Comparing Munich and Berlin

Any time we go to another big city, we always compare it to Munich. Berlin was no exception. The two biggest cities in Germany are only 6 hours away by fast train, but feel much farther from each other in their attitudes.

To say Munich is conservative would be a major understatement. It's definitely the wealthiest city in Germany. Comparatively, Berlin had more edge, more funk, more life to the city than Munich does. It was bustling with people even on the second day of Christmas, which is a public holiday here. I’m sure if we had more time in the local neighborhoods to explore unhindered by numb feet and steamed-up glasses, I’d have more examples for you of Berlin's general coolness.

A few other differences:

• Trash situation. Munich is super clean and I love that about the city. Yes, Berlin had trash on its sidewalks. But I should add that saying Berlin has trash on the streets when compared to Munich is like saying an OCD person has a cleaner house than someone who’s simply tidy.

• Snow all over Berlin's sidewalks. Let’s just say the only shoes I wore all week were my snow boots. But again, Munich is obsessive about snow removal among other things. However, the snow on the sidewalks in Berlin allowed some industrious Berlin citizen to create a human-sized igloo we stumbled past one night. Any full-sized igloo in Munich wouldn't last very long against the sidewalk snow plows.

• More graffiti on the buildings in Berlin. If this happened in Munich, it would be a detriment to the buildings. In Berlin, it added to the city’s appeal - it was better than what the buildings would have looked like without the graffiti. Imagine blank grey eight-story communist-style buildings and you’ve got the idea of what some Berlin neighborhoods would look like without the graffiti. The graffiti art in Berlin was quite very artistic and vibrant actually. Berlin does have beautiful buildings (like this one), but we saw a lot of communist era buildings, too.
• Exotic food abounded! We found Indian, Vietnamese, Thai, Turkish, Italian and even a few Mexican restaurant choices all over. I wouldn’t call Berlin the ethnic food capital of the world, but for Germany, it was top-notch.

• Differences in mass transit. Berlin’s s-bahns were mostly outside and not as frequent or as useful as the trams or buses. Plus, they were not punctual most of the times we took them and when you’re cold, an on-time train is a lifesaver. Our favorite buses were the # 100 or 200 because their routes covered most of the sights we wanted to see. Plus, they were double-deckers so we got to see the city from above while toasty warm.

I think we both loved aspects of Berlin and wished we could bring a touch of the edginess back to Munich. But there also are parts of Munich and the way of life in Munich we love.

Berlin Reviewed

I could say I wanted to let our experience in Berlin to sink in before I felt able to post about our trip, but that wasn't it at all. I just didn't make the time to write this week. So I started by wasting my time "composing" my thoughts and creating this nifty photo collage of my favorite pictures from Berlin.

You may wonder why there's no couple-y picture of Greg and I in the above. It was so cold I hardly felt like stopping for a picture and I worried that our camera would freeze open if we tried the timer. I know, it's an irrational thought, but hey, the camera still works and I don't regret not taking a picture of me freezing my butt off. ;-)

That being said, Berlin is awesome, even in the bitter cold (which wasn't that cold by Wisconsin or Minnesota standards - about 12-18 degrees F each day, but it feels cold when you're walking outside a lot). There's so much to see; I found myself wishing I had an extra day there to fit in another couple museums. Hands down our favorite museum was the Pergamon, which rebuilt temples and altars from Turkey and elsewhere in the world. It also had cool archaeological finds on display.

The Jewish Museum is architecturally amazing, but if you've been to many Jewish museums, the display in this one was only okay. It was very interactive though and there was still a lot about Jews in Germany before and after the Holocaust.

Another morning we walked along the East Side Gallery, which isn't exactly a gallery, but rather a section of the Berlin wall full of different artists' murals. Artists from all over the world contributed to it. Some of it reflected the graffiti scattered around the city. We also checked out the Topographies des Terrors museum about the Gestapo, SS and SA on the last morning. Again this was full of fascinating information, but I think by then we had learned enough about WWII for one trip.

Other than those sights, we ate great food and enjoyed exploring bits and pieces of a city that is very unlike Munich. Greg and I will brainstorm another post comparing the two cities for you all. In the meantime, you can check out the rest of our photos from Berlin.

Frozen in Berlin

We'll let the video do the talking. Enjoy what it felt like to spend 5 winter days in Berlin. Basic locations include train footage, Alexanderplatz, Museum Island, and lots of the remaining Berlin wall.

The next video will highlight what we did to avoid freezing.