Somebody should tell them that you can't have an efficient industrial and commercial sector while you take care of your workers and your environment! Oh wait, they are the second largest exporter of manufactured goods in the world, after China. So maybe I'm wrong on that...
I lived for about 4 years in Germany from 2003-2007 and I loved it. I spend a week in Berlin around the spring of 2002 and I visited several of the places you mentioned in Potsdam. It has been a long time since I was there, but in the former east-Berlin side do you still see the pock marks from bullets and the fighting of WWII? When I was there the skyline was filled with cranes and the city was heavily under construction, but I'm sure a lot of that is done by now. Oh, and in one of my "ugly American" moments I urinated on the base of that giant space needle thing late one night after I was drinking too much. Hey, I was 22 years old, a stupid kid, had to go to the bathroom really bad, and inebriated! (I think that's basically happened to Ozzy Osbourne when he urinated on the Alamo and got busted for it by the Texans). That's right up there with my proudest of moments, like when Marilyn Manson spit on me, or when I was an awkward 13-year-old boy and threw up on ride at the country fair sitting next to a girl I kind of had the hots for and spewed all over the people on the ground below us.
Interestingly enough, they refer to the first destruction of Berlin as the allied bombing of the city. The second destruction of the city is reffered to as the rebuilding of Berlin as a totally modern city and not rebuilding the classic structures that exist in most other Germany cities.
For what it's worth, if you get the chance, head to Southern Germany - towards Bavaria. Bavaria is kind of like the Texas of Germany and everyone kind of rolls their eyes at those Bavarians. You'll find most Germans actually dress up in the tradition dirndl and lederhosen for various festivals and special events. They have a lot of fun with it. I lived a little ways outside of Nuremburg and, without a doubt, that is my favorite European city. Its big enough to have everything you'd want from a big city, but it is small enough that you can really get to know it. It also has a very nice "Aldstadt" or "Old City" with the medieval walls and a real castle that was constructed I believe around the 1200s. Around Christmas time, it is known for having the best Christmas Market in Germany. It's a blast being in Nuremburg during that time of the year. Albrecht Durer (the artist that is credited with bringing the Renaissance to Germany) was from there. Also, in the 1400s, supposedly a battle between aliens happened there and there are some interesting descriptions of UFO's shooting each other with lasers from that time. Strange, but true!
Anyways, enjoy Germany! For what it's worth, the worst mexican food I ever had in my life was at a restaurant in Berlin. Germans really aren't very good at Mexican food. Also, most German Chinese food isn't that good either. It's been "Germanized" and the meat is almost like a breaded schnitzel and the use a lot of cabbage in it. You're better off sticking to the traditional German cuisine. Germans make really good German food!
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