Lustgarten
In the two decades I have lived in Berlin, one of the few places that has held an unusually magical vibe and meaning for me is the immediate area around the Berliner Dom, that monumental cathedral on the Museumsinsel in the heart of the city. Its voluptuous neo-baroque appearance contrasted sharply with the socialist architecture of nearby Alexanderplatz with its iconic TV-tower punctuating the skyline, especially during the years when the brown, glass-clad, monster of the Palace of the Republic still cast its shadow over the area. The church overlooks the geometric Lustgarten park stretching toward the column-lined, Roman temple like, Altes Museum. The atmosphere has always seemed strangely out of place to me. Like fragments of imagined cities thrown together into one almost dreamlike landscape.