I honestly can not believe the final city has come and gone already. When I got back into Madrid, I spent almost 24 hours straight in my apartment, drinking gallons of water, watching episodes of The Office to veg out, and taking care of e-mails/picture uploads/blog posts/etc. I also tried to push any thought of exercise out of my brain. After days and days of walking and MWS work-outs, I think my body deserves one or two days to rejuvenate :)
But that is not the exciting adventure you clicked on this link to read about. Let me tell you about Berlin...
When we first got to Berlin, we checked into our ho(s)tel. (Pronounce it like hotel but with an 's' in it... it's my way of making it sound fancier.) We stayed in the hotel part of PLUS Berlin, a hostel that has pretty much everything you can think of: electronic key cards, a 4+ person reception desk, a bar/restaurant, a huge outdoor courtyard with rabbits and parakeets, an indoor pool, art exhibitions, etc. Mom and I read about it in a New York Times article that one of her co-workers passed along. It was certainly a nice hostel, but I think I built it up a little too much in my mind to have it live up to the expectations. Nevertheless, it was really cool.
After dropping off our stuff, we left the hostel and went for a walk around some of the main sites in the city. First, we hit up Parliment. We didn't know what it was at that point, but it looked important, so we tried to go in. Okay, I tried to go in. This is the second time I almost walked into somewhere I didn't belong. The first time was in Prague, when I was distracted with conversions of Euros to Czech Korunas in my head and almost walked into a men's bathroom. I was literally a step away from passing through the door frame. The first guy that passed me turned around with a very confused look. It wasn't until I almost walked through the door when I realized that a second guy was coming out of the same door and I didn't belong in there. Ali's shouts of "Amber!" were lost to my ears.
Anyway, we found out you had to make a reservation several days in advance to go into the Parliment building, so we didn't make it. The guy at the door looked seriously disappointed for us, but I don't think any of us were that phased by it.
Parliment
Next, we headed to Brandenburg gate, a monument that used to be a very obvious sign of the division between East Berlin and West Berlin because it was just inside the wall in East Berlin. However, since the wall was torn down in 1989, it has served as a sign of unity within the city.
Right near the Brandenburg gate is the Holocaust Memorial. The memorial is almost an entire block of concrete blocks of all different heights. Thus, when you are walking through, you end up being surrounded by them, with some rising feet above your head. It is a cool monument because it is interactive, but it also has some controversy surrounding it. You can read about it in this BBC article.
At the edge of the Holocaust Memorial. The concrete boxes reminded me of coffins, though I don't think that was the intention.
Then we headed over to a section of the Berlin Wall, where we saw an exhibit on Hitler. It was a very interesting exhibit, but by the end of the day, I was definitely suffering from information overload.
Part of the Berlin Wall
One of my favorite quotes from the exhibit: "...This course of action against the Jews is so unchristian that every Christian, not just every priest, should speak out against it. The present poses far more pressing problems for the higher Church authorities... especially since... we have no reason to give the government course to turn Jew-baiting into Jesuit-baiting..."
I liked this quote because it reminded me of a poem that I used with my 1IB (11th grade) students when talking about racism this year.
First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the socialists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me.
- Martin Niemöller, a German pastor and theologian who spoke out against Hitler
A replica of the original sign
Ali and I had quite the time trying to get a picture of the checkpoint area because there were so many tourists in the way. Finally, Mom stepped in and tried to get in the way of all of their pictures so that they would give up and then she could quickly move out of ours. It wasn't too successful, but it was entertaining.
Laughing at the guy who had just walked into the picture
Tuesday morning, we got up to attend yoga (Relaxing class, weird closing visualization: "Think about a time when something really bad happened to you... talk to yourself about it..."), which was offered for free on Tuesdays at the hostel (Remember: pronounce it like hotel with an 's'). After working up an appetite, we headed off for breakfast in a historical garden, which I had found by doing some research on food blogs the night before.
How cute!
Mom, enjoying her coffee in a garden in West Berlin
For the majority of the afternoon on Tuesday, we walked around the shopping streets, checking out the European fashions, gaping at prices of things that one of us could have made, buying gifts, and making a few small additions to our own wardrobes. Then, after a long hard day (wink wink) of carrying around packages, we stopped to try our first currywurst at Curry 36 (another place I had read about on a food blog).
Currywurst
According to Wikipedia, a currywurst "is a fast food dish of German origin consisting of steamed, then fried pork sausage (German: Wurst) cut into slices and seasoned with curry ketchup, regularly consisting of ketchup or tomato paste blended with generous amounts of curry powder, or a ready-made ketchup-based sauce seasoned with curry and other spices."
It was tasty, but a third of a currywurst didn't consist of dinner. So, after we dropped off our bags at our hostel, we headed to a restaurant to fill up on some Berlin cuisine.
A very tender meatball with mushrooms and potatoes
Apple strudel, accompanied by the best vanilla ice cream EVER
Then, to get our historical sights in for the day, I dragged Mom and Ali around to see a few of the monuments all lit up.
The Berlin Cathedral
We took a stroll through Museum Island to some musicians playing classical music. When we doubled back at the end of this hall, we saw an adorable young couple attempting to learn to dance...
For our last day, we headed off to the center of town to meet up with the Street Art Tour and Workshop, led by Alternative Berlin Tours. I would recommend this to everyone going to Berlin! We learned a great deal about graffiti, the mentality behind it, and why it is so popular in Berlin.
The first thing that we learned was that the founder of graffiti, "Cornbread" comes from good ol' Philadelphia, PA. Represent.
The father of graffiti in Berlin, however, is Creepo. He was part of the crew 'CBS', or 'Can't Be Stopped.'
Creepo's signature fists, which represent fighting the power. Only urban legends exist to explain the freshness of the paint, since Creepo stopped doing graffiti years ago.
We also learned about graffiti methods:
A 'heaven spot' is the spot on top of a wall. Graffiti artists paint these sections by hanging off the edge, or having a friend hold them by the ankles as they paint. Of course, there's a danger of falling, which gives another meaning to the term 'heaven spot'.
One method of painting is by using a fire hydrant filled with paint and water to hit places on the wall that you wouldn't be able to reach otherwise. This is difficult to control, and normally ends with the graffiti artists covered with paint. Thus, they need a change of clothes to get away without being questioned. 'Just' is the crew known for using this innovative method in Berlin.
A heaven spot and a fire hydrant piece
We also saw a lot of really great street art, which is legal art, often painted on firewalls. This one was was probably my favorite, because the artist insisted on seeing the space at different times of the day before he started painting. At night time, the shadow of the flag flying at the nearby car dealership falls right in the hand of the astronaut, making it look he is staking the flag into the ground.
The whole thing is painted by hand... if you look closely, you can see the grid lines!
My favorite graffiti artist whose work we saw was Life, who is part of the crew 'Über Fresh'. His works are daring and stylish... this one was done by repelling off the side of the building, a skill that urban legend claims he taught himself.
Classy graffiti!
Apparently when Life does works like these, he repels wearing an orange vest. Our guide said that something about the orange vest makes them seem more official and nobody second guesses the legality of what the person is doing. Another time, when 'Just' got caught doing a fire hydrant piece, the police caught him. Somehow, however, he convinced them that he was doing a Nike campaign and was going to write 'Just do it.' He got away.
Another way of 'tagging' the city is more Mom's speed... watch out, Hershey!
A cowl knitted onto a pole
Here's a look at a few more pieces of street art...
This piece was done by ROA, who always uses animals that were indigenous to the area before the urban sprawl. After he was legally commissioned to do the piece, he got permission from all of the illegal graffiti artists on the wall to paint over.
The artist of the blue piece doesn't use any traditional painting tools... he uses leaves and sticks, whatever he can find on site.
This piece was done by Klub7, a crew that now does ads for Nike.
This is one of 5 controversial pieces done by Blu in Berlin.
After seeing all the graffiti, we got a chance to try it on our own in an abandoned bread factory.
Old spray cans
Mom, Ali, and I with our works of art!
Although our tour was over, we were still in an artsy mood. So, we headed over to the East Gallery, the largest portion (1.3 km) of the Berlin Wall that still remains. It has 105 different paintings on it, done by artists from all over the world.
As you can see, some non-commissioned artists have also added their marks to the wall.
Then we headed back to the shopping street for Mom to buy some shoes that were a great price compared to the price in the states. And for our last night, we hung out in the hostel (Remember your pronunciation!) restaurant to play some cards before Mom and Ali settled down for their 'nap'. Since we went to bed close to midnight and they got up around 3:00, it really was more of a nap than anything else.
I was sad to say goodbye and as evident from the clouds in the sky the next day, so was Berlin.
It looks like Berlin is about to cry!
I spent my last day having another breakfast in the garden (with little birds that sat on the surrounding chairs and older German couples out for their special Thursday breakfast), making a few last minute purchases, and sending my last postcards. Then I took the train to the airport and made the flight which brought me to a country where the weather is about 30°F hotter. I'm coping by remembering that at least I understand the people.
I'm so thankful for such a wonderful trip and even more thankful that I will soon be home to spend more time with my family! Now it's back to my geography quizzes (I'm trying to learn the names and geography of all the countries in the world) and a lazy afternoon to gear up for Sevilla with Jackie tomorrow! I am so incredibly blessed!
Much love,
Amber
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