Places/Germany

Berlin

Berlin

A capital that is larger, poorer in palaces and richer in argument than the postcard gate.

Berlin’s famous objects — the Gate, the Wall fragments, the TV tower — are smaller than the city’s reputation and spread further apart than a walking tour admits. The place is neighbourhoods, courtyards, and museums that take the twentieth century personally.

It is not a quaint capital. That is the recommendation.

See

• Museum Island, one building

  The Pergamon or the Neues, not the entire island in an afternoon. Buy the timed ticket and leave while you still like objects.

• A wall you have to look for

  The East Side Gallery is a mural. The memorials and the street line of cobbles are the more serious trace. Read the plaque before you pose.

• A neighbourhood with no monument

  Tempelhofer Feld if you want the sky, or a long walk through Kreuzberg. Berlin is good at ordinary afternoons.

• The Gate at an odd hour

  Early, from the park side. At noon it is a rotation of other people’s cameras, which is its own kind of history and not a pleasant one.