Last Day in Berlin :(
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Today was my last full day in Berlin… I leave tomorrow on a marathon of flights, ending up in San Diego sometime Friday night. What to do with my last day?
I decided it was time to get a bike and ride around the city for a nice change. I was going to try to squeeze in a visit to a lake, the bike riding and two more museums, but I only had time for the bike and museums… The lake visit will have to be next time I'm here :) I hopped the U-bahn down to Alex-platz and picked up a red cruiser bicycle. It was perfect. My first stop was the Altes nationalgalerie where I was hoping to find some good impressionist paintings. There were a few… I breezed through and headed back out to my red cruiser to take a nice leisurely ride through the Tiergarten. It was a lovely day, with the sun shining bright, and the thousands of trees created some nice shady trails to ride through peacefully. It felt great to be cruising through on a bike this time. Plenty of locals and tourists alike were relaxing in the park, playing with dogs and children, or strolling through. With the heat over the past few days, there were also quite a few sun-bathers.
I rode through casually and eventually got to the zoo area, where I found the museum of photography. It was lovely and I enjoyed it very much. After that, I got back on the bike and cruised back through the Tiergarten, slowly, just relaxing and enjoying being out of the heat.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Knowing it was going to be quite warm, I woke up and put the only pair of shorts I brought with me on, along with a t-shirt and flip-flops. I hopped the U-bahn and headed for the Eastside gallery on the border of the boroughs of Kreuzberg and Friedrichschain, which made up parts of east and west berlin from 1961 to 1989 while the wall was standing. The eastside gallery is a stretch of the wall that is still standing, as a monument and piece of public history. I walked through the neighborhood on the east side and noticed there is still quite a bit of graffiti and it is a bit grungier than the neighborhoods I've visited on the west side. The Spree river also separates the two boroughs and there's a unique bridge called the Oberbaumbrucke that connects the two sides. I crossed the bridge from East to west and could see the east side of the wall from the bridge. The east side of the wall is splattered with random graffiti, mostly from tourists and others who have visited the wall. I even wrote my own initials and a peace sign, a heart and a flower with the date 24-July-2012. The wall is about ten feet high, and would have been very difficult to climb without help of some sort. This area also would have been a difficult place to climb as it was highly monitored by the guards. On the west side of the wall, there are beautiful murals, some of them by amateur and professional artists. There was a mural painted by someone from Denver, CO, which caused me to pause for a bit and think about the victims of the Aurora shooting that happened just the day before. I also remembered being a child (about 14 I guess at the time) and watching the news with my parents, when the Berlin Wall came down. I remember seeing people jumping on the wall, playing music loudly, and of course, the graffiti. It was quite a sight to see in person, and I tried to imagine how it would have been to live on either side during that time.
The following day, actually I went to another Berlin Wall memorial, closer to the neighborhood I am staying in, which was a popular area for Eastsiders to attempt to cross. The wall in this area divided the east and west, straight through a neighborhood, where many families, longtime friends, lovers and neighbors were split apart by the wall. It was an area where you could see the other side from your third floor window and people would arrange to look over and wave at particular times, being careful not to be caught by the guards, as they could be imprisoned in the east for attempting to make plans to cross the wall. The memorial here was both for the survivors who successfully crossed over, or tunneled under the wall to West Berlin, and also for the many who lost their lives trying to cross in order to get to their loved ones, their families, or simply to a better life on the west side.
I am surrounded by so much history here in Berlin, and it's impossible to see it all, but I am making my way through fairly well.
After the wall, I was ready to take in some museums, and was lucky that the on-site coordinator, Evgeniya allowed me to borrow her annual pass. On Tuesday I headed back to the Altes museum, and to the Pergamon, which I was told was a must-see. Both are impressive museums with collections of ancient historical artifacts, sculptures and various pieces of history. My favorite in the Pergamom was the gate of Ishtar, and my favorite in the Altes were the ancient grecian armor masks. It was quite hot on Tuesday and was expected to be even hotter on Wednesday. I took a break on the lawn in the lust gratin again, and then grabbed some souvenirs for Mark and the boys, then grabbed another Turkish dinner (seriously, I could not find regular German food - only currywurst), and then headed back for the night.
Wednesday, July 25th, 2012:
As mentioned I visited the Berlin Wall memorial in the morning, and at 9am it was already getting quite hot. I put the shorts on again and a camisole top and resolved to buy a couple of light-weight sundresses later. After the wall memorial, I hopped the U-bahn and headed towards the Zoo gratin where I was planning to rent a bicycle. Unfortunately, when I got to the rental shop I had no ID on me, so I wasn't able to get a bike. Darnit! I'd have to walk around all day in the heat. The good news is that I could walk through my favorite park, The Tiergarten and relax in the shade whenever I liked. It was a nice walk through the park, where I grabbed a few pictures of the Victory tower (from some of the early wars with France), and made my way towards the other side of the Brandenburg gate. Along the way, I passed by the architecturally impressive parliament building, the Reichstag, which was quite a beautiful sight as well. I took a few photos and continued towards the B-gate, stopping for a bit to listen to one of the bands playing outside, and taking in a bit of the shade. Several artists and bands perform outside of these attractions in hopes of selling their CD's or making a little cash. Most of them are quite good as well. I liked this band. They sang a song called living on the border, which you'd think was about the wall and the east vs. west, but was really about a woman who couldn't decide to stay or leave her boyfriend. I took a little video of them. The next song was horrible, so I went along my way. I had wanted to see the Brandeburg gate from the other side and it was just as lovely, though not as heavily packed with tourists. Also along the way, I encountered another Soviet monument which was memorializing the thousands of Soviet soldier who died in the fight for Berlin. This monument was huge and gorgeous. The Soviets really knew how to make beautiful, large monuments memorializing themselves.
Next up was Potsdammerplatz, a modern area with tons of museums, shops, restaurants, and yes, war and wall memorials. The first memorial I visited was the Holocaust memorial (also called the memorial to the murdered Jews). It's a rather large space consisting of several blocks of concrete arranged to look like graves, I believe. I felt a heavy sense of sadness there, but also wondered why the monument seemed so impersonal. I suppose since the number of people who were killed during the holocaust was so large, it would have been difficult to have a grave stone for each person. :(
Walking in intense heat towards the plaza I also stumbled upon another wall memorial. Apparently there are about 60 of them around Berlin in various different places. It reminds you that the wall covered a great deal of territory around and through the city of Berlin. Wanting desperately some air conditioning, I decided to walk towards the Kultureforum and check out the museums and a respite from the heat. It was a bit of a walk from where I was and as I passed by the Lego discovery center, I heard a little boy saying, "heiß" (Heiss), mama, heiß (Heiss)! I know this word from Eriden and Antares, and it means HOT! It was about 90 degrees and way too hot to be walking around. I made it to the nueu gallerie, where some modern art is housed. I am not a big fan of modern art (60's, Andy Warhol-type stuff), but I thought I'd give it a look with my free pass and enjoy the cool indoors.
When I walked inside, the first thing I saw was a sculpture of a white police man beating a black man who was on the ground. Yikes. First murdered Jews and now this? I hoped there would be some "happier" art within the walls. What I found were random creations of things with neon lights or splattered paint, and a sculpture that I am fairly sure was made with garbage. Ha. Typical modern art. The best were a neon sign that just said "A four color sentence", with each word in a different neon color, and my ultimate favorite (and reason I have a love/hate - bust mostly hate - relationship with modern art) was a white canvas square with a sign on it that says, "The content of this painting is invisible; the character and dimension of the content are to be kept permanently secret, known only to the artist". Are you kidding me? Wow. Either the Germans really do have a sense of humor, or they take their "modern art" very seriously. :)
Fortunately, there was one Picasso painting, which I am obliged to love, since after all, I am Spanish… and I did really like it. There were a couple of others I liked as well, but I prefer impressionist art... which I am not finding as much of here in Berlin, but I don't think anything can compare to my favorite museum in the world - the Musee D'Orsay in Paris. Speaking of which, I'd really like to go there again…
Back to Berlin… I'm finished with this gallery and head back outside into the heat. I must go shopping right away and grab at least one or two sundresses. Fortunately, I stumble upon a rather large underground mall on the way to the U-bahn, and I am pleased to find that several of the stores are having huge sales on summer items! After browsing a few different stores I find a great place that has several light-weight sundresses at rock-bottom prices. Perfect - I take three, and hop on the U-bahn back to my hotel to shower, throw on one of the dresses and head back out to have dinner and walk around the city.
Knowing it was going to be quite warm, I woke up and put the only pair of shorts I brought with me on, along with a t-shirt and flip-flops. I hopped the U-bahn and headed for the Eastside gallery on the border of the boroughs of Kreuzberg and Friedrichschain, which made up parts of east and west berlin from 1961 to 1989 while the wall was standing. The eastside gallery is a stretch of the wall that is still standing, as a monument and piece of public history. I walked through the neighborhood on the east side and noticed there is still quite a bit of graffiti and it is a bit grungier than the neighborhoods I've visited on the west side. The Spree river also separates the two boroughs and there's a unique bridge called the Oberbaumbrucke that connects the two sides. I crossed the bridge from East to west and could see the east side of the wall from the bridge. The east side of the wall is splattered with random graffiti, mostly from tourists and others who have visited the wall. I even wrote my own initials and a peace sign, a heart and a flower with the date 24-July-2012. The wall is about ten feet high, and would have been very difficult to climb without help of some sort. This area also would have been a difficult place to climb as it was highly monitored by the guards. On the west side of the wall, there are beautiful murals, some of them by amateur and professional artists. There was a mural painted by someone from Denver, CO, which caused me to pause for a bit and think about the victims of the Aurora shooting that happened just the day before. I also remembered being a child (about 14 I guess at the time) and watching the news with my parents, when the Berlin Wall came down. I remember seeing people jumping on the wall, playing music loudly, and of course, the graffiti. It was quite a sight to see in person, and I tried to imagine how it would have been to live on either side during that time.
The following day, actually I went to another Berlin Wall memorial, closer to the neighborhood I am staying in, which was a popular area for Eastsiders to attempt to cross. The wall in this area divided the east and west, straight through a neighborhood, where many families, longtime friends, lovers and neighbors were split apart by the wall. It was an area where you could see the other side from your third floor window and people would arrange to look over and wave at particular times, being careful not to be caught by the guards, as they could be imprisoned in the east for attempting to make plans to cross the wall. The memorial here was both for the survivors who successfully crossed over, or tunneled under the wall to West Berlin, and also for the many who lost their lives trying to cross in order to get to their loved ones, their families, or simply to a better life on the west side.
I am surrounded by so much history here in Berlin, and it's impossible to see it all, but I am making my way through fairly well.
After the wall, I was ready to take in some museums, and was lucky that the on-site coordinator, Evgeniya allowed me to borrow her annual pass. On Tuesday I headed back to the Altes museum, and to the Pergamon, which I was told was a must-see. Both are impressive museums with collections of ancient historical artifacts, sculptures and various pieces of history. My favorite in the Pergamom was the gate of Ishtar, and my favorite in the Altes were the ancient grecian armor masks. It was quite hot on Tuesday and was expected to be even hotter on Wednesday. I took a break on the lawn in the lust gratin again, and then grabbed some souvenirs for Mark and the boys, then grabbed another Turkish dinner (seriously, I could not find regular German food - only currywurst), and then headed back for the night.
Wednesday, July 25th, 2012:
As mentioned I visited the Berlin Wall memorial in the morning, and at 9am it was already getting quite hot. I put the shorts on again and a camisole top and resolved to buy a couple of light-weight sundresses later. After the wall memorial, I hopped the U-bahn and headed towards the Zoo gratin where I was planning to rent a bicycle. Unfortunately, when I got to the rental shop I had no ID on me, so I wasn't able to get a bike. Darnit! I'd have to walk around all day in the heat. The good news is that I could walk through my favorite park, The Tiergarten and relax in the shade whenever I liked. It was a nice walk through the park, where I grabbed a few pictures of the Victory tower (from some of the early wars with France), and made my way towards the other side of the Brandenburg gate. Along the way, I passed by the architecturally impressive parliament building, the Reichstag, which was quite a beautiful sight as well. I took a few photos and continued towards the B-gate, stopping for a bit to listen to one of the bands playing outside, and taking in a bit of the shade. Several artists and bands perform outside of these attractions in hopes of selling their CD's or making a little cash. Most of them are quite good as well. I liked this band. They sang a song called living on the border, which you'd think was about the wall and the east vs. west, but was really about a woman who couldn't decide to stay or leave her boyfriend. I took a little video of them. The next song was horrible, so I went along my way. I had wanted to see the Brandeburg gate from the other side and it was just as lovely, though not as heavily packed with tourists. Also along the way, I encountered another Soviet monument which was memorializing the thousands of Soviet soldier who died in the fight for Berlin. This monument was huge and gorgeous. The Soviets really knew how to make beautiful, large monuments memorializing themselves.
Next up was Potsdammerplatz, a modern area with tons of museums, shops, restaurants, and yes, war and wall memorials. The first memorial I visited was the Holocaust memorial (also called the memorial to the murdered Jews). It's a rather large space consisting of several blocks of concrete arranged to look like graves, I believe. I felt a heavy sense of sadness there, but also wondered why the monument seemed so impersonal. I suppose since the number of people who were killed during the holocaust was so large, it would have been difficult to have a grave stone for each person. :(
Walking in intense heat towards the plaza I also stumbled upon another wall memorial. Apparently there are about 60 of them around Berlin in various different places. It reminds you that the wall covered a great deal of territory around and through the city of Berlin. Wanting desperately some air conditioning, I decided to walk towards the Kultureforum and check out the museums and a respite from the heat. It was a bit of a walk from where I was and as I passed by the Lego discovery center, I heard a little boy saying, "heiß" (Heiss), mama, heiß (Heiss)! I know this word from Eriden and Antares, and it means HOT! It was about 90 degrees and way too hot to be walking around. I made it to the nueu gallerie, where some modern art is housed. I am not a big fan of modern art (60's, Andy Warhol-type stuff), but I thought I'd give it a look with my free pass and enjoy the cool indoors.
When I walked inside, the first thing I saw was a sculpture of a white police man beating a black man who was on the ground. Yikes. First murdered Jews and now this? I hoped there would be some "happier" art within the walls. What I found were random creations of things with neon lights or splattered paint, and a sculpture that I am fairly sure was made with garbage. Ha. Typical modern art. The best were a neon sign that just said "A four color sentence", with each word in a different neon color, and my ultimate favorite (and reason I have a love/hate - bust mostly hate - relationship with modern art) was a white canvas square with a sign on it that says, "The content of this painting is invisible; the character and dimension of the content are to be kept permanently secret, known only to the artist". Are you kidding me? Wow. Either the Germans really do have a sense of humor, or they take their "modern art" very seriously. :)
Fortunately, there was one Picasso painting, which I am obliged to love, since after all, I am Spanish… and I did really like it. There were a couple of others I liked as well, but I prefer impressionist art... which I am not finding as much of here in Berlin, but I don't think anything can compare to my favorite museum in the world - the Musee D'Orsay in Paris. Speaking of which, I'd really like to go there again…
Back to Berlin… I'm finished with this gallery and head back outside into the heat. I must go shopping right away and grab at least one or two sundresses. Fortunately, I stumble upon a rather large underground mall on the way to the U-bahn, and I am pleased to find that several of the stores are having huge sales on summer items! After browsing a few different stores I find a great place that has several light-weight sundresses at rock-bottom prices. Perfect - I take three, and hop on the U-bahn back to my hotel to shower, throw on one of the dresses and head back out to have dinner and walk around the city.
Ahh... Berlin.... It's been a very busy and fun-filled past few days. I've been so busy that I've had no time or energy to blog, and I've also had poor internet access at the hotel. Taking a little break now before I meet up with some of the students tonight for a last dinner in Berlin (we're going to a Mexican place - lol). So, I'll do my best to recap, and may have to add photos later. One of the internet problems is very slow uploading speed so the pics will have to wait.
Sunday night, July 22nd was a bit of a blur. I moved in, got settled into my room, and then moved out into another room, which at the time had a solid internet connection (now it doesn't). But the new room is nice and spacious and very comfortable. The hotel itself is in a neighborhood called Prenzlauer Berg, in the northern part of Berlin, straddling the former east and west. I am just slightly on the west side of where the wall used to be. The wall is such an interesting piece of history and is so present here... tourist maps have the outline of the former wall on them, there are numerous monuments throughout the city, and even going to the different neighborhoods in the east and the west more than 20 years later, you can still see differences in the landscape, the people, the architecture, and the overall vibe. Even my hotel is the product of two former buildings (possibly hotels) having become one. I joked that I was first in East Berlin, living in a smaller, darker, but cozy room with no access to internet, and then I moved to shiny fancy West Berlin, including a strong internet signal. Someone must have received word that I defected and shut off my internet. But I digress... Here's a picture of the hotel... they really roll out the red carpet ;-)
Monday, July 23rd: First full day in Berlin, completely on vacation. It was great! I got out my tourist map and marked all the places I wanted to visit the first day. It was a nice sunny day, and about 75 degrees or so. A bit like San Diego, but without the breeze. I headed down to Alexanderplatz where it's easy to walk to a lot of the main attractions. The first thing I noticed was the giant TV tower, and as I looked up at it, I noticed two men with harnesses attached to cables, scaling the tower. I took a couple of pics and a video for Eriden. I thought the looked a little like Spiderman. :) The tower is huge! 368 meters high. There is a bar and restaurant at the top with a revolving floor and 360 degree views. The students actually had their first group dinner there and I'll bet the views were amazing. I tried to go up a couple of nights later, but found out you had to get reservations well in advance and the line was quite long. Next time! :)
Anyway.. I ran into some beautiful fountains there and one that Mark had told me about, called Neptunbrunnen. It has a huge statue of Neptune in the center and four goddess-like women around him representing the four main rivers of Prussia. It's a beautiful fountain and a bit of a gathering place for tourists and possibly some locals as well. I took several photos. :)
Also in that square is the "Rothaus" the red house that was formerly the town hall. Heading towards the river, I could see the beautiful and impressive Berliner Dome, the old cathedral, which is the largest in Berlin and a huge tourist attraction, merely for it's beauty, I suspect.
Across form the Dome and in front of the Altes museum, is a large green grassy area called the "Lustgarten" Lust garden or pleasure garden. It's gorgeous and green and has a lovely fountain in the center, which children often play in, and I even saw some kids strip down to their undies and run around and through it, much like I suspect a few kids I know would have liked to have done. Also, while most people sit and chat or lay and think or read or relax in the Lustgarten, there are a few who take the definition quite literally and they just make out like crazy. I saw this quite a bit in Berlin, and noted that there must be something about Europe. You rarely see this in Balboa Park in San Diego or Central Park in New York. But maybe I just haven't been looking. Here, my eyes have been wide open, taking it all in.
The Altes Museum itself is a beautiful sight! It was built in the early 1800's and is just magnificent! The next day, I would go inside the museum, but Monday was just all about exploring outside and getting a lay of the land. After hanging out on the law of the lustgarten for awhile and grabbing a lemonade from a nearby cafe, I set off to find Brandenburg gate. It's a few blocks walk from the museums and on the way I passed a few other sites, like Humbolt University, which is quite lovely. It is one of the oldest universities in Berlin, and has quite a history. Among its famous pupils were Albert Einstein, Karl Marx and Friederich Engels. During the Nazi era, several thousand books from the library were burned, Jewish professors were fired, and many students were ejected if they didn't conform to the Nazi ideals. After the Nazis were defeated, the Soviets reopened the university, but it was split between East and West Germany, with the Soviets controlling the East. Post reunification, the university was also unified and all professors had to reapply for their jobs, with most going to West Germans. Today it is a prestigious and vibrant public university with students from all over the world.
Finally, I came to the Brandenburg gate, which was once a symbol of peace, then a part of the infamous Berlin wall, and finally is a proud symbol of a unified Berlin again. Tons of tourists of course go there to take pictures (as I did). And they have these guys dressed up as Soviet and American soldiers holding their respective flags, with whom you can take pictures. I took some pictures and hung out there for awhile, then began the walk back to Alexanderplatz and the fountain and finally to the U-bahn and back to my neighborhood. After all that walking I was starving, so I stopped at the cafe just outside my hotel and ordered.... currywurst. Everyone said you have to try it. So I did. And it was complete rubbish! Overcooked hot dog, slathered in some ketchup/curry powder mixture, along with some fries (which I devoured even though they weren't that great either). I had a couple of bites of currywurst, washed it down with some Pinot Grigio, and called it a night.
Sunday night, July 22nd was a bit of a blur. I moved in, got settled into my room, and then moved out into another room, which at the time had a solid internet connection (now it doesn't). But the new room is nice and spacious and very comfortable. The hotel itself is in a neighborhood called Prenzlauer Berg, in the northern part of Berlin, straddling the former east and west. I am just slightly on the west side of where the wall used to be. The wall is such an interesting piece of history and is so present here... tourist maps have the outline of the former wall on them, there are numerous monuments throughout the city, and even going to the different neighborhoods in the east and the west more than 20 years later, you can still see differences in the landscape, the people, the architecture, and the overall vibe. Even my hotel is the product of two former buildings (possibly hotels) having become one. I joked that I was first in East Berlin, living in a smaller, darker, but cozy room with no access to internet, and then I moved to shiny fancy West Berlin, including a strong internet signal. Someone must have received word that I defected and shut off my internet. But I digress... Here's a picture of the hotel... they really roll out the red carpet ;-)
Monday, July 23rd: First full day in Berlin, completely on vacation. It was great! I got out my tourist map and marked all the places I wanted to visit the first day. It was a nice sunny day, and about 75 degrees or so. A bit like San Diego, but without the breeze. I headed down to Alexanderplatz where it's easy to walk to a lot of the main attractions. The first thing I noticed was the giant TV tower, and as I looked up at it, I noticed two men with harnesses attached to cables, scaling the tower. I took a couple of pics and a video for Eriden. I thought the looked a little like Spiderman. :) The tower is huge! 368 meters high. There is a bar and restaurant at the top with a revolving floor and 360 degree views. The students actually had their first group dinner there and I'll bet the views were amazing. I tried to go up a couple of nights later, but found out you had to get reservations well in advance and the line was quite long. Next time! :)
Anyway.. I ran into some beautiful fountains there and one that Mark had told me about, called Neptunbrunnen. It has a huge statue of Neptune in the center and four goddess-like women around him representing the four main rivers of Prussia. It's a beautiful fountain and a bit of a gathering place for tourists and possibly some locals as well. I took several photos. :)
Also in that square is the "Rothaus" the red house that was formerly the town hall. Heading towards the river, I could see the beautiful and impressive Berliner Dome, the old cathedral, which is the largest in Berlin and a huge tourist attraction, merely for it's beauty, I suspect.
Across form the Dome and in front of the Altes museum, is a large green grassy area called the "Lustgarten" Lust garden or pleasure garden. It's gorgeous and green and has a lovely fountain in the center, which children often play in, and I even saw some kids strip down to their undies and run around and through it, much like I suspect a few kids I know would have liked to have done. Also, while most people sit and chat or lay and think or read or relax in the Lustgarten, there are a few who take the definition quite literally and they just make out like crazy. I saw this quite a bit in Berlin, and noted that there must be something about Europe. You rarely see this in Balboa Park in San Diego or Central Park in New York. But maybe I just haven't been looking. Here, my eyes have been wide open, taking it all in.
The Altes Museum itself is a beautiful sight! It was built in the early 1800's and is just magnificent! The next day, I would go inside the museum, but Monday was just all about exploring outside and getting a lay of the land. After hanging out on the law of the lustgarten for awhile and grabbing a lemonade from a nearby cafe, I set off to find Brandenburg gate. It's a few blocks walk from the museums and on the way I passed a few other sites, like Humbolt University, which is quite lovely. It is one of the oldest universities in Berlin, and has quite a history. Among its famous pupils were Albert Einstein, Karl Marx and Friederich Engels. During the Nazi era, several thousand books from the library were burned, Jewish professors were fired, and many students were ejected if they didn't conform to the Nazi ideals. After the Nazis were defeated, the Soviets reopened the university, but it was split between East and West Germany, with the Soviets controlling the East. Post reunification, the university was also unified and all professors had to reapply for their jobs, with most going to West Germans. Today it is a prestigious and vibrant public university with students from all over the world.
Finally, I came to the Brandenburg gate, which was once a symbol of peace, then a part of the infamous Berlin wall, and finally is a proud symbol of a unified Berlin again. Tons of tourists of course go there to take pictures (as I did). And they have these guys dressed up as Soviet and American soldiers holding their respective flags, with whom you can take pictures. I took some pictures and hung out there for awhile, then began the walk back to Alexanderplatz and the fountain and finally to the U-bahn and back to my neighborhood. After all that walking I was starving, so I stopped at the cafe just outside my hotel and ordered.... currywurst. Everyone said you have to try it. So I did. And it was complete rubbish! Overcooked hot dog, slathered in some ketchup/curry powder mixture, along with some fries (which I devoured even though they weren't that great either). I had a couple of bites of currywurst, washed it down with some Pinot Grigio, and called it a night.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Up In the Air Part II begins in Copenhagen and Berlin
Sunday, July 15th: Arrived in Berlin at around 6pm, after flying from San Diego to San Francisco to Frankfurt to Berlin, and then taking the airport bus to my hotel near the Zoo garden. Whew… I was tired but knew I needed to get on the European time zone quickly, so I checked into my hotel and went for a walk. One of the first things I eyed was the "Curry 36" curry wurst stand that reminded me of "Pinks" hot dog stand in Los Angeles. There was quite a line and it looked like it was probably the popular tourist thing to do. Stealing a glance at some patrons' plates I noticed that it looked merely like cut up hot-dogs with ketchup and a plate of fries with a huge glob of mayonnaise. I just couldn't bring myself to try it at that point, and the jury is still out as to whether I should or shouldn't. Instead I grabbed a sandwich of cucumbers, cheese, tomatoes and some type of spread on a white roll. Bo-ring. I almost think the currywurst might have been better. Perhaps I'll give it a try… My walk took me past the beautiful zoo gardens and into a lovely park. I happened to see a trail that looked like a nice jogging path so I took the path and continued to walk until a gorgeous, lush, green park opened up before me. I was so taken with this park. I kept walking and discovering more greenery and more beauty with every little pathway. It was the famous Tiergarten in the center of Berlin, and I fell in love. I managed to take a few photos with my iphone, but the pictures just don't capture the beauty as seen first-hand. After about an hour's walk, I returned to the hotel, showered, read a bit and went to sleep. I would need plenty of energy for the next few days.
Monday, July 16th: After taking in a quick breakfast at the hostel (where our students and I were staying), I went straight back to the Tiergarten for another long walk, followed by a little jaunt around the neighborhood. It was beginning to rain, and I was set to meet up with the students for a film showing that was required for their class. The students in Berlin are taking a 20th century history seminar which includes classes on world history during that time as well as a special course on everyday life in an authoritarian and dictatorial society. Film assignment for the week was "The legend of Paul and Paula". It was a rather strange film made during the 70's in the former East Germany (DDR). There weren't political undertones per se, but there were definitely messages about what might happen to you if you chose to behave a certain way. Following the film, I met with the students to get their feedback on the program and their experiences, and then I sat in on the lecture and class discussion. I am so impressed with the students in this particular class, and I think it is a direct reflection of their instructor, who is brilliant. There was a great discussion about the film and others the students have viewed for the course, and on the different perspectives at the time of people who lived in East vs. West Berlin and Germany. There is so much history here in this city in particular and in Germany overall, and I would have loved to take the courses for the full five weeks with these students. Monday night we hopped the train to an area near Alexanderplatz (a hip, trendy area with plenty of great restaurants and bars), and had a big group dinner with the professor and our on-site coordinator, Evgeniya, who is a friendly and professional young woman who is originally from Russia and moved to Berlin in 2000 to attend university. Dinner consisted of an antipasto tray full of veggies and cheese and bread, followed by pasta, and then pizza. Oh my gosh the bread that is consumed in this country. At this point, I'd had bread with nearly every meal, except for the little chinese take-out box I grabbed before the movie. I needed something that wasn't bread. Thus, I also skipped the pizza. Dessert was a nice yogurt-mousse concoction which was fresh and light.
Tuesday, July 17th: Woke up to a somewhat cloudy day, and more bread to eat downstairs for breakfast. The buffet at the hostel offers a few choices of bread, several salami and other mystery meat slices, a fruit cocktail of sorts and some more of the yogurt-cheese blend spread and more cucumbers and tomatoes. I skipped the salami and other unknown meat options and stuck to bread with butter and fruit. It was to be a rather long day of visiting the Sachsenhausen former concentration camp about an hour outside of Berlin, followed by a hurried trek across Berlin to the Shonefeld airport for my flight that evening to Copenhagen. To say I was looking forward to the Sachsenhausen visit is a bit odd as it is a rather depressing part of history, and I was fairly sure I'd get emotional. I felt prepared, however and wanted to know more abut the people who were taken there as well as their stories. Unfortunately, it seemed we were quite rushed through the museum and I didn't have much time (if any) to stop and read their stories. I caught a glimpse of a few photos and brief descriptions of the prisoners. We had a guide and he was very informative but our time did not allow for independent exploration. I wanted to know more about the people - who they were - whether they got out alive, or not. It was a sad visit of course as I thought about the thousands of men who were forced to work there in absolutely horrible conditions, and of course the thousands of lives that were lost there. Just thinking about what happened to all these men now as I think back to the visit, it makes me tear up. I have no tolerance for senseless violence and maltreatment of human beings (or animals for that matter). There was a quote from one of the survivors of the camp, written on one of the walls of the building where so many innocent people were killed during Hitler's "final solution". The quote read, "And I know one thing more - that the Europe of the future cannot exist without commemorating all those, regardless of their nationality, who were killed at that time with complete contempt and hate, who were tortured to death, starved, gassed, incinerated and hanged…" Andrzej Szczyplorski, Prisoner of the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp.
The monument below is actually a Soviet memorial to their own victims of the camp. The Soviet army liberated this camp at the end of WWII.
Wednesday, July 18th 12:35AM - Copenhagen, Denmark. I arrived in Copenhagen rather late, and was scheduled to meet the next group of students at 9:00AM. I was hungry and sleepy and didn't want bread. Oh, and I had no Danish Krone (money) so I would have to wait. The morning came too quickly and I was downstairs for the grand buffet that was offered at this rather lovely 4-star hotel in Sydhavn. Again there was a ton of bread, but also eggs and lovely cheeses (like Brie, Gouda, and some others I didn't recognize), bacon, whole fruits, tons of preserves, yogurt, cereal, you name it. And the coffee was alright. I decided to go for eggs, cheese, and fruit, and oh yeah… bread. It was all delicious. I met the students and our on-site coordinator, Anne in the lobby and we headed to the city center for our tour of the Thorvaldsen museum and the Danish parliament. Having slept very little and feeling the jet-lag creeping in (sometimes it hits me the third day rather than the first). We also stopped by Anne's apartment in the city center area and had some traditional Danish sandwiches. They were basically slices of bread with various different toppings on them, mostly cold fish, and other cod meats, eggs, potatoes, vegetables or shrimp. I had to be a bit careful with my belly and just ate one with boiled egg slices and bread. After lunch I basically slogged through the tours, taking several pictures of Thorvaldsen's great sculpture works, and absent-mindedly leaving my camera in the locker during our tour of parliament. Following the tours I had a meeting with the students, who told me they liked Copenhagen a lot, but that it was quite a bit more expensive than they expected. I quickly found that out as well, when I went to buy a Sprite to soothe my aching belly (was it the cheese? It couldn't have been the bread…), and I found out the bottle of soda cost over $3.00, when the same would cost about $1.29 in the U.S. Anne looked at me with her Sparkling Danish eyes and said, "Oh yes. We Danes don't drink sodas like Americans do. We have very high taxes on anything with a lot of sugar or fat in them. That way it's cheaper to eat healthy". Hmm… I thought. What a concept. ;-) That must also explain why my grilled chicken salad was only $17.50 when the burger and fries were over $20.00. The high prices would continue, as would the and rain for the next 24 hours or so. I managed to have a lovely dinner with the professor that evening (pasta, with chicken and mushrooms and gravy, accompanies with a glass of pinot); then spent a good part of the next day recovering from jet-lag and general lack of sleep and rest over the past days. It was a nice day to take it easy, as it was raining quite a bit and it was grey and cloudy everywhere. I did go out for a bit (to get some bread), but mostly caught up on sleep, and some chats with Anne and the students to get a better sense of what we can and can't improve for next year.
Friday evening I met up with my friend and former flat-mate from Barcelona, Melissa. She's a Dutch girl that I met while we were both studying Spanish in Barcelona in 2005. Since then, she has come to the U.S. once to visit when I lived in L.A., and I have gone back to BCN once while she was living and working there. She now lives in Copenhagen with her boyfriend Nicklaus who seems to be a really great guy. Melissa is also expecting a little baby girl in December so it was really exciting to celebrate that with her. That night, we went to dinner at a nice Italian place in Norreport. I hadn't noticed anyone really looking at me, but I was asked three times about where I was from or about my accent, and one guy even said he thought he knew me from somewhere! I guess he had worked in America for awhile and perhaps all of us Americans look alike :) It would be strange if he really had seen me before, but I was so caught off-guard by his mentioning he thought he'd seen me before that I quickly blushed and dismissed it, thinking it was a "line". Melissa and I had a laugh, and also had a great time reminiscing about Spain and catching up on life thereafter. I would spend the whole next day with Melissa and Nicklaus and stay with them the following night.
Saturday, July 21st was an absolutely perfect day! The sun was shining bright in Copenhagen, and I had two wonderful tour guides to take me around the Norreport area. I can't say much more than it was just beautiful! Pictures to follow on Facebook…. We stopped for awhile and Nicklaus and I had a couple of beers while Melissa had some juice, and we just watched tourists and locals walk by, as well as ships sailing in the harbor. We also say one almost naked guy with a sign on his ahem… belt… that said something about getting married, and another guy wearing a cow suit for presumably the same reason. Apparently it is common for the Bachelor parties to consist of some sort of humiliating act the groom must endure. I have to admit it was hilarious! And yes, I took pictures. The day overall was so nice I wished I'd had one or two more days in Copenhagen. Melissa and Nick live in a nice apartment with great views and two balconies on either side of the space. We had a drink and watched the sunset, and Melissa cooked a nice Danish supper of meat balls with potatoes and gravy, as well as a spinach, beet and goat cheese salad (she is a woman after my own heart). I definitely could have stayed another day. We all had a great time chatting and just relaxing as well. I Skyped with Mark and the boys before going to bed and resting up for my departure back to Berlin the next morning.
Sunday, July 22nd: Whew. I hadn't had any time to write or upload pictures (and incidentally I brought the wrong photo card reader so pics may have to wait)… I knew at least my mother and Dad would be interested in what I've been up to :-) so that more or less catches up to now. I arrived in Berlin just after 2:30PM, and took a series of trains to get to my hotel in Prenzlauer Berg (a neighborhood North east of the city center). The hotel is great and they even have Mark's favorite beer (Kostritzer) in the vending machine, as well as some jagermeister if I want to act like a 20 year-old college student. My internet signal isn't working in my room, but I am hoping this will be fixed or I'll be moved tomorrow. Although… I do like my cozy, quiet little room. I went out for a walk of the neighborhood and noticed a nearby Biergarten that looked okay but didn't seem to have food, so I hit up one of the many local Turkish eateries and enjoyed a full plate of rice, chicken and salad (no bread). ;-) Tomorrow I can get up whenever I like… sleep in if I want to… and then leisurely take on the day. I'm planning to do some sight-seeing and will likely end up back in the Tiergarten at some point. But for now…. Guten Nacht.
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