightlife, is thusly called because people used to speak Latin in the neighborhood instead of French. This occurred because the Sorbonne University is situated in the area, and back in its glory days all the students and professors spoke Latin, so as you walked around you would mostly hear Latin being spoken instead of French.

2. The Eiffel Tower was only meant to be a part of the Parisian landscape for 20 years. However, shortly after it was built in 1889, Gustave Eiffel had radio antennae installed on the tower (with an eye towards its preservation) and it soon became indispensable for communications - and it still is.

3. If you've ever been to the Parisian catacombs to see the bones, you've only been inside a small section of the catacomb network. The known Parisian catacombs range over 400km and this underground maze plays host to many restaurants and clubs - although it's also illegal to go to them.

4. Paris was originally settled around 250 B.C. by a Celtic tribe known as the Parisii. However, the Romans took over the city in 52 B.C. and renamed it Lutetia. That is why you'll find lots of cafés and shops in Paris called Le Lutetia or a similar name. When the Romans left around 400 A.D., the city was re-dubbed Paris.

5. The Notre Dame of Paris is just one of hundreds of Gothic churches that used to pepper Paris. The French had had it up-to-here with Gothic architecture and were in the process of tearing down many Gothic cathedrals when Victor Hugo stepped in. He thought it was a crying shame that the Parisians would willingly deprive themselves of such a cultural gem, so he wrote the Hunchback of Notre Dame to inspire Parisians to fall in love again with the cathedral. It worked, and if you've ever visited Notre Dame, you have Monsieur Hugo to thank for it.

I learned all of these things thanks to our tour guide Sam, through Sandeman's tours. If you are thinking about a trip to Paris, you should consider taking one of these tours yourself. All the guides are fantastic. Check out Sandeman's website here.