CITY GUIDE
BERLIN
³ Why Go Now: Thirty years after the fall of the wall, Germany’s capital is a study in reinvention
Bombed to bits, torn in
two, and patched back
together, Berlin has
undergone dramatic
transformations. In
the past 30 years, its
evolution from a Soviet
stronghold to a liber-
tine bastion with an
anything-goes crea-
tivity born from repres-
sion has made it one of
the most captivating
places on the planet.
More recently Berlin
has catapulted to the
center of European
power, led a country-
wide push to welcome
more than a million
asylum seekers, and
shown the world how a
city can grow up with-
out losing its edge.
“The difference
between a place
like New York and
Berlin is that New
York is settled, while
Berlin is seething,” says
photographer Harald
Hauswald, whose
images of East Berlin
in November 1989
captured a state poised
to topple as residents
took sledgehammers to
the Berlin Wall. “Berlin
is still a never ending
start-up,” he says.
“That’s what makes
it beautiful.”
—Eliot SteinThe mid-1800s
Landwehr Canal
flows through
central Berlin.