Главная страница «Первого сентября»Главная страница журнала «Английский язык»Содержание №6/2009

A Fairy Tale City

(My Impressions of Visiting Berlin at Christmas)

Berlin is a city of an ancient fairy tale. Having been to Berlin once, I realized that Germany is the country I would not refuse to live in.

Unfortunately, our imperial Moscow can not be compared to Berlin in Christmas decorations. The holiday seems to be in the very air of Berlin.

Walking around the city at night, you can enjoy bright illuminations on trees and houses of different shapes: stars, Santa Clauses, snowmen, nutcrackers, Christmas trees. You can find Germans at a Christmas Fair in the evening where they drink mulled wine cheerfully, skate, or simply shop. There are statues that depict iconographic scenes and a Russian oven with firewood at the fair. Many people wear sportswear in Berlin, especially the youth: caps, gym shoes, jeans, sports bags.

Berlin is nonetheless a fine city in the daylight: fantastic two-storeyed houses painted yellow, grey and brown, with windows varying from small to huge and from narrow to wide. From time to time one can see statues of bears in the streets. It’s a symbol of Berlin. You can buy a ticket and go by double-decker bus downtown to see these sights.

Transport in Berlin is interesting. To get on a bus, tram or underground train, you should press a button in the middle of the door. There is “a creeping line” which informs passengers about the next station and the side for exiting.

People trust each other in this country. Sellers expose their goods in the street, knowing that people won’t steal them. A person can also leave a bicycle in the street without fear.

You will not see litter in the street here. Several times I had an inclination to throw away a scrap of paper, but it was so clean around that I didn’t dare to break the idyll.

Still, there were several things I didn’t quite like. For example, graffiti is everywhere, including fences, buses, the underground and buildings.

On the whole, though, the city is majestic and I dream of coming back on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day itself.

By Julia Karyagina ,
The Department of Social and Cultural Studies, MHPI