Blog #1 – Mitte

For my first blog entry, I will be talking about my experience in the Mitte neighborhood of Berlin. Mitte, which is German for “middle,” is the center most district of Berlin, located very close to our hotel. Throughout this first week of my study abroad program, I spent a lot of time in the Mitte neighborhood. Something that I found interesting about this neighborhood was the distinct mix of the old and new parts of Berlin. For example, I have seen multiple churches in the city that reside right next to modern style buildings. Last week, me and two other people on this study abroad program went to see Berlin’s Marienkirsche, which is the oldest surviving building in Berlin. It was incredibly interesting to me to see this old church with parts still from the Middle Ages, right next to a modern TV tower and shopping center in Berlin. Throughout this neighborhood, you could see the old remnants of the GDR’s communist government in the eastern part of Berlin. The Western and Eastern parts of this neighborhood have distinctly different feels and aspects to them that are unique.

Three years ago when I was a senior in high school, my teacher had taught us many things about Berlin’s past, particularly with the history and lasting impact of the GDR government, and this trip has shown me this firsthand. The cross-walk signs are a very good example of this. In the west areas of the city, the cross walk signs are either a green or a red picture of a man walking, similar to the picture you might see of a man on a cross walk in the United States; however, in the eastern parts of the city that were once communist, you will see either a green or red picture of a stockier man with a hat known as the “Ampelmännchen.” This unique eastern cross-walk symbol is an example of part of the old GDR influence in Germany that still exists today. You can even tell a difference in certain building styles between the two areas of the city. While the western parts of this city might have varying architectural styles, the eastern parts often have block style, gray apartment buildings.

On one day in particular, me and two other people on my study abroad program went to explore the Mitte neighborhood after visiting the Berlin Wall Memorial. After visiting the memorial, we could see an extremely tall tower in the distance. This tower, knows as the Berliner Fernsehturm, was once used as a gigantic TV broadcasting tower by the GDR government. We decided to go investigate the tower, and along the way, we discovered some picturesque apartments with gardens between them. We even found an area without many tourists that had some unique shops. In one of these shops, we all stopped to buy a special German beverage known as Apfelschorle, which is a drink that is essentially carbonated apple cider. Once we arrived at the TV tower, we bought tickets to travel to the top of the tower, where today there exists a viewing platform. We road the elevator to the top and marveled at the amazing view of Berlin from the tallest point in the city. At the top, we could see every single building in Berlin, and it was quite an impressive sight. The upper levels of the TV tower contained a restaurant and a bar. The tickets to get into the restaurant were very expensive and there was a long wait for seating, so my friends and I decided to get a few drinks at the bar instead. I got a rather pricey eleven-Euro cocktail that was a specialty of the TV tower known as a “Tower Sour.” Personally, this is undeniably the best cocktail I have ever had. For me, it was incredibly interesting and exciting knowing that I was in a building that was once used by a communist government for a completely different purpose than tourism. If there is one thing that the Mitte neighborhood has shown me, it was that Berlin is a city that has changed significantly over time. Many of these changes that occurred in only the past fifty years can still be seen and felt today.

All of the topics discussed in this blog were original accounts from excursions that I personally experienced within my first week in Berlin. It was exciting to me that I was finally able to see firsthand many of the things that I had learned about years ago regarding the lasting impact of the GDR in Berlin.

Here is a picture that I took during our adventure to the TV tower.

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