Berlin isn’t a particularly beautiful city, to be sure. But there ARE tons of statues and buildings that stick out among the harsh landscape that are simply gorgeous. My favorite was a protestant cathedral on Museum Island. Surprisingly, it was only just built in 1904 but was made to look much older. Mission accomplished, I guess. It looks like it’s stood for centuries. A lot of Berlin is like that, though. Not necessarily newer than you’d think but a lot is surprising. We went in the Catholic Cathedral , St. Hedwig, to find a completely modern interior to this ancient building. We were walking through Babelplatz and looked down to find we were standing atop an empty room lined with bookshelves. It turns out that it is a memorial to where Nazi Socialist students burned 20,000 books one day.
Another thing Berlin is, however, is funny. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve laughed on this trip after finding out little snippets of information. My favorite is the following: Ampelman is the guy that illuminates on crosswalks telling you when or when not to talk. He wears a little hat and is quite cute. He’s also a leftover from socialism but the people of Germany were convinced the children paid more attention to the traffic signal when this cute little fellow was there. Okay, fair enough I guess. They all over what was Eastern Berlin. Their obsession with traffic laws and children doesn’t end there, however. It doesn’t matter how clear the street is or what time of day it is. In Berlin, you simply do not cross unless the signal says you can. If you do, it is very common that someone will yell, “Die kinder!” which means “The Children!” – basically pointing out that you are a jerk and setting a bad example for the children of Berlin. It is less common but does happen that instead someone will yell “Child Murderer!” This, I think, is hilarious. Other funny things about the city include a possibly gay king, “soldiers” at Checkpoint Charlie actually being strippers at night, French beer of the strawberry or green apple variety, and a series of debates to name a certain museum that finally ended after , literally, months with them officially naming it THE MUSEUM.
Also, I fell into another garden today. Not sure why this keeps happening. I’m kind of clumsy but seriously? Oh, and another story to add to the series of unfortunate events I have encountered since abroad… As I was walking with Diep along a street last night, a snow drift from above gives way. Apparently, there was a pool of water behind this drift on the roof. I was completely dowsed in icy water, literally drenched, in the middle of freezing Berlin. Diep was barely touched. We were not even a foot from each other. How this happens to me, I have no clue. Needless to say, we returned to the hostel so I could change and rent a blowdryer for my hair.
Things I did for the first time while in Berlin:
- walked on a frozen lake
- had strawberry beer (it was delicious but made me feel overly girly)
- stayed in a hostel (turns out, it’s not that bad)
- actually had my hair freeze outside (from the water from the roof)
- ate bratwurst
- walked all the way to the top of the German Parliament’s (Reichstag) glass dome
- touched the Berlin Wall (and straddled the line where it once stood thus being in both East and West Germany at the same time)
- saw a man masturbating (we ran into him in the middle of the day, in the snow, in Tiergarten… soooo creepy and he seemed not the least bit bothered by us)
- walked over Hitler’s grave (some people actually danced or peed over it!)
1 comment:
Oh! Thank You so much. I love you and your blog. Wish I were ther.
Love, Mom
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