Been to Berlin... (what rhymes here?)
So... check off capitol city number 11 on the list, this past weekend I travelled by car to Berlin because we had a 3 day weekend. I was going to go with one of my students, Honza (we had been planning the trip for a few months, but at the last second, he couldn't go, so i went with his older brother Jirka, so it was just as awesome! We got there after a short stop at McDonald's in Dresden and arrived at our accomodation. We stayed with this family who was renting a room out for the weekends for 5 Euros a night! Wow, super price, and really great location also. It was actually really interesting, we saw all the interesting sights that are a must-see in Berlin (The Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg gate, Reichstag, main squares, and so much more). We travelled to Potsdam where they had the Potsdam Conference to discuss the division of Germany into Zones (each of the 4 Allied countries got a fourth of Germany). There is a really beautiful park with a chateaux and a beautiful Old Town to walk around. Wow, there's really so much to talk about about Berlin, but I don't want to talk about the different places I went just yet. I want to talk about my experience there for a moment.
The most amazing thing about being there was the feeling I got just walking around. To actually be in a place where the city was split into a Communist sector and non-Commie sector. I don't know if i can describe the experience so well, but just knowing that the people on both sides lived in the same city, maybe only 100 meters from each other, yet they each led completely different lives, not even being able to see the other. I tried to imagine like I was in Berlin, but maybe 20 years ago or earlier. The lives go on, but in some way... they don't. When visiting places such as The Berlin Wall or Checkpoint Charlie (it's a border which the Americans controlled who went in and out), you just could sense the hostility that each side had. On one side of the wall, the Berliners could go up to it and graffiti it as much as the wanted in an act of protestation to the Communists, and on the other side of the wall, you couldn't find any graffiti, and if you even tried to get somewhat near to the wall, you would be shot dead. It's just interesting to see the people that are living there now. Seeing them go about their normal life, and to think back 20 years and to think that they would be doing the same thing, but the situation was just a bit more ghastly. I mean, I don't know. It's really hard to put into words, and the only way to understand perhaps is to see it for yourself.
But, it was really an awesome time. Some of my favorite memories were visiting Potsdam and walking around the park for hours and hours and seeing the small quaint former Eastern German city, and also visiting the Pergammon Museum (I love history). At this museum they have the Pergammon Alter which they have transported from an ancient Asian city piece by piece. They also had a real Babylonian Gate and so many more really ancient things from Rome and Greece, and wow! I can't even say enough about this to prove it's awesomeness to you. Trust me, it was killer, and if I wasn't on a time schedule, I could have spent 4 hours in there. So... next time I go to Berlin, I want to go back. And of course, it was really awesome to see the Berlin Wall. But not in the same awesomenality as the museum. Just like I was saying before... to really see Berlin as it was. To imagine a wall going all around half of the city. 160ish km of wall. And to think that after communism fell, people would be taking off work to go and personally help to destroy the wall. Wow, it was such a horrible symbol of the city.
We went to the beautiful city of Potsdam and there was a park with this chateaux in the middle. It looks better in the summer with some shrubbery i suppose.
This is the old city decorated for christmas. It's really a beautiful place
This is the Berlin Wall, without nothin on it. Just imagine this surrounding the entire city.
This is a more deteriorated look at the wall.
This is Checkpoint Charlie. The American guarded sector of Berlin.
This is the square where Hitler burned all the illegal books
The Brandenburg Gate
These pictures of of the WWII Memorial. At night time, they have guards to make sure that no one graffitis anything
The most amazing thing about being there was the feeling I got just walking around. To actually be in a place where the city was split into a Communist sector and non-Commie sector. I don't know if i can describe the experience so well, but just knowing that the people on both sides lived in the same city, maybe only 100 meters from each other, yet they each led completely different lives, not even being able to see the other. I tried to imagine like I was in Berlin, but maybe 20 years ago or earlier. The lives go on, but in some way... they don't. When visiting places such as The Berlin Wall or Checkpoint Charlie (it's a border which the Americans controlled who went in and out), you just could sense the hostility that each side had. On one side of the wall, the Berliners could go up to it and graffiti it as much as the wanted in an act of protestation to the Communists, and on the other side of the wall, you couldn't find any graffiti, and if you even tried to get somewhat near to the wall, you would be shot dead. It's just interesting to see the people that are living there now. Seeing them go about their normal life, and to think back 20 years and to think that they would be doing the same thing, but the situation was just a bit more ghastly. I mean, I don't know. It's really hard to put into words, and the only way to understand perhaps is to see it for yourself.
But, it was really an awesome time. Some of my favorite memories were visiting Potsdam and walking around the park for hours and hours and seeing the small quaint former Eastern German city, and also visiting the Pergammon Museum (I love history). At this museum they have the Pergammon Alter which they have transported from an ancient Asian city piece by piece. They also had a real Babylonian Gate and so many more really ancient things from Rome and Greece, and wow! I can't even say enough about this to prove it's awesomeness to you. Trust me, it was killer, and if I wasn't on a time schedule, I could have spent 4 hours in there. So... next time I go to Berlin, I want to go back. And of course, it was really awesome to see the Berlin Wall. But not in the same awesomenality as the museum. Just like I was saying before... to really see Berlin as it was. To imagine a wall going all around half of the city. 160ish km of wall. And to think that after communism fell, people would be taking off work to go and personally help to destroy the wall. Wow, it was such a horrible symbol of the city.
We went to the beautiful city of Potsdam and there was a park with this chateaux in the middle. It looks better in the summer with some shrubbery i suppose.
This is the old city decorated for christmas. It's really a beautiful place
This is the Berlin Wall, without nothin on it. Just imagine this surrounding the entire city.
This is a more deteriorated look at the wall.
This is Checkpoint Charlie. The American guarded sector of Berlin.
This is the square where Hitler burned all the illegal books
The Brandenburg Gate
These pictures of of the WWII Memorial. At night time, they have guards to make sure that no one graffitis anything
posted by Zach Barnes at 1:35 PM
4 Comments:
wow. awesome experience. really really glad you were able to go & take it all in. thanks again for hosting me last week. can't say my prague time was as euphoric as yours in berlin, but i still had a great visit :) did i ever meet honza? or jirka? peace man. oh yea, flo liked the chocolates. good choice. oh yea again- istanbul is crazy. bout the only thing that sucks is that i have a cold. grrr. the city is fun!
A few selected rhymes with "Berlin": (from www.rhymer.com) Good luck!
akin, backspin, bearskin, been, begin, bodkin, bumpkin, chagrin, chin, clothespin, fin, finn, fishskin, foreskin, gin, goatskin, grin, hairpin, headpin, herein, in, inn, jinn, kin, kingpin, lenin, linchpin, love-in, napkin, pigskin, pin, pumpkin, redskin, shin, sin, skin, spin, stickpin, tailspin, therein, thin, tin, trade-in, turn-in, twin, unpin, weigh-in, wherein, win, wineskin, within, yin, zinn
Great to hear you had such a good time! I hope you knew I wanted a postcard! :)
p.s: Been to Berlin...
got into tailspin
but my friend redskin
saved me from chagrin
Hey man, glad to see you are taking advantage of living overseas. I'd love to go to Berlin. I'd love even more to have you, me, jack, and tom together really sucking at spaids and getting screwed with 5. I don't know why i still quote that night over and over again. It was that amazing of a summer i guess. Hope teaching is going great and i'm gonna call you soon after exams get done with over here. Love ya bro.
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