ICH NICHT BIN EIN BERLINER, BUT I’M GOING BACK

Cities, and their names, often bring to mind an image or an atmosphere. Berlin, for me, evoked the latter: narrow streets, an overcast sky, cobblestones (wet, of course), and lots of grey. So, I was not prepared for the vast, expansive avenues, the abundance of parks and greenery, the clusters of ultra-modern architecture and, above all, the absence of cars and people in the streets.

I wasn’t prepared either for the outstanding quality and variety of the food. Stupid of me, I know, but, hey, most people still think of Mexico as a place where everything will be done “mañana” (which is unfair, since not everything has to be done in such a rush…).

Anyway, back to Berlin. My friends and I went there for our annual gastro-cultural week-end. Being the least informed about our destination, I wasn’t expecting much from this trip. Not that I was pre-disposed to being disappointed. No, I was simply expecting not to be overwhelmed. And now, three days later, I look back with subdued pleasure at the peculiar collection of events, places and situations that we went through there.

I cannot comment on Berlin as a city because we only visited the central part of it. In any case, I have a tendency to base my impressions of a place on the “feel” of it. And, truth be told, I still can’t get the feel of Berlin right. Furthermore, if Matthias -the voice of all things german, who was born and has lived there most of his life there and professes to love the city so much he wouldn’t live anywhere else (with the possible exceptions of Rome and Seville… (?)), if he cannot bring himself to either like it nor leave it, I guess I’m justified in my lack of definition about it.

There are, nonetheless, some memorable places to visit and things to see. If it was only for the Vermeer of the young woman putting on a pearl necklace in front of a mirror, or the head of some Egyptian official so delicately sculpted on green stone, or Nephertiti’s bust, the trip would have been worth it.

But there are many more joys and pleasures to tempt me back: the best antipasti ever (at Sale e Tabacchi); outstandingly good coffee (and consistently so, too); the inner court of the Potsdamer Platz; some remarkable street lamps; Frank Gery's building within a building; SophieCharlotte Palace, where, in the middle of rococo splendour, there dwelt Queen Louise –a devastatingly beautiful woman; oh, yes, and the duck at the Restoration 1900 restaurant, the pork at the café of the Museum of modern art, and the Goulash almost anywhere you go.

Yet, the icing on the cake must be, without doubt, the warmth and laisser-faire of the Germans we came in close contact with... particularly the museum guards.

Yes, I may not be a sausage, but I’d definitely go back to Berlin.