Berlin

What an amazing trip this last week has been! I went to Berlin and then Budapest for 3 days each with Charlotte, Andrew and Ian, and we had a really great time exploring! I've never been to Germany or to Hungary, and so it was a drastic change from the places I have visited thus far which I'd either been to already (London, Paris) or which are more English-speaking (Holland).

I didn't really know what to expect from Berlin other than it would be a hot spot for WWII history and monuments. I knew it had been mostly destroyed in the war, but for some reason I didn't picture that all the rebuilding would make it so new world! The majority of the city is very modern, very hip, very young. And yet all of this is set on the backdrop of such a dense, dark history. It was an incredible contrast. We went on an amazing free walking tour of the city where we got to hear a lot of history and anecdotes as well as see many sights we wouldn't have known about without the tour. The Brandenburg gate was quite a sight to see. It's the city's claim to monumental fame, and it miraculously made it through all the bombings of the past century. Here's a pic I found of the Then Vs. Now:

Isn't that a great display? I found it on a street exhibit about Checkpoint Charlie (which is called Charlie because it was the 3rd checkpoint to Eastern Germany: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie...) and also the Berlin Wall. It's so weird to see these things in person and have history come alive like that. I mean, in high school it was pretty much blah blah blah and in Berlin, it's like, "Oh my God, Hitler walked here...omg, people actually died here..." and so on. It boggled my mind the pure reality of it all. And then the contrast with the bustling culture and freedom that is in place today.

Checkpoint Charlie

Charlotte and I with matching shoes straddling the line between East and West

We went to the Holocaust memorial as well, which is in the center of the city. It's a bunch of concrete squares which are the same width and depth, but differing heights that take up an entire city block. It seems very abstract, but the ideas for why the artist found it significant and interpretable are very interesting. One is that since the blocks are shorter from the outside and taller moving in, it signifies the Holocaust's subtle snowballing effect. Another is that since it's practically a maze, it's easy to lose the person you are with, portraying the lonesomeness and sudden loss of loved ones among those directly affected by the terrible event. It was very moving, and yet at the same time a fun memorial to explore (which once again contrasted the city's morbid history with the new wave of youthful culture).

We also went into the Parliament Building, the Reichstag, which has been destroyed more than once and rebuilt, and now has the addition of a VERY modern dome, which we entered. It was an interesting work of architecture, with spiraling walkways up, floor to ceiling windows, and an oculus at the top:

It's a really cool structure, with a partially glass floor where you can look down at Parliament, allowing the electors to keep watch on the elected.

Thursday night was free museum night on Museum Island, so we went to a couple of the art museums for free. At the Altes Museum, we saw a neat collection of Egyptian art, the most inspiring of which was the Bust of Queen Nefertiti, which dates back to 1340 BC! At the Pergamonmuseum we saw the awe-striking Ishtar Gate, from Babylon, which dates back to the 6th century BC. Now I only went to these museums because they were free and my roommate is an art history major, but I'm really glad I did because I saw things other than what I normally would have.

Statue outside the Altes Museum

Bust of Queen Nefertiti

Ishtar Gate

Other sites we visited were Hitler's Bunker (or the uninteresting/unmarked ground above Hitler's Bunker), the Book Burning Mermorial (a small glass square in the ground where you can see one story of stark white, empty bookshelves covering the walls), and the exhibit at the SS and Gestapo Headquarters (a la-ha-hot of reading). Also, I don't know if you can call this a significant sight of Berlin or not, but our tour guide pointed out the infamous hotel where the infamous Michael Jackson dangled his baby out the window. Around town there were a lot of bears with various decorations on them. Berlin has quite the bustling art scene. This bear had the flags of the European Union on it, and I took a pic of my favorite:

The Berlin Wall was very moving to learn about. The number one thing I learned is that I knew nothing about it before going to Berlin! I was flabbergasted at how long the wall had been in place, how difficult life had been for those living within the walls, the heroic attempts and failures and successes of those trying to escape, and so on. Now, many sections of the wall have been left up as reminders and memorials to that part of Berlin's history. In fact, many are part of an art project where pieces of the wall are decorated and dispersed throughout the world. Here's me with two of them:

I desperately wanted a picture of the four of us, so I made everyone stop. Here's an example of the difficulty of getting four people into one frame...

...we're cute, but you can hardly tell we're in front of the Brandenburg Gate!

Now I will tell you about my absolute favorite thing in Berlin: Amplemann!! Eastern Germany designed special green/red streetlight crossing signs for walk/don't walk and now Berlin is filled with them! After the wall fell, there was talk of taking them down since they were influenced by a communist regime, but the people fought back against it, and now it's a Berlin specialty. They are on just about every corner, and are sooo cute. Here's what he looks like (prepare for the ultimate in cuteness):

On our last night in Berlin we decided to go out to this place we had read had amazing, authentic American Hamburgers. And it SOOOO did! It was started by this guy from New York named John who moved to Berlin because he got his German girlfriend pregnant. We started talking to him (obviously that information isn't in the guidebook), and he was so cool, friendly, and happy to talk to some Americans. Since Andrew's originally from New York, they hit it off. Well, the guy wanted to share his hospitality and ended up bringing this very strong German alcohol to the table wanting to do shots with us, which you obviously do not turn down.

Considering we had all already had beer, it turned into a very interesting night! After we finally left the restaurant, we went to a techno club in the city and danced and danced until we realized we should probably get some sleep before our flight to Budapest the next morning!