Ich liebe Berlin.

This is a completely amazing city.

I´m not sure how amply I can qualify this at this early point (Ive been here about 48 hours), but I´m going to tentatively name Berlin my favourite city. In the world.

Why? Let me count the ways:

-Excellent, abundant public transit.
-Beautiful architecture from the 16th century, to the ultramodern, to eve the commie blocks that are being refurbished; every block comprises a history lesson.
-Green, green, green. Green spaces abound. Parks everywhere.
-Multicultural as heck.
-Gay as all get-out.
-PLENTY of superb coffee places.
-Not smoke-free by NA standards, but damn good for Germany. Lots of smoke free spaces.
-Cheap! My outstanding dinner last night was 15€, but lunch at this salubrious fast-food place called China Box was all of 3€ and was so delicious I wanted to cry. 1€ is about C$1.37 as I type this. Even this internet cafe charges the normal rate of 1€ per hour here. In Luxembourg it was 4€ per hour.
-The food is tremendous. I´ve had some of the most superb pizza of my life already, stone baked with tomatoes and arugula. That 15€ last night was at a trendy place called Toca Rouge that does Asian fusion, and it was the most gorgeous dish (my main I mean) of five-spice beef and roasted sweet potato. It worked, it worked perfectly. I´m sure I´ll have more to say about the food but so far I am simply beside myself. It is superb.
-The weather is completely pleasant, about 14 now and brilliantly sunny. It rained yesterday but otherwise, for me, this is heaven.
-There is odious history here, too much in fact, but the fact that people here manage to be so forward looking and joyful- yes, joyful, not like the impression I had of people in Köln- is a testament to a potential in the human spirit that makes me feel great affection for our whole crazy species. I walked, WALKED, under the Brandenburger Tor yesterday and the sun was setting and poking through its arches. It was a special moment, because when I was last here (1981), it was behind Checkpoint Charlie and of course inaccessible. This was a powerful moment, powerful enough to bring tears to my eyes.

Redemption is the best part of the human story, and you see it here in spades.