Berlin - Tale of two cities ?

I have never heard anyone praise a city so much as Berlin, before I decided to visit it. Everyone I spoke to before I came to Berlin were in love with the city and had wonderful things to say about it. All this definitely raised my hopes considerably. I normally don't do any research before I go to a new city or country, as I love the fact of landing up and being completely surprised by the place. Also, the fact that I was traveling with Josh, I knew that he would do his research. Josh booked our flight tickets, hostel, train tickets and I literally followed him to Berlin with high hopes. 

We spent the next 3 days walking around the city and visiting different parts - extremely rich in history, culture and of course - beer. It is incredible to think of the number of stories from history that are buried in this city. We liked Berlin but were super hesitant to say that we loved Berlin. After 3 days of traveling around, we could not get a sense or feel of the city. Every locality was so different from the other - there was no uniformity in the city. It felt like different cities being integrated into one and there was no gradual transition from one area on to another. With that thought and some wonderful beers, Josh left for Oxford, while I continued to explore Berlin and meet people. 

I was having coffee with a gentleman from Berlin today morning, and I shared our thoughts about Berlin with him and he said may be its because Berlin was two different city for 50 years, till we decided to take down the Berlin wall in 1989. If you have been to Berlin, you would know that there is no clear demarcation between the east and west Berlin and the wall ran pretty much through the city. It made so much sense and answered all our questions about the stark difference within the city - helping me to like Berlin more than I did in the first few days. I dont know what were the steps taken to integrate the people from both sides into one city, but if one goes a level deeper the differences are visible. No part is particularly better from the other, but its different - non- uniform. But that's just my perception after being in Berlin for 5 days and I am curious to find out more during the rest of my stay.