Weekend Nine: Berlin

Well hi there! It's been months since my summer abroad now and I miss Europe so much. It is comfortable to be home, but not nearly as exciting as jumping off of cliffs and eating delicious baguettes and cheese paired with great wine. In reminiscing, I realized that I never wrote about half of my weekends abroad. While I have some down time in the next month or so, I hope to recount what I can of those now "distant" adventures.

My trip to Berlin, Germany:

Metz, France to Berlin, Germany
...a very long trek

It's a tough call, but Berlin may be my favorite city I have visited. No matter what, Germany is definitely my second favorite country (second to the US of course). I experienced such a rich fusion of history and modern alternative culture while in Berlin. It is a city well worth visiting, and the people are great.

Our travels to Berlin began on Saturday morning, July 13th. Jay, Kris, Sutton, and I took a train to Berlin to meet Harry and Jarrett, who left a day early (lucky ducks!). Berlin is actually pretty darn far away from Metz, and of course there was a train delay among our transfers, so by the time we got to Berlin it was already early evening. For anyone planning travels to Germany in the future, we stayed at the Generator Hostel in Berlin, and it seemed almost brand new. The room was really nice and they gave us a few free perks for around the city. This was probably the nicest hostel we stayed at all summer. Once we checked in we walked around a few blocks in search for dinner. Berlin was a lot different than I expected, to be honest. My first impression of Germany was Munich earlier in the summer. I loved Munich, and that city was much more "traditional German" feeling, with lots of sausages, beer, and lederhosen throughout the city. (Okay yeah, traditional for a tourist not a native.) Berlin surprised me in that this city was much more modern. But whilst being more modern, Berlin also had the most historical culture to it of any city I visited this summer. Since most of the structures in Berlin were destroyed in WWII, a lot of the buildings are new with modern architectural designs to them. Tying this idea of a more forward and culturally diverse Germany in to our dinner selection that night, Berlin was more like the States where you can get pretty much any type of food you want. So ironically in Berlin we found a cafe that sold Spanish tapas and decided that it looked good. After we ate, we met with probably every other American student in Berlin that night for a bar crawl. I was very skeptical of bar crawls at the beginning of the summer, but figured it would be good to try one before the summer's end and I actually had a lot of fun! Our guide was a spectacular and super friendly drag queen and I got an inside look at the German clubbing scene. European clubbing is definitely a fun experience for someone like myself who loves to dance. It, to say the least....was a great night.

Part of the Berlin Wall that is wearing away

The next morning we woke up fairly early and went to go see part of the Berlin Wall. What I didn't expect was that the wall was just there. Just there. All throughout Berlin pieces of the wall still stand, or at least the supports from inside the cement, sticking straight up out of the ground along the sidewalk. You can see it, you can touch it, and it just keeps showing up. We'd be walking along the sidewalk with nothing there and then suddenly some pieces of cement or supports would show up again. A lot of blocks were torn down or removed, but the rest is still a disintegrating wall that is wearing away on the side of your every day road. It doesn't stand out and it isn't in any particular special place. And that's how it showed up over night. Not the cemented blocks of course, but overnight they just drew out barbed wire and metal fences and people woke up to a torn Germany. Can you imagine? Families, friends, your job, everyone separated. The piece of the wall we visited was actually preserved a little better accompanied with some memorials in a field around it. It was a quiet morning.

Long stretch of the Berlin Wall

After the Berlin Wall, we were incredibly hungry. Lucky for us, not far down the road was the Ost-West Cafe and on the menu- 'The Big American' breakfast! And it was. It was the best breakfast I think I had all summer. Sadly, and this just adds to Europeans' kinda correct stereotype (sorry, the truth hurts) of an overweight America, it was not as big as your Waffle House All Star Platter. Judge me not, hehe. But oh my goodness I still remember everything about that plate of delicious salvation. Fruit, English muffins, eggs, BACON, PEANUT BUTTER! Oh, it was too good. Have I mentioned how rare and expensive peanut butter is in Europe? I had peanut butter a total of three times this summer: our hostel in Amsterdam, a splurge at a grocery store in Switzerland, and this breakfast in Berlin. Our waiter was super friendly and light-heartedly laughed with us about how we each got one of their items on the menu with the words 'Big American' in it. Seriously, a whole menu and we narrow it down to either a choice of 'The Big American Breakfast' or 'The Big American Burger'. So exotic, cultural, and subtle of us...

Old Police Volkswagen outside the Ost-West Cafe

On the front left street light, Green Ampleman
On the far right street light, the red one

In recounting Berlin, I would like to introduce you to a little fellow named Ampleman. Ampleman was the way I learned to tell if we were in 'East' Berlin or 'West' Berlin. On normal crosswalk signs, you see either a green man walking, or a red man halted. But in East Berlin, the crosswalk lights are so much cuter! Their guy, Ampleman, wears a hat. Ampleman is one of the few symbols that East Berlin holds on to, and is now a huge souvenir. He even became a popular character in cartoons back in the '60s while Germany was split. There were Ampleman shops all over Berlin selling merchandise with the little green man on it.

Another fun fact about where we were staying was that at about 8pm the first night, we suddenly noticed some...lovely ladies... arriving on the corners outside our hostel. First one, then two. Across the street we noticed two more walk out of this apartment complex together, and then a few more....suddenly everywhere we looked we were surrounded by very attractive women with money pouches around their waists. Basically, WE WERE STAYING ACROSS THE STREET FROM A BROTHEL, WOOOO. It was actually pretty interesting to see it all in action. They looked out for each other and I even spotted their pimp talking to a bouncer at some club a block down the street (Big guy, big money pouch around HIS waist too. Yeah, he's the one.). Every night we were there, 8pm rolled around and we got a parade.

"Work makes (you) free"
Common words found on the gates of work camps.

On a more serious note, we took two tours in Berlin. One was a Third Reich tour, and the other a tour of a Holocaust work camp. They were both educational and encouraged a lot of reflection. I can say walking through a concentration camp is not an easy or light-hearted experience. I learned a lot about the horrible living conditions in the sleeping chambers, the gross "science experiments" that were performed in places like the "Pathologie", the cruel "games" guards would play with the camp's victims, and more. It's just hard for me to even wrap my head around the facts of what took place in the not too distant past. The idea ingrained in many's heads was that literally, through working extremely hard labor, you would one day be set free for proving to do a good job. A sort of "reformatory" prison for Jews, homosexual men, gypsies, disabled persons, and other "misfits" of society. But, as history shows, that was not really the case.

Berlin Holocaust Memorial

It is not easy to tell, but the giant grey patch of blocks in the center of the picture on the right is the main Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. It was specifically placed right in the center of Berlin, on many people's every day route to work, school, wherever. This was done with the intention of making the memorial a part of every day life. The designer's thoughts were that it more so could become a sort of park where people come together every day, children play, and it essentially becomes a routine piece of their lifestyle, to never forget. The gravity of the history behind the memorial, however, makes it a little hard to walk through as if you could just have a darn picnic. His main intentions though, I respect. The memorial is not something hidden away in the corner of the city, despite how many wish they could push the events that took place in to a corner of nonexistence. No, it is in the middle of the city as a constant scar and reminder to never let something like that happen again. When you walk through the memorial, the first blocks start in the ground, not raised at all. Progressively, each block gets a little bit taller as you move towards the center. If you look to your left and right, you can't tell much difference in the height. But suddenly, you find yourself in the middle of it all, the blocks towering well over your head. It is as if it says, as a society, a few people started discriminating against one group. But then a few more joined in the views, and a few more groups were outcast. In the end, each small change, when not stopped, summed up to a total situation that was out of control.

Soviet War Memorial (Tiergarten)

The Third Reich tour was really interesting as well. We visited a lot more memorials and learned more history of the city and country. I especially enjoyed the few "middle fingers" placed around town pointed at Hitler. The best example was the Soviet War Memorial (Tiergarten) erected right in the center of Hitler's layout for a new Berlin to remind him who defeated Germany. I actually have to admit, Hitler's layout plans for Berlin as the world's capital city were actually really cool. Another example would be the location of Hitler's bunker. There may have been a small sign somewhere, but I couldn't find anything acknowledging it. His bunker is literally under a small patch of grass in the middle of a parking lot with no recognition of him anywhere so as to not give him any attention. If we hadn't been told what we were standing over, we'd have never known.

One night while in Berlin, we noticed a big movie theater. Curious as to what was showing, we went inside. To our delight, they had a full IMAX theater with movies shown in English and NO subtitles! Yipee!! Some of you may think, "what a waste, to go all the way to Berlin to watch WWZ." But you'd be wrong. I LOVE movies, and I hadn't been to a movie theater since probably January. To find a full English theater was too exciting. It was really neat- almost all of the previews were for German sodas. In my giddy state of anticipation to watch the movie, I somehow found all of the adds overly hilarious and as the previews were all still in German I had no idea what they were saying! Plus I went in not having a clue as to what WWZ was about. As I am waiting, one of the guys said, "Are you ready to see some zombies?!" And I responded, "Z is for zombies? Ahhhh!! No!" I really enjoy end-of-the-world, apocalyptic-disease movies, but I'm also a huge scardy cat.


...That night ended up in Jarrett, Harry, and I screeching and running through the Berlin S-Bahn pretending to be zombies.


Although we ate a lot of non-German food on this excursion to Germany, we did enjoy two German meals while in town. I distinctly remember one of the meals in which after much searching, we located the Berlin Hofbrauhaus. Not quite as much of the real deal as the original Hofbrauhaus Munchen we visited on the previous trip to Germany, but very well replicated with a nice band playing the whole time. We ordered the Hell Beer they serve and got sausages. I recall it being pretty expensive so that was the cheapest thing on the menu. It was a suitable end to the weekend.

Jay, Jarrett, and Harry at the Berlin Hofbrauhaus

I'm frustrated at myself now because I'm having a hard time remembering that train ride home. And the train rides were always humorous. If I remember correctly, we got to the train station early but then got split up looking for food. The Berlin train station is HUGE. Like, I'm talking 6 levels. It was very modern and two of those levels were rail platforms. To me that was mind boggling to see trains on top of trains; I've never seen anything like it. So amid all the shops and escalators and looking for anything but another McDonald's, Jay and I became separated from the rest of our group. At first I thought, "no big deal. We have over an hour." But after not finding them and not finding them all of a sudden it was maybe 10 minutes before the train was scheduled to pull out and we finally caught them searching just as frantically as us on the bottom level of the station. We slept in a couchette car with another friend from GTL we ran in to, Ari, and a stranger because the train was full.


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The Deutsche Bahn Berlin train station

Okay, scratch the maybe; looking back on it, Berlin was definitely my favorite city in Europe this summer. And Germany itself rocks! Within the Euro Zone, they have pulled their economy out of recession and back to the top. They have recreated Berlin back into a bustling city, rising to be the Bohemian scene it once was before war. And my Type-A personality is all about that German lifestyle. Everything in Germany is a machine, well oiled and step-by-step on the go, go, go. Don't even get me started on Deutsche Bahn! Germany was one of the few countries who actually accepted our Eurail pass on almost all rail lines within the country AS WELL as their inner city metro and buses. They are even hiring interns through Tech right now- a perfect ISyE opportunity! I could go on....

Too bad I only know a handful of German words. :/