Travel, Europe

A London Taxi Ride in Berlin

1 April 2005

image I spent less then twenty-four hours in Berlin. On the way back to the airport, I was picked up by a lady who likes to do things a bit differently. In Germany, eighty-five percent of taxi cabs are Mercedes Benz cars. But if you call her up (+49-170-434-02-06), she will chauffer you around Berlin in a London taxi.  After September 11, business is slower for taxi drivers everywhere in Europe and America, giving them time to talk about their plight. The fastest way from my hotel to the airport took us along the old parliament (Reichstag) building. image  On a previous visit, I had seen the new glass top of the parliament building. Symbolically and architecturally, the glass dome is very appealing. Now I passed for the first time the newly constructed office building for the members of parliament, which lies across from massive new chancellery. Both buildings are modern in spirit, straight lines everywhere, no ornamentations, lots of glass. Although the buildings are not particularly bad, I found quarter mile area between the two distressingly sterile. I realized that what was missing were trees and vegetation. Life locked away. It was all glass, stone, and asphalt. The German government paid about 10 billion Euros to move its operations from Bonn to Berlin. The trees were not missing for a lack of money.

 

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Peter

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