We went to Germany this weekend and I have to say, Berlin was amazing. I didn't really know much about the city. I knew there was a wall and it was the capitol of Germany but besides that I was just going there because I knew people from La Salle were going to be there. I was pleasantly surprised to discover Berlin had a lot more to offer than just a wall. There was so much history and intensity packed into this city and 20 years after the wall came down, and 60 years after War World II, Berlin is still putting the pieces of its city back together. The first thing I noticed about Berlin was how modern it looked. I shouldn't have been surprised 90% of the city was destroyed after War World Two but still I had imagined a different looking Germany. Berlin had the feeling of a city in the states. There were skyscrapers, and electronic billboards, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, and a lot of American clothing stores. It was a nice change of pace from Rome. I love being Rome but there is never a moment when I feel like I'm in the states, everything in Rome is Italian and so in a way Berlin felt a little like home.
On Friday my roommate went on a free tour of the city and we met these students who were visiting Berlin, studying in Rome for the semester, but went to Temple back in the States. It was so odd; we had our own little Philly contingent in Berlin. On the tour we saw all the main sights in Berlin, and I realized that there was a lot more to this city than I originally thought. One of the first things we stopped at was a holocaust monument. It was an intense experience, the monument was hundreds of huge cement blocks, each one was the same length and width but they varied in height. From the outside of the monument the blocks didn't look that high but once you started walking through you realized just how high they got. It's hard to explain the monument, but it was definitely an intense experience. The architect has never released the meaning of the design but one theory that seems highly plausible is that it captures the confusion and uncertainty of the time. As the maze of stone blocks get higher you lose the people who were right next to you. You can hear them but you don't know where they are. If you are ever in Berlin I highly recommend checking it out.
Less than a mile away from the monument is Hitler's bunker. There's nothing there today except a parking lot and a dog park. In fact the Soviets built Apartments on top of the land and the bunker itself has been filled in with dirt and concrete. There is one little sign that says Hitler died here and this sign has been graffiti. The Germans believe, and I agree that by giving any significance to the place would give significance to the man and so now the last place where Hitler lived is a place where Cars Park and dogs do their business, a fitting place for him.Another monument we stopped at was in front of the Berlin library. In this platz, there was an underground room, and inside the room were massive empty bookshelves, to commemorate the Nazi book burnings that occurred there in the 30s. There was also a quote from one of the author's whose books were burned. He said that night was just the beginning of the horror about to come. As soon as they let them burn books it spiraled into letting them burn other things.
Our tour led us to the next chapter of Berlin History, Communism and the Cold War. I have always been fascinated with the Cold War. I'm intrigued by stories of espionage and communism and so to be in the Spy Capitol of the World was pretty sweet. When Berlin was separated into East and West it became the center of the cold war and so we got to see this one cafe where actually spies used to hang out. It was pretty cool. We also saw the Wall, the structure the epitomized the separation between the West and the East. There is so much more to Berlin thanI thought and it's definitely a place people should check out. A lot of East Berlin is still under construction. 20 years after the Soviet Regime collapsed and Berlin is still trying to become the city it once was.
One of the reasons I went to Berlin was to see some friends from LaSalle. It was quite an ordeal trying to meet up. Even though my hostel was around the block from their hotel there was definitely a point when I didn't think I'd see them. I went to their hotel and was told they were at a restaurant around the corner so I went to restaurant and the students there were from Virginia Tech and so I went back to the hotel and they still weren't there and I started getting a little antsy and worried that it wouldn't work out. Fortunately on my third trip to the hotel they were there and I got my LaSalle fix. It was so great to see them and even though they had been up for 36+ hours we hung out and it completely made my weekend. Not even getting fined for having the wrong bus ticket could ruin my weekend, because I got to see some amazing people.
Saturday night we left Berlin and headed to Frankfurt, the original plan was to meet up with a friend of my roommate but he was unable to meet up so we Spent Sunday walking around the town. Frankfurt was what I thought all of Germany would look like. It was definitely the town Epcot must have used when they designed their Germany. It was in Frankfurt where we ate Wursts, and pretzels and got our traditional Germany fix.
My weekend excursion into Germany was a lot of fun
CiaoAmanda
No comments:
Post a Comment