Apparently, Erla screamed really loud last night at 1 am and most everyone in our little room woke up- everyone but me, that is. I sleep so deeply they could be bombing us here in Berlin and I probably wouldn't even notice.
My charger here in the hostel is in an rather awkward place, way under the bottom bunk bed, so it is safe to say that at this point I am quite good doing an Army crawl at low clearance.
Once again, we ate at the fantastic breakfast buffet here at the hotel. Being thus fortified, we set off to see what we could see.
It seems that to some degree, most everyone speaks English here in Berlin and you'd be hard pressed to run into anyone that doesn't.
Some of them will pick up on the fact that you are American and then will speak English, even if you start off talking to them in German. They sure do love to practice their English. But hey, how will I practice my German? It's the small towns where not many know English, and then it gets interesting. Like when we ordered at a Polish McDonalds where they have only one guy that speaks English and when he goes off duty, too bad.
Oh, and one thing you have to learn real fast is the words for push/pull in German. Occasionally you'll strike it lucky and get it in English and German:
You're setting yourself up for embarrassment unless you learn.
But even if you spend five minutes pulling on a door that says "drucken," no matter. Just hold up a Deutscher Zeitung that you don't entirely comprehend in front of your face while you are riding the S. Bahn, crack open a Gerolsteiner (mit Sprudel) and all is good. Congratulations, you now appear German.
I determined that a walking tour of "Third Reich Era Berlin" would be fun, and so I split off from George and the kids, who were headed to the park, and set off for the meeting place, at the Zoologisher garden S. Bahn stop. My tour ended after 3 1/2 hours at the Brandenburg gate, so they would meet me there amid the soccer melee.
I had an hour before the tour was supposed to start, so I explored around a mall and the shopping district. There are Erdbeere (Strawberry) huts all over the place here.
Best thing you can put in your mouth.
I picked up lunch at Kaisers, which was kinda like a Whole Foods, only wayyyy cheaper.
I got all this loot for only six euro.
The mall I was in also had a Carhartt. In Berlin. Weird. This now explains why the two guys I saw wearing Carhartt jackets didn't respond when I said "how are y'all?" :)
I made friends with a German lady that owned a stylish little boutique at the mall, as I was eating lunch at a bench opposite her stand. She even had me run an errand across the mall for her as she couldn't leave her stand very easily. I was thanked me profusely and she deemed if necessary to do the Euro thing where you kiss them on both side of the face, which I wasn't exactly expecting, but hey, she was really grateful. ;)
As fate would have it, the brochure was inaccurate and the Third Reich Tour only happened only at 10 am. Eh, go figure. Thus, I had to decide what to do: go back via S. Bahn and find George and crew, (wherever they were!) or just continue on myself until I could meet up with them later.
At first I was disappointed, but then I remembered that the brochure I was given contained a very high quality map. I'm pretty decent with a map, and so I opted to do my own little personalized tour, and still ending my walk by the Brandenburg gate by 5:30 as we had originally planned to meet. I'm a fairly fast walker and really enjoy the satisfaction of getting places solely on foot, and so I knew I'd move along at a nice clip.
One thing I wanted to see the Bonhoeffer house but it wasn't very close to me and was closed for now.
My first stop was the bomb-marred Gedachniskirche, which had a glorious history and then became one of the last standing reminders of the ferocious Allied bombing effort of WWII. What makes it unique is the fact that most of the badly damaged buildings from WWII were just demolished, but this one remains still.
The city is practically crawling with futbol fans right now as the League Final happens tomorrow. I had the misfortune to walk in front of a group of said Soccer bums who were trying to get my attention.
They were playing kick-the-can, but instead of a can, they had employed a plastic baby toy shaped like a bumble bee. Somewhere, a twelve month old baby is still throwing a fit over losing that toy. But they kept kicking it so that it would land right in front of me or to either side of me. Their intent was not malicious, just a pathetic attempt at flirting, and so I ignored it until they kicked it right in front of me and I kicked it back to them. Eventually we went our separate ways.
It should be said that I haven't really had any problems with unwanted attention or anything while I have been in Europe thus far, perhaps because they think the blonde haired preschooler in the stroller I push sometimes is my daughter or that George is my husband or something.
Next I came upon St Matthaüs, a church with a history spanning to the 1870's. More recently, in WWII, it was bombed out pretty badly by the Red Army and so it had to be rebuilt, and today, it looks the same on the outside but is furnished in a more modern style on the inside.
I had been wanting to follow in Bonhoeffer's footsteps while in Berlin, and had planned to visit the house in which he grew up. It was was closed for the time being and as such, discovering this church and its connection to Bonhoeffer an unexpected treat. He was confirmed at this very church in 1931.
I walked over to what appeared to be the Straatliche Museen du Berlin and peeked inside. I asked the guy,
"How long does it take to go through the museum?"
" *laughs* Well, we have four floors and thousands of years worth of art, decorative objects, and fashion, so, a long time."
I had the place all to myself. Literally no one there. In fact, I only saw three people besides the employees the whole of my visit.
I thought I wasn't gonna like it after seeing the first room full of old wooden sculptures that forgot to but on some kleidung, but then I walked into a showroom and I squealed out loud when I saw this exhibit.
Oh yeah. Historical clothes, clothes, clothes! And hats and gloves and stays and hoop skirts. My kinda place.
The Queen of Prussia's jewelry was pretty awesome too, have to say.
basically, everything.
Walked a good mile or so and saw the Berlin Wall memorial and took a selfie to prove it.
One of my favorite places I visited today was the Bundesrat, where the seat of the governing powers of Berlin once operated long ago. For whatever reason, once again, I had the whole place practically to myself.
Must be that Fridays, nobody wants to go to the museum.
It was such a beautiful and eerie experience to be there, practically all by myself, thinking of all that went on here, in the third Reich and beyond.
Must be that Fridays, nobody wants to go to the museum. It was such a beautiful and eerie experience to be there practically by myself.
I walked on over to the exhibit called Topography of Terror: The Third Reich . It runs along a portion of the Berlin Wall that is still standing and it was a masterfully done exhibit. The photographs and commentary were AMAZING! Some of the pictures I had never even seen before.
(see the lady on the far right?)
I walked over to the Holocaust Memorial, but decided not to go in because I needed to start heading back to the Gate to meet George. but before I did that, I bought a cold drink and sat down and rested for a few minutes.
Then, all of a sudden, I heard the distinct "George!" that I knew so well and I whipped around to see Aunt Rachel, George and the whole crew! They were on their way to the gate. What are the odds! It was absolutely perfect timing.
Next, Aunt Rachel and I decided to tour the Holocaust Memorial together, which was very moving. It felt like it hit close to home and somehow had a more personal feel than other museums I have visited about the Holocaust.
This picture at the beginning of the exhibit shows 6 holocaust victims, each representing a different country and each with a different story narrated below the photo.
They also profiled, in pictorial and written detail, 15 different families, all from different countries, all affected by the holocaust. Most of the time we think of the holocaust victims as an androgynous whole, those with the gaunt faces after months of no food and wearing striped pajamas, but this helped humanize them and make you realize they were real, normal people like you and me with normal lives before they became the "Jews from the holocaust" that we know from the pictures.
One young family was broken up by the holocaust. They were a newly married couple whose wedding footage you could view as part of their profile.
On the way to meet George we stopped by the American Embassy.
"Um, are we allowed to come in?"
German security guy:
"Ah, no, sorry."
"Ok, thank you."
(my mind: "But you're not even American, I AM AMERICAN. Dis is my place. What the heck?")
*crosses arms*
So, I took a picture with the American Bear and called it even.
Of course, we met up with George and it was Futbol Frenzy at the Brandenburg gate. It's so surreal to sit in the stands and watch a little match between girls vs. boys and then there was a Deutschland Special Olympics match, which made my heart happy.
The big deal game is tomorrow night. We will be traveling home and may be able to watch it on the hotel TV.
After eating a Berliner Currywurst that was super yummy, we headed towards home via S. Bahn.
I'm in the common room right now, and on a Friday night you can hear bass notes, club music, the revving of sports cars, and people talking loudly on the street below. You can also hear the singing and clapping from the Shabbat Meal that someone organized downstairs. It must be official, because they had a security guard and everything!
Oh, and that reminds me: I was gonna say that as a whole, German Polizei (policemen) are very good looking. Just had to make that fact known. Seriously, if must be a requirement for hiring or something.
They walk frequently through the shopping areas and train stations in groups of four or five.
I had observed this fact since we arrived here and yesterday, on our way back home, a few of them passed us by as we were walking through the train station. Arnheidur said "Hey, I was gonna wait and say this so they can't hear us now, but those Polizei sure are good looking, aren't they?"
But on this Friday night, I needed some introvert time and as such, I am typing this post on my iPhone here in the common room, which is empty except for another fellow introvert, an Italian guy in the next room listening to music.
But now, sleep. :)
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