Barack Obama has arrived in Berlin and is greated with the most astonishing amount of excitement since the fall of the Berlin wall. My guess is that the demonstration today will be in the range of the 200.000 people who came together on September 14, 2001 to show their solidarity after the attacks of 9/11.
I myself will jump on the train in a few hours to go to Berlin. I am really excited about watching the speech and as a German, I am interested to hear what he has to say and I am going to write an update later.
In any case, German media is going nuts: all news channels are having a constant coverage.
For some impressions of Barack Obama in Berlin, check the FAZ Please note the modern art in the chancellery. I think it is nice
And the frontpages of German Newspapers: here My favorite one is the taz (image nr.3).
So what do you expect?
More Pics:
SPIEGEL
And thanks for recommending!
UPDATE:
I just came back from Berlin, where I had the chance to be in the middle of this enormous crowd. The Street was full from the Brandenburg gate to the Siegessäule. I arrived a bit late and did not make it to the podium but therer were giant screens everywhere.
What astonished me was how many young people from all backgrounds came out. And they all listened. Obama got lots of applause and some moments of silence - when he called for a stronger German engagement in Afghanistan, or when he thanked Angela Merkel - which was fun.
People wanted to listen and walking back, the street was filled with political discussions. not that everybody seemed to agree, but people from who didn't know each other wanted to talk about his proposals. I guess that is a good start.
I have been active in politics for a long time, but I have never seen anything like that. 200.000 plus X people. And it is only July.
Anyway, I it quite nice, that he quoted Ernst Reuters speech as a theme of his speech "look at this city". Here is a video someone made, you can get an impression of Mayor Reuters speech in front of the ruins of the Reichstag to a starving crowd of half a million Berliners, it starts at 0:01:22
Good night from Germany: