Thursday-Monday,
August 14-18, 2014
We decided to
take one last long weekend trip away before our baby girl arrives in 7 weeks or
so. We chose to go to Berlin. Jackie went there 9 years ago with her friend
Emily in cold late November 2005 while they were studying abroad in Prague. She
recalled feeling like with all the construction going on in the bombed out city
that it would be pretty cool to go back and see one day years later to see all
the new development of the rebuilt city.
Thursday morning
we dropped Chance off at the kennel for the duration of our stay. This was her
second visit there in the Mierlo countryside (first was while we were in
Turkey).
30 minutes later
we were in Germany. We stopped for gas and McDonalds for lunch along the way.
We stayed at
Art’otel in Berlin Mitte just south of Museum Island and Alexanderplatz across
the Spreekanal and Spree River.
We began to walk
over to Brandenburg Gate once we arrived. There was still construction EVERYWHERE.
Konzerthaus
Berlin, a 19th century concert hall
Neue Kirche
Old building in
Berlin Mitte
Berlin sewer
cover
Brandenburg Gate
from Pariser Platz as the sun began to go down
Jackie at
Brandenburg Gate
We grabbed dinner
at Hopfingerbrau im Palais. Joe had beef goulash and Jackie had schnitzel.
Reichstag,
renovations and dome by Sir Norman Foster in 1999
Jackie had
unfortunately misread somewhere that you could only sign up to tour the
Reichstag dome 2 days before and once she looked into it, there were no openings to
tour the Reichstag while we were there. It was the highlight of Jackie’s time
in Berlin 9 years ago and was sad that there would be no Reichstag tour for Joe.
We walked by the
Holocaust Memorial to the Sinti and Roma victims (some 500,000 European gypsies),
designed by Israeli artist Dani Karavan and opened in 2012 has a round
reflecting pool surrounded by broken slabs of stone. In the central triangular
platform, which shape represents the badges worn by the concentration camp
prisoners, has a single rose that is replaced daily when the stone is retracted.
There is an inscription of the poem “Auschwitz” by Roma author Santino Spinelli
in bronze letters surrounding the round reflecting pool.
Brandenburg Gate
from the backside in West Germany
Holocaust
Memorial (Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe) by Peter Eisenmann
Holocaust
Memorial with Fernsehturm TV Tower in the distance in Alexanderplatz
Holocaust Memorial
with the sun setting in the distance
Fashion shopping
building Gallerie by Jean Neuvel
Checkpoint
Charlie
Friday
We went to Cappucino,
a delicatessen near our hotel for breakfast. Joe had a typical European
breakfast of lunch meat, salami, cheese and rolls and Jackie had a ham and
cheese croissant.
We bought a
daypass for the Berlin transportation system on the U-bahn and S-bahn. At the
price of 6.80 euros for a day, 3 rides paid for the ticket for the day.
Potsdamer Platz
Sony Center
All throughout
Berlin, you can trace the outline on the pavement of where the Berliner Mauer
(Berlin Wall) once stood from 1961-1989.
Berlin Wall
Memorial representation of the border wall
Here is the orientation
model. We began walking the Berlin Wall Memorial along Bernauer Strass at
Gartenstrasse outside the Nordbahnhof S-bahn station.
Berlin Wall
Memorial former inner wall
Original Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
Memorial representation of the inner wall, signal fence and patrol road
Reconstructed
monument of the death strip with inner wall, border lights, patrol road, watch
tower and the 12 foot tall concrete wall
Chapel of
Reconciliation
We walked the
Berlin Wall Memorial until we reached the Bernauer Strasse U-bahn station.
We took the U-bahn
to see Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.
The damaged
spire of the old church remains and the ground floor is now a memorial hall. The
Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church ceiling
Model of the original
Kaiser Wilhelm Church prior to WWII
Model of the
current Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church today
The new hexagonal
tower was covered in scaffolding for renovations so I didn’t take any photos.
The new church has octagonal walls of concrete honeycomb with stain glass
inlays, predominantly in blue.
The exterior of
the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
An interior shot
of the church from the internet since I didn’t want to pay entrance fees for
photos.
The new
buildings are nicknamed the lipstick and the powder box by Berliners.
Next we walked
over to the south end of the Tiergarten, near to the Zoo to the biergarten at Café
am Neuen See. We even got to see a few llamas and other animals through the
fence.
Joe enjoyed a
beer at the Café am Neuen See while Jackie had fresh squeezed juice. We split a
wood-fire baked bruschetta pizza and a milkshake for lunch.
The biergarten setting
was wonderful on the Neuen See (a small lake) in Tiergarten.
Victory Column
Next we walked
over to take the S-bahn Tiergarten to Alexanderplatz. Our lack of knowing very
little German showed its true colors when we were forced off the train at the
Friedrichstrasse stop. The line here was under construction so we had to take a
bus from here to Alexanderplatz.
As soon as we
got off the bus, it started to rain so we ducked into a large shopping mall to
wait it out. It passed shortly thereafter.
We walked by Berliner
Fernsehturm, the Soviet TV Tower, an icon of East Germany which could be seen
from just about everywhere in Berlin.
We snacked on
some currywurst before heading back to the hotel for a short nap before going out
for dinner.
For dinner we
went to Zur Rippe for traditional German cuisine. Joe had beef roll with red
cabbage and mashed potatoes and Jackie had a bratwurst.
We walked around
after dinner. We strolled by the Berliner Dom and wished we had remembered our
camera tripod to take night photographs.
Ampelmann, the
Berlin green crosswalk man
Ampelmann, the Berlin
red crosswalk man
Chairs outside the
Ampelmann souvenir shop
Ampelmann shop
signage
They had everything
you could imagine with these figures, but no shot glasses. Joe and Jackie
collect shot glasses from each of the places they have visited together and they
really wanted to this one for Berlin.
Saturday
We began our
morning having breakfast again at Cappucino. Jackie had fresh orange juice and
a chicken and onion quiche while Joe had a cappuccino and breakfast sandwich. We
shared a lemon cake.
We bought
another day ticket to ride the public transit. We rode over to S-bahn Tiergarten
stop to go to the Strasse des 17 Juni Flea Market. We have been looking for
older maps of cities we have been to. We found 6 good ones while in Maastricht
in June. Today we waded through boxes and boxes of maps, to find one worth
buying of the northern provinces of the Netherlands including Groningen, Friesland,
the North Sea coast and the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The
mapmaker is 200+ years old, but not sure on the date of the actual map print.
Next we headed
back east for another flea market near the Berlin Wall street art piece along
the Spree River. We made plans to eat at Burgermeister which is right under the
U-bahn Schlesisches Tor stop. It wasn’t too busy when we walked by at noon, so
we went to the East Side Gallery first.
We crossed the
Spree River looking south
The East Side
Gallery was painted from February-September 1990 after the Berlin Wall fell in
November 1989 and repainted in 2009.
We crossed back
over the Spree River looking north at the East Side Gallery on the right and Alexanderplatz
TV Tower.
Burgermeister
was in full swing for lunch at 1pm. We patiently waited for our amazing
burgers.
The line
stretched to the street corner by the time we finished our lunch
We walked over
to Hallentrodelmarkt which was so overloaded with stuff that it was overwhelming.
We moved along to the S-bahn Treptower Park stop to go to the Jewish Museum for
the afternoon. The weathermen were predicting rain.
Jewish Museum
exterior by architect Daniel Libeskind completed in 2001
Holocaust Tower
Garden of Exile,
49 concrete pillars containing earth and olive willows are arranged in a square
(the only completely rectangular form in the building) but on a slanting
foundation.
I think Daniel
Libeskind’s quote sums it up well: “One feels a little bit sick walking through
it. But it is accurate, because that is what perfect order feels like when you
leave the history of Berlin.”
Three
intersecting slanting corridors named the “Axes”
Our complaint
about this museum is that you have to always look at the map to know the
correct way to go and then follow the arrows on the floor throughout the
exhibits on the upper floors. You could never really get a good handle of where
you are within the zigzag building.
Interior windows
of the Jewish Museum
The museum had
more of an emphasis of Jewish history in Germany, but it helped give a good
explanation of how anti-Semitism grew so strong before the Nazi regime thus
leading to the Holocaust.
Staircase at the
end of the axes
Stair landing
windows
bios [torah] by the
artist group robotlab has an industrial robot scribe the Torah like a specially
trained Jewish scribe on an 80m long roll of parchment paper
Looking down
into the void from an upper window at the Fallen Leaves
In the “Memory
Void” there is an exhibit by Israeli artist Menashe Kadishman called Shalekhet or
Fallen Leaves, which has 10,000 faces punched out of steel and distributed on the
ground
Lit from just
one window
Visitors are
invited to walk on the faces and listen to the sounds created by the metal
sheets as they clang and rattle against one another.
It felt very odd
walking on the metal faces.
Jackie walking
on the metal faces
This part of the
exhibit was definitely our favorite.
We rested for a
bit in the courtyard of the older Jewish Museum building.
Jewish Museum
exterior
After all the
German food we were craving some Asian food. Joe found a good Taiwanese
restaurant on Tripadvisor, Lon-Men’s Noodle House. We had shao long biao, beef
with noodles, and pickled vegetables. It wasn’t that great, but it was better
than anything we have had for Asian food in Eindhoven.
We stopped by
Potsdamer Platz again to see the Sony Center lit up at night.
Deutsche Bank at
night
Sunday
This morning we
tried the Thurmann Café and Bakery for breakfast and grabbed sandwiches for
lunch later.
We drove to the Mauerpark
flea market for a bit this morning.
We spent the day
north of Berlin in Oranienburg to visit the Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum.
Sachsenhausen
camp was established in 1936 and intended as a standard for other concentration
camps both in its design and the treatment of the prisoners. The layout was
intended to allow the machine gun post to monitor the entire cast but
additional watchtowers were used along the perimeter. It became a training
center for SS officers. In 1942 a large number of Jewish prisoners were
relocated at Auschwitz as an extermination camp.
The main gate
and Guard Tower “A” of Sachsenhausen.
The gate reads “Arbeit
Macht Frei” which means Work Makes you Free
Radiating out
from the main gate and tower in a semicircle were the barracks. After the war
ended, the camp was dismantled and the building materials were reused in the
surrounding towns to rebuild after the war’s devastation.
Morning and
evening roll call would happen in the semicircle open space between the main
gate tower and the barracks.
There was a
marching strip around the perimeter of the roll call ground where prisoners had
to march on a variety of surfaces to test military footwear while carrying
military packs in shoes often not even close to their prisoner’s actual shoe
size.
There was a recreation of
the security perimeter which consisted of a 3m high stone wall, followed by a
space that was patrolled by guards and dogs that was within the inside of
lethal electric fence and then a forbidden gravel zone where a prisoner would
be shot without warning. Guards would be given rewards like extra leave for
successfully shooting and killing any prisoner.
The basic
barrack layout has a central washing area
and another room for
toilets.
The left and right wings were overcrowded sleeping rooms
with 3 story bunks with multiple prisoners to a bed.
We took a lunch
break on the lawn to eat our sandwiches.
Sachsenhausen
was the site of the largest counterfeiting operation ever. Inmates with skills
as artists or bankers were forced to forge American and British currency.
Execution trench
Station Z gas
chamber, now ruins, was put into operation in 1943 (after the Jews were sent to
Auschwitz in 1942). Station Z was named such since it was the last place to
exit the camp (through execution).
In April 1945 as
the army advanced, Sachsenhausen was prepared for evacuation with the SS staff
ordering 33,000 inmates on a forced death march northeast.
It was a long
day at Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum
We had had
enough depressing history for one day so we head back to Berlin for a little
sightseeing, souvenir shopping and dinner.
Berliner Dom
(Berlin Cathedral)
Altes Museum
We walked to Bebelplatz
by Humboldt University to see the Empty Library which is a white room with
empty bookshelves underground under a glass floor. The glass was extremely
dirty and there was a lot of glare so there was no good way to take a photo of
this memorial of when the Nazi’s burned books in front of the university.
We were real
hungry so we made our way to Treffpunkt Berlin for dinner. There weren’t any
open tables so we sat down to share a table with an older couple who just
finished their meal and were enjoying some beers. Joe started a conversation
with the German couple who are from a town 50 km from Munich. They were in
Berlin for work, where they are basically tour guides for hotels in different
cities all around Germany. The man spoke a decent amount of English and his
wife spoke some French. They also own part of a farm and make their own
chocolate for distribution around the holidays. We made sure to exchange cards
and emails so we can order some chocolate and get recommendations for when we
go to Munich.
After dinner, we
walked over to the Brandenburg Gate.
Jackie at 33
weeks in front of the Brandenburg Gate
Monday
We enjoyed one
last breakfast at Cappucino before hitting the road on our 6 hour drive home.
We detoured
through Potsdam.
We drove by
Sanssouci Palace of Frederick the Great and the surround park gardens but
didn’t bother getting out for photos to ensure we were back in the Netherlands
to pick up Chance before 7pm.
Overall it was a
good trip, but not somewhere where we feel the need to visit again. We much
more enjoy smaller cities with lots of visual history, which Berlin does not.
We also realized on this trip how fortunate we are to live in the Netherlands.
With so many people comfortable speaking English everywhere, it makes it easy
for us to adjust and be able to communicate most of the time. We found it a lot
harder in Germany. Typically there was only 1 waiter in the place that spoke
enough English and would help the other waitstaff out that might not understand
what we were saying. We did find a lot of similar words in Dutch and German.
Hopefully the German pronunciation of things doesn’t affect our horrible Dutch
pronunciation once our Dutch lessons start back up again after a 4 week hiatus
for vacations.
By far our
favorite German word is AUSFAHRT, which means exit. EINFAHRT is entrance
(pertaining to vehicles only). We
searched for a good arrow shaped sign to take a photo with (I’m sure you can
picture Joe bending over acting like he’s farting) but most were at exits on
the Autobahn which would not be safe for us to get out of the car for
photographs.
