Berlin
On my way to Copenhagen now! The
last of many train rides, but still countless adventures before returning home.
I really enjoyed my solo trip to Berlin. It gave me time to reflect on my previous
travels and get things ready for senior lab, which begins on Monday.
Tuesday, I took a walking tour of Berlin starting at the Brandenburg
Gate. There are some good stories of
stealing the statue on top back and forth between the French and Germans. We went on to the Holocaust Memorial, which
has so much meaning for one to interpret on their own. There aren’t really signs telling you what
things mean, but they leave it up to the individual. Walking across the street, we looked at the
parking lot and random patch of grass which was the entrance to Adolf Hilter’s
bunker. Germany purposefully has done
absolutely nothing with it (for good reason).
It’s the parking lot of an apartment complex. This really contrasts the memorial across the
street. We went and saw one of the few pieces
of the wall that is still intact and then walked over to Checkpoint
Charlie. Checkpoint Charlie was kind of
a letdown. They tore down everything
that used to be there and when they realized tourists would want to see it,
they put up this silly booth. I guess it
gives people something to take pictures of.
We went and saw some of the ‘older’ churches, but they look so new,
because they had to be rebuilt after the war.
The statues are still really old and tarnished, because they were taken
down when the people realized the entire city was going to lie in ruins. When the churches were rebuilt, the old statues
were included. Berlin is so fascinating in
this way. It has a long history, but the
city is still figuring itself out after such dramatic changes in the last 50
years.
After the tour, I went back to some of the museums that the tour guide,
David, pointed out. I went first to the
Holocaust museum which is under the memorial, and then I went over to the
Topographies des Terror, which is a museum on the rubble of the old SS main
office. The museum covered the SS and
what terrible things they did and how they got away with it. The crowds in the pictures were the most
interesting part. It’s scary how well
the Nazi regime was able to manipulate people.
In the evening, I met up with Libby for dinner, who will be joining me in
Denmark for Senior Lab. It was nice to
have someone to speak American English with.
The English and Australian accents are entertaining but are sometimes
harder to understand than the German-English accent. That was a heavy day especially with the
museums, so I made sure the next day was a little more uplifting.
1st class is better for so many reasons. One being the soccerball shaped chocolate!
I think I've had a Coke in every city. The thick plastic bothered me.
Spree River
Brandenburg Gate
David the tour guide, very enthusiastic with his stories
Graffiti on the windows of the modern art museum (I think...)
That hotel that Michael Jackson and the balcony baby happened
Holocaust Memorial
Old entrance to Hitlers bunker... somewhere near the tree
Crossing old borders
Checkpoint Charlie, the US soldier
The French church
THE Concert Hall
The German Church (notice how the French and Germans match.)
Memorial of the book burning. Enough empty shelves to hold 20,000 books.
Berliner Dom
One of the museums on Museum Island
I went back around to a few places, including the graffiti. This translates essentially to "when the Euro fails, then fails Europe" People are not happy with this whole economic thing over there.
Wall Art
Madness! On part of the wall still intact
Back to Checkpoint Charlie
The Soviet soldier
Saw this sign after dinner with Libby. I laughed out loud. "This is the Best Sign Ever. Amen" bahaha
Wednesday, I strolled over the Kaiser Wilhelm Church and Memorial. It was a nice walk over through a park. In the park, they were setting up for the
soccer festivities. Giant screens up and
down the street and had concessions stands on the side. I made a mental note that I’d be watching the
Germany vs. Italy semifinal there. My route
also ended up kind of going through a zoo.
I got worried for a while that I had somehow snuck into the zoo without
knowing it, but in reality, their zoo is just kind of open on this one
side. Also, the zoo was a little
upsetting after going on a safari. The
cages were sooo small.
The Kaiser Wilhelm Church is beautiful
inside (they’re doing renovations on the outside where the steeple is usually
broken from the war). Blue stained glass
along every wall. I knew what to expect
since my parents had just been there last year and seen pictures, but seeing it
in person is amazing. This contrasts a
lot with the catholic style decorations in the cathedrals. Stained glass wasn’t used in any of the
previous churches that I saw.
After chilling out in the church for a while, I made my way over to
Potsdam Platz. It wasn’t really that
exciting. Just like their down town area
with big buildings. Although, these
modern style buildings weren’t in any of the Italian cities that I had been to
and it gave me the impression that Germany is actually progressing while Italy
hangs on to the past.
My final stop for the day was the Berliner Dom, or official church of
Berlin, which is Lutheran! Woot! I attended
evening prayer, which was in German. I
had to listen very intently to try and grasp the concept of the pastor’s
sermon. Even then, I only go bits and pieces. The church was very ornate inside. The most decorative Lutheran church I’ve ever
seen. I could’ve paid 7 Euro to tour the
place and go up on top of the dome, but really I just wanted to see the inside.
Back at the hostel, a large group of residents gathered to watch the
Spain vs. Portugal game on a projector screen.
Sad day for Ronaldo.
Cranes everywhere!!!
So I thought this was cool. I think it's their constitution written out on glass walls around some government building near the parliament
The Parliament building
ME!! Probably not long after someone had mistaken me for a real Deutsche Volk and started speaking fluent German at me.
One of the many screens used for the semifinal game the next night
In the underground path to get from the corners to the center of the intersection where the above monument is, there was this awesome light thing. As you walk by a trail of light marks your movement. I walked back and forth a bunch.
Park
Park turned half zoo.
Wild dogs in a cage that's wayyy to small
Craziness for Futball
Kiaser Wilhelm Kirche
In the memorial
The cracking of the ceiling... prolly from being bomb
Street performers
Literally in the street
Lego Giraffe
Make your own Hollywood Star...
Ok I get excited now when I see the US flag... especially since when things note the English language like on ATMs and such, they use the British flag.... ptsh
The main craziness started at the Gate
A car dealership... this is how most of them are. It's very strange.
Not sure why they've added bling to this statue in from the Humbolt University
Inside Berliner Dom
Pulpit
Organ, you need a boss one to fill up a huge dome
Thursday, I went on a tour of Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp just
outside of Berlin. It was a good thing I
took a day off of emotionally heavy things, because as interesting as the tour
was, at the end of it, I was exhausted.
Not too many of the buildings still stand because the Soviets tore many
of them down when they built a (controversial) memorial in 1961. I’m not gonna go into detail on the camp now,
because there is so much to say. In short,
it was a concentration camp (work camp not death camp) under the Third Reich
from 1936-1945. It was “liberated” by
the Soviets in 1945, and then used as a concentration camp by the Soviets from
1945-1950 as they got rid of political enemies (any remaining fascists). The
Soviets did not use the camp for mass murder, and a lot of new information is
still being discovered because no one knew about it until 20 or so years ago. In general, the tour was very interesting but
hard especially thinking of some of the residents at Chippewa Place (the
retirement home I worked at in high school), who I know were in some sort of
camp during the WWII.
When I got back to the hostel, I met a group of young British boys, who
just graduated high school. They
basically interrogated me for 2 hours about the US. They had so many questions, many of them I
found to be quite amusing, but I answered anyways.
They also questioned why Americans would ever leave the US, since we have
everything we could ever want in our own country. That made me pretty proud, and then I joked about
giving them the boot in 1776. Yay America!
Wow just remembered I’m missing 4th of July… L
After they finished their questions, I headed over to the park, to
watch the Germany vs. Italy game.
Germany lost. The Germans had a
million shots, but the Italians actually took advantage of theirs. Of course the Italian striker was a
beast. If you haven’t, you should watch
the highlights.
Die Welt
Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum
My guide, Paul
The walk in that all of the prisoners would have taken
11:07 the time the camp was liberated
"Work makes you free"... Not true in the slightest
The tower is the controversial memorial opposite Tower A
Many of the Barracks no longer stand, but a patch of gravel sits where they would be
The charred side of one of the remaining Jewish buildings. In 1992, a protester tried to burn the buildings down
Inside the Jewish barracks
Flowers left outside of a broom closet where people were crammed in and suffocated
The bathing area, 8 people may be standing on these at once trying to bathe
The Cell Block separate from the rest of the camp. These were prisoners that were high profile and might actually know information. They were tortured for it, but kept alive. Each rectangle was a solitary confinement room.
Posts to tie hands around for punishment
These drawings were in the kitchen area. Thought at first to be from Czech art students from 1936-1945, but in reality it was from a German cartoonists who worked for a newspaper and was detained by the Soviets after the war.
The red triangles match only the markings given to political enemies during the Nazi Regime. Each group was separated and marked. Homosexuals had a color, Roma, Jews... all marked. But the Soviets chose only to have red triangles on the memorial as though saying, "this is in memory of those killed for their political stance, not any of the other groups persecuted." The statue at the bottom is a soldier carrying a wounded victim, but the victim is actually in decent health. When the camp was liberated, only the dead or almost dead were left. The rest had been marched out of the camp a few days earlier, so the scene depicted would never had happened. This memorial is not recognized as official any more, as it could be more of a monument for communism vs. fascism (note the difference in the meaning of a monument and memorial).
Shooting trench, considered inefficient because of the interaction between victim and guard
One of the first places to test the gas chambers. Considered a great success, but this was not a death camp. Once optimized, the operations mainly took place in Poland where all 6 death camps were.
The only official memorial
Crematorium
The green monster, where SS guards could have fun and remember they were still people.
So many people!! And I was 3 screens back from the main stage.
Now onto finishing that report….
Until next time,
M.e.
Side note. This train
just pulled onto a boat… 2 modes of transportation at once = mind blown.
