The Globetrotting Geek

Sunday – Day 31 – Part A

August 21, 2012

Today’s post is separated into two parts. Not for reasons of length, but to separate the content.

Today I confronted the darker side of Germany’s history, visiting again the Holocaust Memorial but, this time also going into the Holocaust Museum Memorial underneath.

For the entire duration of my trip to Germany there was this shade hanging quietly behind in the back of my mind. No amount of rationalizing that Germany today is different from that of the third Reich is sufficient to create an equivalent barrier in my perception of the country.

Koen mentioned to me that as he was feeling the tendrils of the evil left behind that I must be even more so affected. And, indeed I was.

I won’t go into depth on the details of the memorial, but as I stood silently in front of the following sign, I felt paralyzed by the realization that the horrors were no longer in some far off European city but, carved in barely faded blood onto the stones on which I was walking.

Day 30 – Shabbat

Today’s photos are for good reason, not all supplied by me, thus credit where due. As per most Shabbatot that I’m away, the day was mostly spent walking around.

Koen and I visited the TV tower at Alexanderplatz and also the Pergamon Museum, two touristic features of Berlin.

Later in the evening we returned to Theresa’s apartment where we met with her boyfriend Lucas and a friend of his to head out to a late night movie.

 

 

 

The cinematheque to which we were taken was located in what I could only describe as the ‘indie’ part of town. The narrow streets were filled with crowded outdoor bars and the sound of many languages could be heard following faster than the drinks. Street art lined the walls and a cobblestone pathway drew us ever deeper through the winding alleys.  Finally we came upon the theatre, within which were posters from the numerous films screening, none of which I had heard of.

It was explained to me that the cinema only showed films after they had been strictly vetted by staff to ensure their quality, and tonight’s film “We Have to Talk About Kevin” was no exception. Nominated for Best Feature Film at the Cannes Film Festival last year, ‘Kevin’ is a psychological thriller, directed by twenty two year old first timer Lynne Ramsay. The film was most enjoyable but struck home on an emotional level in relation to issues concerning mental health, the relationship between parent and child, and the long lasting effects on parents when their offspring go awry.

Berlin – Thursday – Day 28

August 17, 2012

Berlin is a bipolar, janus faced monkey, dancing on the stage of European history. It is the life of the party and the grim reaper, rolled into one cosmopolitan cocktail of finery.

In the morning Nicole, Koen and I walked to the local bakery to buy breakfast. I purchased an apfelkuchen, a berliner and a small loaf of bread.

Following that it was off to the Brandenburger Tor for a free three hour walking tour of Berlin.

The tour guide was a fantastic guy called Rob from Manchester and he had quite the flair for engaging and emotive story telling! He also displayed great sensitivity to the dark side of Berlin’s history and treated it in an appropriate manner. I was pleased to note as well, the entirety of our group was suitably solemn during our visit to the holocaust memorial and during discussions that followed.

Following that we visited the bunker while Hitler killed his dog, and entered into a suicide pact with his then wife Eva and shot himself. The contrast between persecuter and persecuted was stark in its treatment by modern Germany. The bunker was buried underneath a carpark, Hitler’s ashes scattered to the winds, to lie unseen eternally. The persecuter’s memories were to be blotted from the earth, while the victims would be eternally memorialized.

Next we saw an example of Nazi architecture, a cold stone building, large and phallic in structure, that originally was their headquarters. Following the defeat of Germany, it saw occupation by the communists, and watched over the rape of Berlin’s women. Finally, to this day it remains feared, the home of the tax bureau of Germany.

From there it was off to the Berlin wall, where our guide made us appreciate the magnitude of separation, emotional and physical that was wrought on the already traumatized city. He told us a love story about a man whose girlfriend lived on the opposite side of the wall and how he kidnapped a near identical individual to switch the two. He told us of the families that were separated, of the jobs lost and of the friends who were never to meet again. However, interestingly enough he told us that life in East Germany wasn’t nearly as bad as US cold war propaganda led many to believe, telling us of elderly Berliners who still reminisce about the sense of community forged in the communist block.

A quick break for lunch and I consumed an awful iced coffee and some terrible fruit. Lesson: never trust a free tour guide paid in sandwiches by a cafe.

Following that it was off to museum island and the squares designed by Frederick the Great with huge monuments to human ingenuity and ability.

Finally we came to  the Berliner Dome, a huge 20th century structure ordered by the Kaiser to replicate the grand palaces of older European cities.

It was on the steps looking out over the plaza that we were told the story of Berlin’s greatest moment, the fall of the wall. It was told fantastically and is a story well worth hearing from someone who can tell it better than I.

After the end of the tour, us and a number of the others on the tour went to a local bar for a drink. Chatting with some Canadians for an hour, my first beer in Germany went down well. Additionally we had a great time convincing them of the existence of drop bears!

As we left the bar, it soon started raining and after getting me a German sim-karte, we rushing into the Alexanderplatz U-Bahn station to get back to Theresa.

After chilling there for a while it was off to dinner to try some traditional German food. Which, importantly is amazingly cheap.

After dinner I discovered the most amazing part of Europe. The prices on icecream. For one euro, yes, one euro, you can buy a scoop of gelati in a cone. Additional scoops are also priced at, yes, one euro!

We wandered the streets for a bit then thinking what to do next when Theresa decided that in honor of ISSI (the Weizmann program) we should buy a few drinks and head back home to look through photos and videos.

Two bottles of wine, one of vodka, one of Jagermeifter and one of Feigling later, we were happily content with reminiscing to the early hours of the morning, and to wish Nicole a safe trip as she told us she had to leave for the airport at 5AM. At 3AM I phoned home to talk to my parents and to see how the family was and by the time I was ready for sleep Theresa and Nicole were curled up on the same bed, without an alarm set. Thus I set one for 4:45 and settled in for an hours sleep.

Nicole woke up crazily ten minutes after the alarm, madly packing her belonging that were in disarray on the floor. After an hour of madly rushing about she received an email about her hostel booking in Rome, to where she was heading next. This prompted her to check her boarding pass when, she noticed that she had in fact decided to leave one day before her flight. Much laughter ensued and we went back to bed for a well deserved sleep in.