I'm beginning to think my biggest regret on this trip will be not packing my walking shoes. Save for two short train rides on the U-bahn and S-bahn, I've been on my feet all day in my winter boots, which were not made for walking.
Despite the sore feet, however, I'm glad I got to see Berlin from street level, which is how cities were really meant to be seen. Being pedestrians kept us close around Mitte, the city center, but it's a remarkably compact place, with museums, churches, and many old buildings all within walking distance of each other, with shops all in between.
At this point, there really is only one place where you see how the city used to be divided, the Wall Memorial. A portion of the former border strip is preserved intact, showing the measures the East German government put in place to prevent the emigration of its citizens to the West.
Outside of that, however, you have to look really closely to see the differences between the East and West of the city. Some differences in apartment architecture, and some street names (such as Karl Marx Strasse), but time and re-development have moved to give the city a united look, at least in the center. You would need a native guide, like we had, to point out where the Eastern Sector and the Western Sectors were.
After our guide left us to explore the city, I made my way to one of the museums on the island in the middle of the city, the Pergamon Museum. I wanted to see the antiquities on display, being interested in ancient history myself. Here, also, a split in the city had been healed, as parts of the collections of many museums had been divided between the East and West, but it was now all on display again.
I don't know how representative this all is to Post-communism in Germany, perhaps not very much. Nevertheless, it makes a very optimistic impression upon the visitor, and reinforces the conviction that Berlin is and always was one city.
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