Mascot and symbol of Berlin by matcrazy1
The symbol of Berlin is a bear. Nobody knows why. Surely the bears lived in that area long time ago when the first bear was used on official correspondance in 1280. Nowadays a bear is a mascot of Berlin and it's present on a flag of Berlin, on a coat of arms of Berlin and easy to find in each souvenir store. The prize of famous Berlin International Film Festival is Golden Bear statue whereas it's Golden Palm in Cannes, France and Golden Lion in Venice, Italy. It seems that Europe loves gold colour :-).
There were two diffirent bears on the two different coat of arms during cold war when the city was divided into two parts. Now, hmm... some bears look somewhat strange and kitschy as you can see on my picture.
