der Bahnhof - train station

last night the new train station for berlin opened to a 6 hour gala including a speech by the president and full blessing by the heads of the lutheran and catholic churches. it ended with a fully synchronized laser, music, and fireworks show.

i watched the spectacle on television even though the station is only 3 s-bahn stops from here. dan was working in the UK all week and i was supposed to pick him up at the airport and then go down to the event. as it happened, dan's flight was delayed and i had one eye on the british airways flight status web site and the other on the tv. (dan's flight eventually took off 2 and 1/2 hours late and then was rerouted - he got home safely at 1:30am, but by taxi.)

it's pretty hard for me to understand news reporters because i simply don't have the vocabulary, but i do understand numbers. here are a few interesting statistics a lá harpers index:

700,000,000: euros spent on the new station
500,000: people who attended the opening of the new station
750: computerized searchlights used for light show
5000: individual lights used for show
750: tons of material used to build the station
80: number of businesses located in the new station
1000: trains anticipated to stop in new station each day
3: time of morning that the new station festivities finally ended
17: number of years since the wall fell

this station is a pretty big deal. each side of berlin has it's own train station, and those will remain functional, but this new station, in addition to being more advanced and really nice, is also symbolically important. it's being called the "heart of berlin." it has been built right in between the old east and west sides of the city. as the heart pumps commerce and people from one side of the city to the other, berlin truly unifies. that is why it will be known as the berlin hauptbahnhof - the main station.

even on tv in a language i don't really speak it was moving to see the city really come together.