Berlin

By Loretta Vieger

            Do you know the feeling of loving something so much, then having it offered to you for free? This is how I feel about coffee. Upon our arrival to Berlin, or as I like to call it Bearlin, and getting to the hostel there was a table of free coffee waiting for us. I was so thrilled I wanted to drink 5 cups but I had to restrain myself – I didn’t want to take advantage and sometimes too much of a good thing can be bad. Regardless, I knew that this was going to be the start to a very good weekend.

            Having been on an abundance of tours the past few months, I honestly wasn’t expecting much from this tour. However, the tour turned out to be my favorite part of the weekend. Obviously it was because of the tour guide. She was extremely outgoing and knowledgeable. And the way that she described events or art made me feel something and that is one of the most important parts of learning in my opinion. Especially on walking tours. If the tour guide can make you feel something and make you imagine yourself living in the time of the history, then I think that makes for a really excellent tour guide.

            First and foremost is the history behind the German and the French. I am the worst person at remembering history and I often times can’t remember whose friends and who isn’t. The Brandenburg Tor represents that the German always have an eye over the French. This relationship is also represented in the Gendarmenmarkt where the German and French cathedrals are located. It’s crazy to me how much deeper architecture and statues go other than being something extremely beautiful.

            Another memorable site is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. I like how it’s left up to the interpretation of everyone much like “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. However I didn’t like this concept because often time I just see things for what they are and not much else. My favorite interpretation of the memorial is one of a young boy – that it represents hope because no matter where you are in the memorial you can always find a way out.

            Professionally, this exhibit gave me some perspective on a budgeting aspect for large projects. The tour guide informed us that the memorial was way over budget and actually was not constructed as well as it should have been seeing as how pieces of the blocks are starting to crack and can eventually break off. This isn’t good for some of the blocks reaching 15 ft in height.

            If it’s free, I’m all about it aka free continental breakfast. Not only is breakfast my favorite meal of the morning, but when it’s a buffet that makes it so much better. So after eating a very hearty and filling breakfast on the second day, and continuing with the theme of Judaism, the group headed out to the Jewish Museum of Berlin. In my opinion this tour was interesting because the museum had a lot of underlying meaning to it as well as the paintings and exhibits. At first I wasn’t particularly interested in Jewish history because nobody in my family is or has ever been Jewish but after this tour and some explanations from our tour guide I began to sympathize with them and what they’ve been through. Life wasn’t easy for Jews 60 years ago but they powered through it and are still a lively force in today’s world.

            Day two ended with dinner at a really nice restaurant for Azeala’s birthday. The restaurant was outrageously expensive so I only got a small pumpkin soup but it was surprisingly really delicious. I have noticed from living in Germany and not being presented with my usual choices of food like burgers and chicken strips, I’m beginning to branch out a bit more and try different foods that I wouldn’t normally and I quite enjoy it! I feel like I’m becoming more cultured in the food world and I might even make this a habit and start trying more different foods back home.

            The last day was my second favorite out of the three days we were in Berlin. Starting off by filling myself up on delicious breakfast and coffee then heading out to the German Parliament I was upset because it rained earlier and the ground was muddy which got the bottoms of my jeans dirty. But I figure I couldn’t let that ruin my day. The Parliament, which is basically just a meeting place for the politicians, is actually a really beautiful and symbolic building. It’s also extremely modern except for the front and the 4 corners, which resemble the old castle like style from centuries ago. The best part was getting to go up into the top dome and look out across the whole city. I enjoyed the audio guide a lot and I think it kept the tour interesting and kept us involved.

            After the Parliament, the group split up and we were allowed free time. Emily, Kelsie, and I took a look around some souvenir shops and stopped at a Kebab restaurant. The Kebab I ate was literally the best Kebab of my entire life. I would go back to Berlin just to eat another one. Something about the sauce and the meat mixed together with perfectly toasted bread was so delicious I didn’t want to stop eating it. After having lunch, we made our way over to the East Side Gallery.

            The East Side Gallery is an open-air gallery that runs along the Spree River. It consists of painted pieces of the Berlin Wall and runs about 1.3 km long which for reference is a little under a mile. The wall was painted in 1990 but today most of the paintings are covered in graffiti (Barwick, 2013). More or less people just wrote their names or small sayings all over the paintings. I think this is disrespectful to the artists because now some of the paintings cannot even be seen in their full glory. Anyway, walking along the wall I could tell that the paintings were beautiful and controversial. One of the pieces of the wall had “PEACE” on it and I thought this was plain and simple but got the point across with no confusion. Another piece of the wall said “Politik ist die Fortsetzung des Krieges mit Anderen Mitteln” which translates to “Politics is the continuation of war by other means”. This is more of a profound saying but I think anybody can understand the point the artist was trying to get across.

            All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Berlin. I learned a lot about the history of the Berliners, the Germans, and different Street art as well as having a good time and bonding with some ESC students. I would go back any day.

Reference

Barwick, I. L. (2013). East Side Gallery. Berlin Guide. http://berlin.barwick.de/sights/the-berlin-wall/east-side-gallery.html