After driving to Porto, we got to our accommodation and watched the European Soccer Final. Barcelona won and it was a great game. After some bonding time with mosquitoes and sleeping in temperatures reaching roughly "sauna", we left our place for some breakfast and beach time.
Russell really wanted to see this architectural masterpiece on a certain beach. It was supposed to be pools that were naturally filled by the tide, but instead it was an abandoned cement pit with no water:( We kept our spirits up and enjoyed the morning:
Porto ----------------> Berlin
We traveled directly from the airport to meet up with Joana and my friend Sam at the Reichtags building. Sam had already visited once before, so only us four did the tour of the building (parliamentary building).
Everything looked nice at sunset:
We synchronized our audio guides and wandered about the roof and the giant glass dome:
That is, after we synchronized some more:
The building was designed by Norman Foster and is very futuristic. The dome focuses the natural light through the mirrors into the plenary below. There is also a giant shade that rotates with the sun in order to minimize glare. The idea is that the building is all about government transparency:
The roof of the building is open to atmosphere and whisks away the hot air. It also collects rainwater:
The mirrors and seats of the parliament:
The shade:
After the tour we met up again with Sam and ventured for beer and beds.
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In the morning, after an absolute feast prepared by Joanna and Sam, we went to go check out the Berlin Wall. There are a lot of outdoor and interactive exhibits for tourists:
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| Sam Learns |
At first, you walk along a ruined section of the wall:
And then you come upon a section where the inner and outer walls are enclosed so that you cannot enter, but at least you can look thought the cracks:
All along the wall, there are metal plates with information about the people who either escaped to the west over the wall or died trying. This one says the date and location that one person made it over:
Others included names, if known, or other information as possible.
From an observation tower across the street at the museum, you can look into the walled off section. This section is preserved exactly as it was during its use. You can see the first wall, the signal fence, the guard tower, and lastly the wall into west Germany.
After more walking and bus rides we headed to the East Side Gallery- site of the most famous graffiti:
This installation was made in 1990 but sadly people have really really really grafitti'd over everything. Important messages like "2015 Summer Hell Yeah" and "Jane loves Bob" and "Capitalist Fart" have been written over everything. Rant aside, it is still cool:
Actually Rant back on- I really can't believe how stupid and self-centered people are. I saw several people walk up to write on the wall stupid messages just so they could pose (duck-face) and take a picture with them. I don't get it! Why?! You're not a model, you didn't contribute to art, and your one minute of fame/acknowledgment from your friends on Instagram is NOT IMPORTANT. Both Genders- everybody thinks they are important now. I feel like an old man getting irritated by it, but it's just craziness. You don't have to worship the place, but at least don't forever change it so the people after you can't experience it- who are you to make that decision? AHHHHHH I saw an older couple tag (and selfie) on a part of the wall right next to a sign reminding people that this was a memorial to a humanitarian and political crisis that killed people and caused immense strife. I was speechless. I thought they were old enough to escape the clutches of instagram narcissism nooooooooooooooo
Picture:
We walked to the Berlin Cathedral, Lustgarten, and the Museem Island:
Siegfried takes out that dragon:
Cathedral was super expensive so we didn't go inside...
Museums:
And then we happened upon this memorial:
"Neue Wache
Central Memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Victims of War and Tyranny
'The Neue Wache is the place
Where we commemorate the
victims
Of War and Tyranny
We honour the memory of the
peoples who suffered through war.
We remember their citizens who were persecuted and who lost their lives.
We remember those killed in action in the world wars.
We remember the innocent who lost their lives as a result of war
in their homeland, in captivity and through expulsion.
We remember the millions of Jews who were murdered.
We remember the Sinti and Roma who were murdered.
We remember all those who were killed because of their origin, homosexuality,
sickness or infirmity.
We remember all who were murdered whose right to life was denied.
We remember the people who had to die because of their
religious or political convictions.
We remember all those who were victims of tyranny and met their death, though
innocent.
We remember the women and men who sacrificed their lives in
resistance to despotic rule.
We honour all who preferred to die rather than act against their conscience.
We honour the memory of the women and men who were persecuted
and murdered
because they resisted totalitarian dictatorship after 1945.'
"The neue Wache (New Guardhouse) was built in the years 1816 to 1818 on behalf of the Prussian King, Frederick William III [...]
In 1931 The Prussian Government had the guardhouse redesigned. Heinrich Tessenow created a "Memorial to those who fell in the World War." [...]
From 1960 the Restored building served the GDR as a "Memorial to the victims of Fascism and Militarism". In 1969 an eternal flame was lit in the middle of the room.
In 1969 the mortal remains of an unknown soldier and an unknown concentration camp prisoner were laid to rest here. They are surrounded by earth from the battlefields of the second world war and from concentration camps.
Since 1993 the Neue Wache has served as the central memorial of the federal republic of Germany.
The Interior design from the time of the Weimar Republic was largely restored. An enlarged replica of the sculpture by Kathe Kollwitz known as "Mother with her dead son" stands in the centre of the memorial. [...]"
The memorial was somewhat unexpected and we spent some quite minutes inside.
As we walked out, we decided to head to Humbolt University. In front of Humbolt, we came upon a tour that was explaining how we were standing on the site of the famous NS book burning. The memorial for the burned books is underground, and symbolizes the knowledge and heritage lost by this heinous act. I also heard the the tour guide quote a scholar/author named Kaestner with (translation by self) "Any people that burns books will find themselves burning men".
I tried to find that quote for 5 minutes and couldn't turn anything up... I may have misheard?
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| from website "placetobe' |
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| Memorial. Photo Aaron Siirila |
We stopped at a beer house and got some drinks to refuel. Than on-wards:
After putting it off until 4 pm, we decided to get lunch. We jumped into a little Doener Kebab Sandwich place that turned out to be famous! Merkel and other politicians are frequent visitors, as seen on the wall:
After our delicious lamb sandwiches, we went to the 'memorial for victims of the holocaust'
According to Sam, the memorial is supposed to take you from normal life into isolation. The narrow paths separate you from friends and contact, and you can get lost. As you go in, it gets deeper, but there is always light at the very end, symbolizing the hope that people kept with them.
Checkpoint Charlie was a little bit of underwhelming- but nonetheless interesting to see. It's hard to imagine what life in isolated West Berlin was really like.
We then thought we would go to the Topography of Terror museum, a museum dedicated to the history of the NS police force, the Gestapo, and the SS. On the way in, they had a timeline of the Nazi Party that stretched a long the street. It ended up taking us an hour to read because it was so unbelievably difficult to comprehend what happened. As Will put it, we are used to only ever hearing about specific events or details of the atrocity. It was completely different to see how quickly they all happened and which ones happened at the same time and which ones built on little injustices. The NS political machine is truly frightening.
I don't think that I am capable, through this blog or my writing, of explaining what it is like to be near evil history like that associated with the NS party. The surroundings of the museums, the exhibits, and perhaps parallels in modern day make it impossible to not empathize and feel depressed. And what made it even harder were the countless stories of instrumental parts of the machine (the man who invented the gas chambers, murderers, judges, 'catchers', etc.) who received little to no punishment after the war.
From this point I broke up with the brothers to attend my conference with my program. They continued on to more buildings and museums.
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