For the second half of our third vacation, Kate, Brie, and I went to Berlin. We had just a few goals for the week:
1. Eat as much meat as possible.
2. Drink a beer for every meal we ate in Germany.
3. See the Berlin Wall, the Reichstag (German parliament building), and a museum or two.
4. Do it cheaply.
I'm happy to report that we accomplished 3 of the 4 with glowing success. Can you guess which one we failed at?
 |
| TV Tower |
 |
| Currywurst and our first German beers |
 |
| Holocaust Memorial |
 |
| Free tour- Same company I used in Dublin |
 |
| Berliner Schnapps... Completely disgusting. |
|
|
 |
| Book burning memorial. It's under the square of the site of Berlin's largest book burning, with enough empty bookshevles for all the books burned. |
|
|
|
 |
| Potsdamer Platz- Cool sort of circus tent-inspired modern architecture |
 |
| One of the few older structures to survive WW2. During Soviet times, it was built into the wall. |
|
|
 |
| Parliamentary Chamber from inside |
 |
| The same chamber from above. |
The Reichstag (Wikipedia: Reichstag), or German Parliament building, was the most incredible work of modern architecture I've ever seen. It served as the parliament building before Hitler took control of the German government. During WW2, the Soviets stormed it, destroying everything except the exterior walls. Ten years ago, after the reunification of Germany, it was renovated. Today, the exterior walls still stand. On the inside, they are covered with graffitti from the Russian soldiers who took it. The architect left it as a reminder of what can happen. It's filled with incredible, moving modern art. And that's a real compliment coming from me. I so often find modern art impotent. On top of the building is a giant, glass cupola. You can walk all the way around it, like some of kind of crazy space ship. The architect said that it was so the legislatures only had to look up to remember who they worked for: the people.
 |
| Unforeseen Dangers. |
Below are pictures from the East Side Gallery (
Wikipedia...again), which is an art gallery on the largest remaining chunk of the Berlin Wall.
 |
| Berlin night life.... There public transport goes all night long!!! |
 |
| At one point the Prussians imported abunch of French artisans and skilled workers (stick with me here...). The French hated the taste of German beer, and decided to fix it by adding sugary syrups to it. It's called Berliner Weisser, I think. We've been corrupted. |
|
|
P.S. The goal we failed on: drink a beer for every meal we ate in Germany. Our third day in of beer and meat, bloated and a little bit miserable, we gave up. It was a valiant effort.
P.P.S. I'd like to write more about the sense of humility that seemed present in everything we experienced in Berlin, but I don't have the energy at the moment. Soon, hopefully.
