BERLIN!!

I have returned from Berlin, and do I ever have a blog entry for you guys! We hopped on our train at about 8:30 Friday morning, and after about 2 hours noticed a marked difference.... as soon as we crossed the Czech-German border, not only did the architecture drastically change from the train window into beautiful German houses, but so did the announcements on the train - we were unmistakably in Deutscheland! I have to admit that when we arrived at Hauptbahnhof (the central train station), the three of us were a little overwhelmed... but after getting our Bahn passes and getting settled into our hostel, we finally made it out into the city and were ready to go!

I had heard from my roommates, who went to Berlin the weekend before, about a free tour of the city, so we decided to go.... and it was such a great idea. It was a 3.5 hour tour and really showed us all the major sites in Berlin, from the Brandenburg Gate to Museum Island. The tour really highlighted the history of Germany, particularly in the 1900s. Obviously, Germany and Berlin in particular are not proud of much of their history in that time period, but instead of hiding it or brushing it under the rug, they really make a point of putting it out in the open, apologizing, and moving forward with their very vibrant history that they are building today. For example,the new Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is placed in a heavily-trafficked area so that Berlin residents and tourists alike are unable to miss commemorating a part of history that was so grim for the German people (picture on right). I do have to admit

that it was pretty chilling to be standing over the bunker where Hitler killed himself, and being at the Berlin Wall really took on an added significance. It's one thing to study history and another thing to be in the place where history happened. Other notable sites on the tour included Checkpoint Charlie (left), the former SS headquarters (which 

surprisingly never was destroyed in WWII), and Babelplatz (the site of the infamous Nazi book burning). Our first day ended with some typical German food - Bratwurst and Potatoes, of course - and a walk around the city by night. Berlin is so neat to see all lit up, and we really enjoyed

 getting lost and blindly wondering around the city on a Friday night. (Left - TV tower at night)

The next day, we were up bright and early so that we could go around and see the rest of the city - it's pretty hard to try to get a feel for an entire city in just one weekend! Our first stop was the Reichstag, the German parliamentary building, which has a really cool dome that you can climb to see panoramic views of the city of Berlin. We waited for about an hour, but it was really cool to finally climb the dome and see the entire city with its older and new sections, representing before and after WWII (a recurring theme in Berlin history). Next, it was off to Potsdamerplatz, Berlin's answer to Times Square and home of the Sony Center, a HUGE dome in the middle of the square. By the way, we eventually became pros at the U-Bahn and S-Bahn, Berlin's public transportation..... there are about 30 lines that go everywhere in the city, which is HUGE! It was really fun (albeit a bit tiresome) to navigate the complicated trains, but we didn't make one mistake!

The next stop was one of the highlights of the trip, for sure. The Eastern Gallery is the longest surviving stretch of the Berlin Wall (about 1 mile), which has all sorts of graffiti and commissioned artwork along the length of it. As I mentioned before, it was really amazing to read some of the messages written and drawn on the wall and see how they really had added significance because of the location. It's mind-blowing to realize that people were separated from their family, friends, and loved ones for 30 YEARS, being in the same city the whole time, all because of an oppressive government. Berlin's culture today seems to me to be a rebuttal to those times, emphasizing freedom of speech and expression and embracing its cosmopolitan nature, which is symbolic of the freedom to experience the world - something that was obviously missing during the times of the split. And surprisingly, East and West Berlin today have almost no distinction. They are very much the same city, unified together. 

Before heading back to the city center, we had to get some more German food, this time opting for Currywurst, a local favorite. Imagine a sausage chopped up, drenched with ketchup, and sprinkled with curry powder. Strange, but delicious - especially in Germany! (right) After a stop at the Pergaman Museum to see their exhibit on Ancient Babylon (very cool!), it was finally time to experience Berlin nightlife. Suffice to say, we had a good time (I'm trying to keep my blog relatively tame) and were definitely exhausted by the end of the night.

I didn't mention one part of Saturday, because - for me - it's a grand finale of sorts. After our trip to the museum, we actually decided to check out the State Opera on a whim to see if anything decent was playing that evening. Unfortunately, nothing caught our fancy, but as I was flipping through the season brochure, something did catch my eye. I noticed that one of my favorite baritones, Thomas Quasthoff (a Berliner), was going to be at the State Opera in concert sometime in September. After looking a little closer, I realized that he would be there on Sunday - the day we had to leave Berlin. Of course I was pretty upset, figuring I was going to be missing him by a mere few hours.... until I realized he was performing an 11am concert that lasted for 65 minutes and our train wasn't until 12:45pm. Long story short, we were able to get some cheap, last minute seats and I was able to see one of my musical inspirations in concert in Berlin. It was really an amazing moment for me.... something I hope that I'll always remember. needless to say, we RAN out of the concert hall to make our train, but caught it with 5 minutes to spare!

There's so much more that I could say about the city of Berlin and my experiences there that are really difficult to write out. Of course, you can always take a look at my full gallery of pictures via Picasa or get on Skype and call me! It's amazing that I am able to talk with my parents and friends halfway across the world. I apologize that these posts probably get less coherent as they go along..... it's already about 12:30am here - I tend to get around to doing them late and lose my attention span. With a 9:00am class tomorrow, I think it's time to get to bed!