And by the time I returned to Berlin in the summer of 1990, it was nearly gone, and color had slowly begun to bleed back into the gray landscape of East Berlin. Residents had been moving freely for months at that point, and official unification was just around the corner. What once was the very heart of East Berlin is now Berlin Mitte, or middle. Shops, restaurants and bars have sprung up like spring flowers in the once gray cityscape. Nearby are the restored Berliner Dom church, Humboldt University and the Museum Island.
Berlin is a constantly shifting blend of the old and the new.
The tumult of the last 100 years plays as big a role in shaping the city as the progress of the past decade. Whatever you call it, Berlin is catching on. In the 11 years since German unification, Berlin has been Europe's largest construction site. And although many projects have been finished, in some spots it still seems the entire city is encased by scaffolding or overshadowed by construction cranes. And further west, not far from the former site of Spandau Prison, is the Olympic Stadium where, in 1936, American Jesse Owens infuriated Hitler by winning four gold medals.