My German San Francisco

First of all, I need to make it perfectly clear that I love both cities. After all, who has not lived in San Francisco and not loved it? And who has not lived in Berlin and not done the same? Other than a considerable number of San Franciscans and Berliners who nobody ever bothers to ask, I mean. But that is neither here nor there nor even dort (German for both here and there). The main thing is that we now have our first similarity.

And I love both cities despite all the crazies. Or because of all the crazies, if you prefer. Back home in California the theory goes that all the crazies came out west along with everybody else way back when, only they couldn't or wouldn't continue any further as maybe they might or should have done, or at least as was hoped. Instead, they began congregating in large numbers in settlements near the water and have prospered there ever since (San Francisco has more water than any place else in the state). In Berlin, as far as I can tell, the crazies have been here all along. Only these crazies are different than the San Franciscan variety. They all speak German, for one thing. And they are perfectly integrated in mainstream Berlin society. Their craziness is infinitely more subtle, in other words. And they also run the place. So I guess you could say that the crazies in San Francisco live on the street and the folks who call themselves normal live "inside" while in Berlin it's the other way around. Similarity number two, sort of.

Things also get very political in both cities, of course. Demos (demonstrations) take place here in Berlin on nearly a daily basis, Berliners loving to demonstrate against just about anything you can possibly imagine. Anti-nuclear, anti-war, anti-dog tax, anti-Google Street View, you name it, they're against it. Or at least a whole lot of them are, I should say. Because once these demonstrators are through demonstrating, it's time for the anti-Demos to begin. These are the counter demonstrations against the demonstrations that were demonstrating against the object of demonstration being demonstrated against in the first place. Just like back in San Francisco, in other words.

There is no Golden Gate Bridge here, of course, and there are no cable cars either. But Berlin does boast having more bridges than Venice and you can ride all the trams, S-Bahn and U-Bahn trains you want. No, there is no San Francisco Bay here. But if you train out to Wannsee and take one of the popular boat rides they offer there on that enormous lake, making sure to squint your eyes a bit here and there at times, you can almost imagine cruising along on a close second. Almost. At times.

And then there are the similarities in climate. But let's skip that part for now.

Needless to say, there will be much more to follow. Please tune in next week for the next episode.

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Originally from California's Central San Joaquin Valley and washed ashore on the coast of old West Berlin, Charles Larson is a freelance writer well versed in German and German culture. For more info, feel free to visit his website a Englishpro & Co.