BERLIN

Paris and Berlin are both capitals of premiere countries in Europe and the world. They are each greatly populous, two of Europe's biggest cities. But after that, the similarities tail off. As I said, these cities are both hugely populous; with Paris having roughly 2.2 million within its city limits and Berlin 3.4. Paris, though, is only about 100 square kilometers and Berlin is roughly nine times that size. This means that Paris, despite having a smaller population, is much more densely populated. It is crowded and fast-paced while Berlin is spread out, laid back, seemingly empty sometimes in comparison.

This is far from the only difference, though, or even the most important.While Paris's history is defined by the period from 1789 through the early 1900's, Berlin may inarguably the city at the forefront of the last 100 years of history.

Paris's stunningly beautiful architecture is is also rather uniform, almost entirely a relic of Baron von Haussman's mid-19th century city overhaul. Berlin, meanwhile, is an eclectic blend of styles and eras, changing from neighborhood to neighborhood, a result of its asymmetrical growth pattern and history as a partitioned city.

Paris is also a city that clings fervently to its French heritage and tradition; Berlin is a progressive metropolis, one that has raised questions about the meaning of identity and heritage in order to come to terms with its own checkered past.

Many differences remain, but the point is that while Paris and Berlin are undoubtedly two of the world's greatest cities, springing from a similar area, they are worlds apart in terms of feel and attitude.

To me, especially coming from Paris, the best thing about Berlin was the way it confronted and analyzed its history, rather than displayed it as unquestionably proud heritage.

This feeling of thoughtful progress was everywhere in Berlin.

Meanwhile, I have a story to tell.

The train ride from Prague to Berlin was enjoyable, as I got some writing done and enjoyed the German and Czech scenery before we rolled into Berlin around 1:15. Max met me at the station, and helped us get to the hostel where I dropped off my bags. Then it was straight on to the neighborhood of Prenzlauerberg for a sunny afternoon in Mauer park. This open space had been a death strip between the two parts of the Berlin Wall during the Cold War, but today it was flocked with people from young to old. We grabbed some flatbread pizza things from a vendor and a couple of beers and sat down to enjoy the sun and listen to the USSR themed, Balkan folk, polka, reggae, punk, ska band the Cosmonauts.

After a while, the group, which was me, Taylor and Alia, plus Max and several of his friends, ambled over to a small amphitheater where a dense crowd was packed in to watch the free open air karaoke. This was easily the best part of the afternoon, as we watched in delight while people from all over the world either butchered or glorified various classics. To recap, the best performers were definitely the guy who did "Purple Rain," the girl who sang Frankie Valli while seducing a middle-aged German dude, and, especially, the little kid who absolutely brought the house down with "No Woman, No Cry."

After Mauerpark, Taylor, Alia, and I returned to the hostel. From there, hungry and tired, we walked to a nearby Asian restaurant. Low expectations turned into fabulous food, and we made American fools out of ourselves by eating outrageous amounts before crashing at the hostel.

The next morning, I met up with Max for a personal tour of the city. Taylor and Alia settled for a professionally guided bike tour, though somehow saw less stuff than me and Max in the same amount of time. High praise for an amateur tour guide.

We started the day at the Eastside Gallery, the longest preserved stretch of the Berlin Wall, as well as the world's largest outdoor art gallery. Miles of murals both impactful and incomprehensible covered the wall. We moved on from there to the neighborhood of Friedrichshain, shabby but soulful, for a delicious lunch. I had a knoblauchwurst burger with a ton of arugula (common in European sandwiches, thankfully).

We headed from there to Alexanderplatz, where we began our walk down Unter den Linden, Berlin's (not as charming) answer to the Champs-Elysees. It was however, equally if not more interesting than the Parisian boulevard, as we saw the spot of Hitler's infamous book-burning, a poignant memorial to the victims of war and tyranny, and various museums before reaching the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag. We headed down through the tiergarten, the Holocaust Memorial, Potsdamer Platz, and into Schoneberg (I think?) where we grabbed a beer at a famous hang out/cafe. I was pretty beat then, so I went back to the hostel to rest up a little.

When Taylor and Alia got back, we journeyed back up to Prenzlauer, where we walked around before settling on a cheap fast food place for dinner. My burger was surprisingly phenomenal, pickle and all (Europe IS changing me!), but the highlight of the night came next.

We had had a wine bar, called Weinerei(sp?), recommended to us by both Max and others, and decided to check it out. The premise, which to us aspiring Parisians sounded truly ridiculous and unbelievable, was that you paid two euros for a glass, then got access to as much wine as you wanted, from their whole collection. At the end of the night, you simply paid as much as you felt that you owed.

When we arrived, we were shocked to see that not only was this the case, they also had honor system food, were incredibly friendly and helpful, had a warmly decorated bar, and a large number of wines to choose from. Let's just say we spent a great deal of time there. At the end of the night, we hit up a doner kebab shop on our way out, fulfilling my dream of late night Turkish fast food. Then it was U-Bahn, and good night.

The next morning, Taylor and Alia were heading off to Copenhagen, while I was staying behind in Berlin before my Great Italian Broventure with Max. I said goodbye to them before, since Max was still in a final, headed by myself to Curry 36, to grab some of Berlin's famous fast food/street food, Currywurst. It was a satisfying, if strange meal, and I definitely prefer doner, but the Currywurst was a nice change.

Later on, I met back up with Max to head to a biergarten, again in Prenzlauer. With the incredible sun we'd had all week (it was like 70 every day in Berlin), this was an incredibly relaxing experience, as well as a good opportunity to hang out with Max's friends, who were pretty cool as well. More importantly, I got to taste a few delicious beers, including my summery favorite hefeweissbier, and kristallweissbier.

Around sunset, we moved on to dinner, at a nearby restaurant owned by a friendly Palestinian man. Max had another exam the next day, so we called it a night.

The next morning, I checked out of the hostel and trekked to Krumme Lanke in Southwest Berlin, where Max lives and where I would be staying for the next two nights. Though on the U-Bahn and technically in Berlin, the neighborhood felt more like a suburb, a leafy little hamlet situated on two beautiful lakes, perfect for running, sunning, or beer drinking, of which we saw all three. Later on, after Max's final, we took a field trip to Templehof, the former airport for Berlin and site of the Berlin airlift, now a city park. The immense complex, which contained the largest building in volume at its time, was so big that it took us nearly an hour and a half to find the entrance to the park. When we finely did, it was one of the largest open areas I've seen anywhere close to a city. On the runways, it was about ten degrees hotter, making it feel like a true summer day, with people grilling, playing frisbee, and sunning in the grass.

Hot and thirsty, we took the U-Bahn to Mitte to refresh ourselves at a bar with over 100 beers. After hanging out there, and drinking a delicious Kostritzer Schwarzbier, the whole group moved on to Kreuzberg for some of Mustapha's famous Doner. Though it was a long line, we were able to relax with a few beers, thanks to one of my favorite perks of Europe, lack of open container laws. More on my thoughts about this coming up. Mustapha's proved to be the best doner I'd had, and indeed one of my best meals on the trip. As a tip, the vegetables in the doner are so good, if you go, you don't even need to get the meat, it's auxiliary to the gemuse.

The next morning, Max and I worked out some travel stuff before heading out to the Olympiastadion, the colosseum of of fascist architecture, site of the controversial 1936 olympics. The building and grounds were impressive, and strikingly parallel to what one would associate with Nazism, at least from the outside.

After walking around the quiet, wealthy neighborhood of Charlottenburg, we went back to Krumme Lanke to prepare for Max's program's farewell dinner. Though he would be staying in Europe even later than I was, Max's program was ending, while mine had another solid month to go. So it was a bit strange to be at a farewell dinner, and I got hit with a wave of misplaced nostalgia. I did, however, really enjoy Berlin, and would be sad to see it go the next morning.

First, though, we had the dinner, staged at the classy Galileo's, Italian restaurant extraordinaire. The buffet was alright, the company was good, but the real attraction came following, at the farewell party for Max's program.

For this, we headed to a bar in Friedrichshain, a divey place, but ideal for the occasion. I had a great time, making the most out of my status as a relative unknown, as well as the beer deals and foosball tables. Max and I had been determined to make the party last fairly close to when we had to leave for the airport, as we had a ten o clock flight the next morning. We succeeded in not getting back to his house until 3:30ish, then got about three hours of sleep before getting up to head on our Italiadventure. That, though, is my next story. For now, I get to reflect on the city of Berlin, one that has embraced itself and made a difficult past into a dynamic present. Cheap, fun, intriguing, diverse, and little like Paris, it was a welcome breath of fresh air.