Beautiful (my kind of beauty) city. Had a wonderful time there in May and this brings back memories, even with the different weather. Thanks for sharing.
I see the town has some grit and soul. But good god, a lot of it is ugly.
And this coming from someone who lives in another city that has its share of ugliness, New York.
Berlin is not a city which impresses its visitors with its beauty (at leats not during the winter months), in this regard Paris, or in Germany Munich, are the places to go. Berlin in return has a very unique atmosphere and gives you the chance to do whatever you like and be whoever you want. Paris or Munich may look good, but Berlin on the other hand has a much more interesting charakter.
I appreciate really good grafitti, and I see they've got some really talented garfitti artists there. Where I live, no matter how artistic the grafitti is, it's removed ASAP, as Las Vegas spends $30 million a year to decimate it, the good and the bad.
I visited Berlin, way back in Fall of 72, where they still had Checkpoint Charlie, so a lot has changed since that time!