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7月18日 星期三
今天就要离开柏林，PJG开车去往下一个目的地捷克的首都布拉格。想简单表达一下对柏林的感受，抛去它所经历的独特的历史，我觉得柏林是一个很独特的地方，它没有伦敦，巴黎的华丽，没有阿姆斯特丹的灵气，但是我感觉它很随性，很自由，很具有挑战性。在这里见到了最多的梳脏辫的人，见到了最多的有纹身的人， 见到了最多的走在马路上手举啤酒瓶的人，见到了最多的随性自由的人们席地而坐，或自己或和朋友一起享受美食美酒聊天叙旧。 这里也是见到了最多的涂鸦，涂鸦有时候会让城市显得混乱，迷茫，甚至会破旧不堪，如果阿姆斯特丹的一个运河会给城市增加绚丽的一笔，柏林的河道却被涂鸦蒙上了一层说不清楚的烦躁，散乱和抑郁，也许正因为如此，这个城市才让我感觉有挑战性，它挑战我的审美，挑战我对常态的理解，挑战我对自己的认知。
Wednesday, July 18
We are leaving Berlin today, and we will drive next to the city of Prague; the capital of the Czech Republic. I want to try to express my feelings about Berlin without mentioning the unique history that Berlin has experienced. Berlin is a very special place. It doesn’t share the same feeling of glamour of London or Paris nor the aura of Amsterdam, but I feel Berlin is a very casual, very free and a very challenging city. I saw many unique people in Berlin; people with dreadlocks; people with tattoos; and the many locals just walking down the sidewalk carrying a bottle of beer. People would seem to sit anywhere they pleased; on the sidewalks; beside the road; on the river banks. There were groups of people, or just couples or individuals, many sitting alone or with friends enjoying food and beer and chatting together. That is the Berlin I saw.
It is also the city with the most graffiti. Graffiti sometimes makes the city look chaotic, confused, and even dilapidated. The canals in Amsterdam add a beautiful touch to their city but the rivers here in Berlin, lined with graffiti, present an unclear, somewhat irritable, confusing and sometimes depressing feeling to the city. Perhaps because of this, the city challenges me. It challenges my aesthetics and my understanding of norms, and in doing that it challenges my perception of myself.
