Berlin.
From Nov. 2 until NOv 7th I had the chance to visit the capital of Germany, Berlin. Traveling with 29 Rotary exchange students from all over the world (the majority from Southern American countries) and 3 previous exchange students ("Rotex" students, who were now back in Germany), I wasnt planning on getting much sleep. We took a coach bus to Berlin, driving all Sunday night and arriving Monday morning. As predicted, I didnt sleep at all. Lack of sleep is always a bummer, because you have a harder time concentrating on really cool exhibits we might have visited, or absorbing vast amounts of information, but when you hav the chance to spend time with so many people from around the world, sleep doesnt really matter too much. Upon arrival, we checked in to our Hostel. That was the first adventure. Our Hostel was situated in the previous part of East Germany (signified by the little "Amplemen", or walk dont walk men that are different in the old Eastern part than anywhere else in Germany). Our Hostel creatively situated place also had a history. We were situated right next to the Zoological Train Bahnhof, which doesnt sound too interesting. The "Bahnhof Zoo", however, was previous one of the hottest spots in Germany for prostitution. I believe that the Hostel where we were staying was rebuilt in place of an old brothel. I cant tell you the exact history of it all, but there is a very famous German book, "die Kinder von Bahnhof-Zoo", about a young girl who grew in this area. It was a great place to stay, situated perfectly in the center of Berlin and an easy parking place for our bus, but I found that historical factor very interesting. Prostitution is much more legal in Germany than in the states (I believe a similar law to Rhode Islands, street soliciting is not ok but houses are. Rhode Island and Nevada are the only states in the US that allow sexual soliciting), but I promise you we were in no danger and encountered no soliciting.
Berlin I found to be an extremely interesting city. I dont believe there could be another city anything like it anywhere else in the world. It has this incredibly amazing mix of rich, sad, history and this extremely modern, clubbing, art and shopping culture. There are old buildings from the 1200s mixed in with the new all glass political buildings. There are statues everywhere, people in all shapes and sizes, and a very eclectic sense of living. I truly loved the city. I learned so much of German history by just one visit, and also had so much fun in the meantime.
MONDAY:
After checking into our Hostel, we started directly for sight-seeing. Our first stop in Berlin was the Holocaust-Denkmal (Holocaust Memorial). In 1988 a Jerusalem tv-program noticed that there was no memorial commemorating the Jews that died during the Holocaust, the one land that had done most of the murdering. Germany agreed that they needed a memorial as well, and in 2005 it was finally built. 2711 stones stand in this spot in central Berlin, modeling after a Jewish graveyard, since most of the Jews killed never had an actualy graveyard. The stones are all a cement gray, like the color of the ashes of the Jews burned. Each stone is a different size, no two are alike. This was an attempt to give back the Jews identity, since in the war they were grouped together as one large population, all the exact same species of animal. The ground changes heights beneath you, felling as though it may fall out from underneath you. The memorial truly moved me. Its scale and simplicity speaks volumes, just as you walk by you remember the horrible crimes of the Holocaust. Im sure it is hard for people living there to be reminded of that each day. I find that often in Germans however, they are able to handle history in wonderful ways. They learn so darn much about WWII. Visiting the memorial though was the first time I realized how different people from Spanish cultures are, and people from the states or other English speaking lands are. Of course everyone found the memorial very sad and interesting, but I stayed somewhat serious and was unsure whether to smile or not to in pictures. After 5 minutes or so, most people from South America were peeking around the stones, laughing and taking pictures. I do love them all dearly, but I could not bring myself to take the situation so lightly.
Next to the Holocaust Memorial is Brandenburgertor, or Platz des 18 März. Brandenburgertor has been in Berlin for a very long time, I believe built in 1734. The famous four horses on top ("die Quadriga") was put on top in 1793, built in memory of the war of Frederich the II. Napolean stole it in 1806 and brought it to Paris, but it was recovered after he lost power in 1814 and place back on top with the Iron Cross. In 1933 the Nazis celebrated their "Machtergleifung" there (like a power celebration), where it began to become known. After the war was over, in 1945, the Soviets placed their red flag on the top of the Tor signifying the end. The Tor sat right along the Berlin wall from 1961-1989, and only soldiers were allowed along it. Most pictures you see of people climbing over the wall in '89 took place right at Brandenburgertor. Since "die Mauerfall" (the fall of the wall), Brandenburgertor has been a symbol of German unity and as well as freedom for those from East Germany. At the northern part of the tower, the UNO organization built a place fo "tolerance beween nations and religion", so sort of a meditation place in the middle of this busy city. THe US embassy stands close to the southern side.
Our last visit on Monday was to the Reichstag Building, or German Parliament. It was very cool, as Rotary students we were invited to go inside for a special tour of the building (in comparision to the US, its sort of like Congress). The building took ten years to build (18884-1894) by Paul Wallot. The front of the building now says "dem Deutschen Volke" above the West entrance, but was not originally put there (probably because the Kaiser didnt want it there), but place there after WWI in hopes of motivating the people. In later years (during the Nazi regime) it wasnt used at all as a parliament building, given the Nazis met in other places. It was burned down in 1933, then renovated again after the wall came down for use as Germanys main seat of government. The soviets occupied it for a while as well, and inside on the walls you can see writings of angry soviet soldiers or civilians during the burning. There are four towers in the building (which each represent something important but I forget exactly what, we learned a lot of stuff that day), and there is a large glass dome at the top. The dome is made of all glass, and looks down into the main meeting room of Parliament. It was quite funny, our tour guide kept stressing the usage of all of this glass as we were there because "glass signifies democracy", you see TRANSPARENCY allows for people to look inside where the government is at work, and be a part of making decisions in the country (as well as know whats going on inside). We may very well have to remodel the White House. Inside the main Parliamentary meeting room (Plenary chamber) sit 6 parties (Free Democratic Party [FDP], Christian Democratic Union, Christian Social Union [CDU/CSU], in the middle the Alliance 90/Green Party, then the Social Democratic Party of Germany [SPD], and finally on the far right the Left Party - ironic, huh?). Inside the room are these periwinkle colored chairs, the color specially designed for the room. An eagle is the symbol of the German parliament, to always keep a watchful eye. It was very cool to see the center of German government (across the way are the other government buildings, including Angela Merkels - German Chancellor- residence.
TUESDAY:
Potsdam.
Potsdam is a city just outside of Berlin, a city know as one of the most expensive citys in all of Germany to live in (one kindergarten costs 2000€/month). It lies in the previous part of Eastern Germany. Since Berlin is such a big city, you dont notice so much that it lied in what was previous the DDR (or in English GDR). Potsdam, you definitely do. It was the first time it hit me how different the part of Germany we were all living in (Bavaria), was from the Northern or previous Eastern parts of Germany. It was much more gray in Potsdam, not many paintings on houses or flower boxes out the windows. There was no law that every house had to have a red roof (which is an actual law in Bavaria, f.y.i.). In Potsdam stands two famous monuments that we had the chance to visit.
Schloss Cecilienhof (Cecilien Palace) was our first stop. Cecilienhof was built as a present from Kaiser Wilhelm II to his son Wilhelm and fiance Cecilie. The two ended up having to "flee" the country to Holland after Wilhelm III came to his end of being the last Kaiser of Germany, when Germany rejected a monarch system. The palace has 176 rooms, but the architecht built it to look like it was much smaller than it actually was. Cecilienhof was host to other famous meetings in later years, including the Potsdamer Conference in 1945. The Potsdamer Conference was a meeting of Truman, Stalin, and Churchill (France didnt come) after the war to decide what Germany's new borders would be, how each zone would be divided up for each of the respective Allied countries, the "Reparationszahlungen" (reparation money) Germany had to pay for the war, and also discussed the war in the Pacific. This conference signified the end of World War II, and the beginning of the Cold War. Cecilienhof also later became the meeting of the Great 8 "Außenministertreffen" in 2007. Trees surround the entire grounds, and it is truly a very pretty home.
Also in Potsdam, a more well known attraction, is Park Sanssouci. Park Sanssouci was built in 1744 by Friedrich the Great as a Summer Home present to his brother, although Friedrich and his guests also spent a fair amount of time there. The Park grounds are vast, with many different "Gazebo" type enjoyement areas. The largest building is Palais Sanssouci, Neues Palais, which is a large building with separate apartements inside for Friedrich and guests. It was built after the 7-Years war, first beginning with brick, and then deciding to build it with cement and paint the bricks on because otherwise it would have taken too long. Also inside the park stands the Neue Kammern (with a large windmill, and old mill that was also used as a summer theater in Friedrichs time), the Chinese Tea House (modeled after Friedrichs idea of what Asia would be like, since everyone was fascinated with traveling in the part of the world, but no one knew a thing about it. It was used for a summer relaxation place and for festivals. It truly inspired me to want to drink some tea inside it), a Roman Bath built from the love crownprince Friedrich Wilhelm had of Italy (but only the Gardner lived there), Charlottenhof (a wedding present from Friedrich Wilhelm in 1825), and my favorite Schloss Sanssouci. Schloss Sanssouci was Friedrichs summer home and one of the few buildings he made he actually spent time in and enjoyed. In the backyard stand a large staircase with vines up to the main building, which is said to look like a waterfall in the summer time. A fountain stands at the base. It was very pretty, and I could see why it would be a very nice vacation home. Sanssouci means "Hakuna Matata", or No worries.
Tuesday night our Rotary leaders also surprised us with a showing of Blue Man Group. Blue Man Group are normally about 3 men (dressed in black with all blue faces) who perform various theater type pieces for and with their audience. The group carried a lot of fun messages to the people, about the environment and technology and various things, and were very fun to see. I believe the group actually started in the States, but are now fairly worldwide. It was quite funny though, we were told we were going to a Rotary meeting and they ended up bringing us to Blue Man Group. I couldnt complain.
WEDNESDAY:
Wednesday was one of those middle-of-the-week-really-tired days, o a little less stressful. We visited a central area in Berlin, and this AMAZING chocolate shop that housed chocolate models of the Reichstag Builing, Gedächtnis Kirche, Brandenburgertor, and other cool statues or monuments. All of chocolate! I had finally realized I was in Germany. Yum.
Wednesday we also visited Checkpoint Charlie. Checkpoint Charlie was the most well known Checkpoints along the wall bordering the American sector. Each Checkpoint was named A,B,C . . after the military alphabet, thus the nickname Checkpoint Charlie. A picture of "Peter" one of the first killed at the Checkpoint stands in the middle of the street by the checkpoint, which has actually been rebuilt to look like the old version of it. The street where it is is still in use. In the surrounding area, or just down the street, are remnants of the wall that we had a chance to visit. At one section of the wall an exhibit was made about the history of the wall and the dividing of Germany, and has now been turned into a permanent museum "under the wall". It was very cool, but graphic in other ways because it depicted many pictures from the time.
Wednesday we also visited two other museums, one of them a museum depicting what life was like in the DDR that was very interesting. It contained a model of a DDR house, clothing examples because most clothing was made of synthetic fibers (being unable to get ahold of natural fibers), models of childrens homework from school, a Trabi car, and other various items. Life in the DDR was not entirely bad by any means - as it was communist no one was really rich, and no one was really poor. Because it was generally banned from exports and was too poor for certain luxuries, the DDR just didnt have many things the west did (such as certain cars, jeans, food, etc).
Later on Wednesday we visited another museum, this one called "the story of Berlin" that explained the history of the city from the very beginning on. You learn so much about WWII here, which I of course find interesting, but I also found it interesting to learn about the other aspects of Berlin's history. Underneath this museum was a Nuclear Bomb Shelter, which we were fortunate enough to get a tour of. The West built many Bomb shelters in Berlin while the Cold War was waging in fear of possibly having to use them. Most shelters housed about 4000 people inside, and many were scattered and slightly hidden throughout the city (many right next to subways). The unfortunate thing was that the majority of the people in Berlin would not be able to fit in these shelters. I believe all together they would house 25,000 people or so, but the city of Berlin was millions (I think the percentage was only about 2% of the people that the shelters would hold). The Bunkers air filters would last for 2 weeks, and then people would have to leave. People would have to wait in line if anything was to happen, first come first serve. It was very scary down there almost like a submarine with blue and green lights and strange beeping sounds.
THURSDAY:
Thursday we visited KaDeWe, the second biggest shopping center in Europe (the largest being in London), and had a fairly relaxing morning. Im not entirely sure if its larger than the MOA, but it is four floors so I do believe so.
In the afternoon we got to visit a Stasi prison, which ended up being my favorite part of the our (of course not the most fun, but the most interesting). The Stasi ("Secret Police") were an elite part of the Soviet Police force, an entirely separate organization. They built many of these prisons around Germany to interrogate prisoners in hopes of finding people who could be against the governemnt. Seeing the places where these prisoners had to leave was just so sad, the conditions they lived and what they had to go through. It would have completely broken my will for living had I had to be there. The one we went to was most well known for housing the majority of Political Prisoners, Höhenschonhaus.
Overall, Berlin was an amazing experience Im so glad I got to visit. I would love to go back. Below are some pictures, actually starting at the end of the trip, of Berlin. I actually took 412 or something, so only a few are below.
Driving past the longest section of wall left in Berlin, the section graffitied by famous artists who have agreed to come back in the next few years and repaint their murals. After the war was over, people know as "wall woodpeckers" attacked the wall with hammers, knives and anything they could get their hands on. A symbol of so much pain for the East German people, as well as the entire country, it was difficult to keep much standing. Finally historical organizations came in and helped to preserve some parts of the wall.
Looking at the main building (offices and in the basement earlier cells) of a Stasi prison. A large, U-shaped building was later built for interrogation rooms and prison cells.
The "tiger cages" in Stasi Prison. Prisoners were allowed 30 minutes of time outdoors each day, and these were the small outdoor cells. Because the Stasi feared they could write something on the walls with their fingernails or something, they required the prisoners to walk around the cage in a circle the entire time, thus nicknamed Tiger Cages.
One of the "new" cells (from 1953 on) in Stasi prison Höhenschonhaus (outside of Berlin).
As you can see, this cell has a flushable toilet, heat (which were both controlled by the Stasi), a window, matress, table. Earlier prisoners never knew if it was light because they had one light that would turn on every 15 minutes, or just the slightest amount of light from a weak window like below.
One of the old cells (1947-1953). They changed a little, huh? - Prisoners may stay for 6 months or so on average, without a shower, toothpaste, sleep, a matress, change of clothing, etc. The gray garbage can is the toilet. Im sure they stunk. This was one of the isolation rooms, but many also existed with one large bed, a cell where 10 or 15 people might sleep. The interesting part about that is that a Nazi and a communist could end up sleeping in the same room. Can you say tension? The prison here was well known because it was just outside of Berlin (so therefore had many prisoners that had tried to climb over the wall) and was the most well known Prison for political prisoners in all of Germany, although it was not the biggest. The West knew of this prison, knew the Höhenschonhaus existed, but even they didnt know where it was. The prison was in a restricted area of Berlin, and kept secret to all that lived in the area around it. Only Stasi officials were allowed to live above the 3rd floor in the surrounding area, because otherwise people may be able to look inside. Later the West bought prisoners back from the Soviets, and normally tried buying them back from this prison because of the higher number of political prisoners there, they however never knew who they may get.
Stalin declared during his "reign" that torture for the means of getting information out of people was legal. Thus, the Stasi used various methods to help get information out of prisoners as to who may have helped them climb the wall, why they would be against the Stasi, etc. Above is a picture of a torture room, where Chinese Water Torture took place. The head would be held very still and a bucket of water would drop small droplets in one specific spot on your head for hours. Eventually, this droplet of water begins to feel like stones. Other methods were a room where the prisoners would go and have to stand for hours in a cold, water filled, dark room. Another was an extremely small room, a closet in between a slightly thick wall, where prisoners were put for 4 hours if they had done anything bad. After Stalin was out of power, in 1953 the Stasi was forced to quit using torture methods. They still didnt allow for much sleep however, thus the prisoners were normally sleep deprived (they couldnt sleep during the day, had to sleep with their hands across their chest when they did sleep at night, and interrogations took place at night for hours on end). They played with many psychological methods, like complete reliance on the Stasi officers and other wonderful things.
Leaving the Stasi Prison, Höhenschonhaus.
The Gedächtnis Kirche (Memorial Church), which was relatively bombed down during a war, but continues to be a very recognizable monument in Berlin.
Inside the new version of the church, which is very much like an extremely large tower. You can see part of it in the photo above. When the light hits it, the blue stained glass shines, especially when the lights are on at night. Otherwise its mainly cement.
Visiting a club "QDorf" in Berlin - we had to see both modern, night life, and the historical monuments you see.
Nuclear bomb shelter we visited.
The bunks were people would sleep for up to 2 weeks inside the Bunker.
A picture of one of my favorite artists, Keith Haring, who did work on the Berlin wall like so many other artists, protesting the Soviets ('86)
(Inside a museum)
Hitler's oh so famous hand raise, and above some of his signatures as they progressed through the ages. I found that very interesting. It started out strong but very unsure, then got extrememly decisive and heavy, then got to have a worried and scared tone to it before his death, when it was finally completely unlegible.
A "Trabi" car. These cars were THE cars to have in Eastern Germany. I dont remember exactly what car they were originally modeled after, but they were a very affordable car and seemingly reliable at the time. Of course you had to wait on a list to get one for about 10 years, and when you did you took very good care of it, but the key was that you were actually ABLE to get one of these cars in Eastern Germany, unlike many other things. The car became a symbol for many people during that time.
The really cool museum we went in "The Story of Berlin", a very famous painting from WWII.
The well known museum "under the wall", down the street from Checkpoint Charlie.
The Berlin wall through the ages.
Berliner Bär - the Berlin Bear!
Checkpoint Charlie
Not sure whether to smile or cry again . . .
Reichstag Building (in ALL CHOCOLATE!)
Berlin center (with Jason, from Pennsylvania)
Visiting the wall for the first time.
Blue Man Group (In Berlin!)
The "frontyard" of the Sanssouci main Park. Frederich built the back of it beautifully, so said he didnt need the front to be very beautiful. It maybe doesnt look quite so magnificient, but boring I would never word it as.
Hiding in the Ivy trellaces at Sanssouci
Park Sanssouci, the main summer home and relaxing area from Frederick the Great. The terraces are said to look like a Waterfall in the summer when all the plants are green.
Chinese Tea House at Sanssouci
Visiting Palais Sanssouci
Schloss Cecilienhof (Potsdam)
"West" jeans (Levis) and "East" jeans (synthetic fibers), visiting the DDR (GDR) museum to see what life was like in East Germany.
Inside the main center of the German Parliament building. The purple chairs, as a quick note, were designed (the color) so that it would have no association with any other voting parties that were represented. Its patented and everything. Just like Tiffany Blue.
Inside the dome at the top of the Parliament Building
At the Reichstag Building (German Parliament)
"English" speaking Rotary students. Lillemor, our trip leader, would tell us about each monument in German, and then we would divide us up into 3 languages (Spanish, Portuguese, and English) and explain it again. Above are students from Thailand, Finland, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the US, and Jakob (from Germany who spent his exchange year in Finland and would explain everything to us in English).
Exchange Students in front of Brandenburgertor (the US Flag is not present because none of the citizens thought to bring a flag along, given most people do not wear their flag around as a cape as many of the Brasilian students did, but afterward I gave in and bought one at a special flag shop. The blue, red and white, will now have a loud place in group photos as well).
At the Holocaust-Denkmal, in most photos I was very unsure whether to smile or to just have a really serious face because you are remembering so many dead, but I guess when you're with so many exchange students its always a fun adventure.
(Robin in purple from New York, the three behind me from Brasil)
Holocaust-Denkmal (Holocaust Memorial)
Teresa's plate (who doesnt like fish).
The view outside my room (with a little more snow, rain, and a window in the way).
As you can see, they look fairly evil with their horns and furs and everything.
