Saturday, June 5

Day 12

 
Wow, today was incredibly busy!  I got up on the early side (i.e. before 9...) and met up with my friend Sam at the Brandenburger Gate at 10:30.  She brought two of her friends from singapore who are studying in Hamburg for the summer, and are visiting berlin this weekend.  We met up there to go on a free, 3-hour guided tour of central berlin.

The tour started at the Brandenburger Gate, went briefly to the Reichstag (basically to acknowledge that it was there...), and then headed over to the Jewish Memorial (holocaust related) which is located right next to the american embassy.  This memorial is a permanent art installation, made up of vertical concrete columns, put on downward sloping ground.  The entire area is a bit of an illusion, as when you look out over the top of the memorial, the tops of the stones go higher; yet at the same time the ground slopes downward.  When you walk through, you get a bit of an overwhelming feeling, as the stones completely take over everything.  You can't see much around you, just the 10 foot stones.  In the picture, you can't see the ground, just the tops of the stones.  Where I'm standing, the stones are only about a foot or 2 tall, but in the top right corner (where it looks like it slopes up a bit), they are closer to 10 feet tall (also, on a tangent, the skyline in the background is of the famous Potsdamer Platz, which I have mentioned in a few previous posts - its a giant entertainment center, with a three story mall made entirely of glass, an IMax theatre, a couple museums, and then some).


We then headed over with the tour to the spot where Hitler's underground bunker was located.  This was the bunker he and his goonies hid out in towards the end of the war as the Soviets marched into Berlin.  The bunker is not longer accessible to the public (as it was filled with concrete or something along those lines), but the walls still stand.

After that we walked over to a couple of older buildings, one of which was a former nazi government building (used now as one of the governmental buildings for the german government).  On the other side of the street from that building was a portion of the berlin wall (not much to look at, as it was mostly taken down, even at that spot where they tried to preserve it).

We walked two blocks further down the street to Friedrichsstrasse, and came to Checkpoint Charlie (the former entry point to east berlin from the west).  It wasn't much to look at (just a small shack, rebuilt to look like the original building before it was enlarged).  

After that, we took a half-hour break from the tour, and hung out at an expensive cafe (didn't buy anything, but enjoyed the shade, as it was about 85 degrees under full sun, no clouds).  When the tour resumed, we headed towards Stadtmitte (city-center), and checked out a very nice chocolate shop.  Inside they had sculptures of important buildings in berlin, made out of chocolate.


After that we checked out one more platz with the french and german doms, as well as a performing hall (not sure exactly what for, I heard everything from ballet to orchestra to opera).  The tour then went from there to Bebelplatz (next to Hedwigkirche, and across from the main building of the Humboldt University), where they were putting together a giant screen and speakers for a concert that night (more on that later).

The tour ended when we went to the Lustgarten between the Old Museum and the Berliner Dom (both on the Museum Island).  Although the tour was theoretically free, we all tipped the tour guide (as that is their only source of income).  

After the tour, we went back over to Humboldt, as there was a massive book sale going on in front.  Apparently this goes on every weekend, as a way of giving books and literature back to the community (in addition, the money raised by th sales is donated to charity), also serving as a remembrance of the book burning that happened on Bebelplatz during the nazi regime.  Many of the books burned there were first editions with no further printings, i.e. meaning that once burned, they were gone forever.  There was an entire library that was emptied during this burning.  A memorial to the lost books still stands in Bebelplatz: there is an opening in the ground covered with glass, which lets you look down about 40 feet, seeing nothing but empty shelves, where books should be.

We then headed over to Alexenderplatz to get some lunch.  I had döner again, it was incredibly tasty as always.  Sam had to head out soon thereafter as she had to babysit that night.  Her friends (steven and chan) and I then went to southwest berlin (as the tour had only covered stuff in central and north-eastern parts) to Ku'damm.  We went into the Gedächtnis Kirche, and after that got some currywurst.  There was a Bach Cantata in the church at 6, so we went in and listened.

After the Cantata, we took the U-bahn back up to Stadtmitte and went back to the chocolate shop - the guys wanted to buy Sam's mom a thank-you for letting them stay there the weekend.  I got a little something as well - quite delectible.  They were mini-truffles, with liqueur fillings.

After that we went back to Bebelplatz to watch the (Free) performance of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, which was being showed ont he big screen (A live video cast from the Berliner Staatsoper in the next building).  The opera was in russian, with german subtitles.  The guys I was with didn't really know much german, so I translated the subtitles for a while.  We came in pretty late to the opera, so we only caught the last half hour or so.  

After the opera was over, we went back to the Lustgarten in front of the Dom, and relaxed for a while.  It was about 10, so the sun was just going down (!), and we were enjoying the nice evening breeze, and finally break from the overbearing sun.  After about half an hour, we wandered back over to Alexanderplatz, and had some dinner.  I ordered a margherita pizza (tomatoes, basil and mozzerella) - the other two had pasta dishes.  After dinner we went our seperate ways, and I headed home to crash after being out for more than 14 hours.

Long day, but incredibly fun.