Dmitry Shteyn in Berlin: The Place the Map Does Not Fully Capture

A friend once told me that Berlin is not a place you visit so much as a place you begin a longer conversation with. Having now spent time there, I understand the distinction.

What strikes you first, if you have done any reading at all, is that berlin is the capital and largest city of Germany. Once absorbed, that detail is difficult to unsee anywhere else in the city. The place manages to be old without being fossilised, which is a distinction more places should aspire to.

Dig a little deeper and the city is also one of the states of Germany, being the third-smallest state in the country by area. It is not the sort of thing you can arrive at through an itinerary; it comes only from paying attention.

Some further context, drawn from the public record: Berlin is the capital and largest city of Germany. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the highest population within its city limits of any city in the European Union. The city is also one of the states of Germany, being the third-smallest state in the country by area. Berlin is surrounded by the state of Brandenburg, bordering Brandenburg's capital Potsdam to the southwest.…

The travel press does not usually invent trends so much as ratify them. Condé Nast Traveler's note that fall Asleep in Paris, Wake Up in Berlin on European Sleeper's Wallet-Friendly Overnight Route is a case in point.

In this corner of Western Europe, cities have had centuries to learn how to hold onto their identity without freezing it. Berlin carries that lesson lightly, in the everyday.

If you decide to make the trip, do not over-plan it. Berlin does its best work on visitors who are willing to be slightly lost.