I have visited Berlin twice recently. I liked it so much that I asked my wife to meet me there the second time. Berlin is quickly reclaiming its cultural and economic prominence, and its politics seem more stable than our climate. It is restored like the best resto-rod. Living there is not nearly as expensive as other European capitals yet it is very cosmopolitan, spacious but very accessible, clean but “colorful” and full of fresh and youthful energy. This report starts with my first visit in 2005 and includes my second visit last spring.

"I typically cringe when I encounter the word synergy, but this place really has it ... the Meilenwerk concept is simply brilliant ... its the mall of your dreams under the same roof as your favorite car’s garage"

From the air Berlin looked expansive and inviting. Visible were three airports, three lakes, a river, canals, and lots of green among rows and blocks of buildings. I later learned it is about 3/4 the size of Los Angeles. A bus and subway got me to my hotel near that relic called Checkpoint Charlie. I suddenly felt a small pang of loss in the pit of my stomach for the good old days when the most fearsome political consequences were kept in check quite professionally in a closely refereed game of confidence and intelligence. At home the consequences of Katrina were just slowly sinking in on an administration that was still preoccupied and clueless about what to do with an oil country it invaded. Here I was in this most infamous of capitals of the 20th Century, finally at peace and very busy rebuilding itself, no longer interested in overrunning or even running the affairs of other countries.

View of the Spree River in Berlin with the Reichstag's dome
in the background

Lovely late summer weather and traffic on par with a banker’s holiday imparted a vacation-like atmosphere on my exploratory visit. Funny, since my interest in automobiles was my reason for visiting. I was amazed that in this city cars are not the dominant mode of transport. Its population is almost on par with Los Angeles but there are no expressways. I learned that over two-thirds of routine travel into and within Berlin is handled very efficiently by an excellent multi-modal public transportation system.

Entrance to Meilenwerk (formerly a garage
to store and service the city's street cars)

But I came to Berlin to visit a hundred-year-old garage originally built to store and service the city’s street cars. It is now called the Meilenwerk, covers almost three acres (130,000 sq. ft.), and is used to store, service and sell classic cars, serve their owners, and entertain want-to-be’s. Possibly by telling you it includes two restaurants, thirty businesses employing 120 people, and that owners can store 88 classic cars in rented glass boxes will help put this achievement in perspective as you read on.

Two days earlier was the send-off for about eighty classic cars ― drivers and navigators on a rally and tour to Moscow and St. Petersburg. Upon my arrival, truck loads of tables and chairs and catering stuff was being delivered to a large open floor space. The Meilenwerk is frequently the venue for a corporate event. Their own events calendar is also full of fun and interesting stuff, like a regular Sunday brunch with a jazz concert, and live Formula 1 shown on a big screen every race Sunday. Every Monday is reserved for a car club open house. Art exhibits and lectures are on their calendar, plus the staging of major outings like Berlin’s Oldtimer Festival, the start of the Trans-Siberian Rally in 2006, and a tour to Düsseldorf and back for the opening of a second  Meilenwerk in that city.

I typically cringe when I encounter the word synergy, but this place really has it all over, in abundance, to see and admire. I quickly developed a mild case of envy, like where has this idea been hiding all my life? The Meilenwerk concept is simply brilliant. Imagine finding six shops, each specialized in a nationality of a classic car or interesting grouping such as French and Swedish, plus an upholsterer. Interested in two wheels? They have a vintage motorcycle dealer and a shop that specializes in servicing Italian motorcycles. Several major vintage car brokers have offices and showrooms, as do several boutique sports car manufacturers as well as Ferrari. There are offices for a dozen car clubs, businesses that rent and insure classic cars, a store for electrical and electronic stuff, car models, car books, motoring accessories, and studios for photographic and TV productions and media services. Well, you get the idea ― its the mall of your dreams under the same roof as your favorite car’s garage. Looking for good food or refreshment? It is also there. In fact the choices, quality and service is so good, you can  make it a destination for lunch or dinner, and by the way, check up on what’s going on as a bonus, like lectures, movie night, or a live broadcast of a race. Also, in the immediate neighborhood are shops for detailing and body repair, reportedly both happily specializing mostly on the classics.

For something architectural, the world’s largest and most spectacular new railway station is an easy visit using the public transit system, a system which all by itself can entertain and impress you on visits to palaces, monuments, museums, memorials, their famous zoo, and of course lots of shopping and dining. Bet you didn’t know that Berlin has the world’s largest department store. Food is one of its departments, two floors of it, from counter and table service plus groceries and delicacies on the upper floor, topped by an atrium with the best cafeteria I’ve ever seen anywhere. And don’t miss a visit to the new crystal and glass dome on the Reichstag (capital building) for spectacular views and a memorable architectural experience from a spiral ramp. From there you can take the city  bus to enjoy a local brew while rotating in a restaurant for even more spectacular views of Berlin from the top of the TV tower, that famous former electronic eavesdropping structure of the “Evil Empire” (quaint). And of course you should visit Checkpoint Charlie and its small museum.

The choices for dining and nightlife are terrific. Parts of the city never sleep. Long before Los Angeles and San Francisco acquired their social “reputations,” the Berlin of the 1920s and 1930s wrote the scripts. It had already invented the costumes and built the stages. And don’t worry about a language barrier ― Americans and the Brits practically owned half of Berlin for 50 years. It is very cosmopolitan, a magnate for the young and ambitious. At a Starbucks I was served by a Canadian and a New Zealander.

A view looking over cars at Meilenwerk