Post TItled: Berlin as seen through Romantiker Eyes than mine...
hats off to James Fallows once again who writes in theAtlantic.com:

"I hadn't been back to Berlin since its reunification, and I worried that its smoky, feverishly-doomed evocative nature might have disappeared along with the Wall.

In several visits since then, I've found I had little reason for concern. The place is spiffed up and modernized, but it is still plenty noir! Yesterday it was Berlin as I imagined and remembered it: raw, overcast, pouring rain, the noontime sun very low in the sky as it headed toward twilight at 4:30 and pitch blackness at 5. As we walked through the rain and wind and blear on Unter den Linden, I was thinking: This is so atmospheric! My wife, the reality-based member of our household, was thinking and finally came out and said: This is so miserable!"

FULL POST HERE
Lovat that Nazi propaganda imagery, really great stuff. No, really, Iäm not kidding, I like that painting.
And I like the way Mr. Fallows sees Berlin, I think that is the way I used to see it- a mysterious place hooveing between ruin and excitement. Now, that I am in the daily routine of things here, is is just where I live... damn, I should start finding new bike routes.