The last time I was in Berlin was when I was a freshman in high school
and journeying there as a part of a Holocaust trip with my Rabbi and
confirmation class. In my eyes this harsh, industrial city could only be seen
as the extermination of millions of people. This time though, I was determined
to see the city in a different light. Today Germany is a world leader, has one
of the biggest Green Parties in the world, and has a rich history that is more
than just WWII. I arrived Thursday night and took the train to stay with a
friend from Clark, Stef, who has been studying abroad there for the semester.
She gave me my first new taste of Berlin by going to a few of Berlin’s clubs.
The first one we went to was in an area called the Raw Temple which is a bombed
out section now covered in graffiti and hidden dance venues and bars. Since the
trains don’t start running again until 4am we had some time to kill exploring
Berlin by night and of course enjoying some fantastic falafel.
The
next day I was on my own, which I am normally quite good at when I travel, but
for some reason Berlin made me terribly uneasy. I was overwhelmed by the
vastness of the city and had pangs of discomfort walking by the enormous
Holocaust memorial again. Nonetheless, it wasn’t long before I met up with my
friend Josh at our couchsurfing host’s apartment on Karl-Marx-Allee (the street
is known for its Stalinist era housing once used as tenements, but are now
quite nice). Our host Sebastian was quite busy, so after briefly getting
acquainted he gave us his bedroom to use for the weekend and key to the
apartment! Josh and I headed out for an awesome Indian dinner and an
alternative pub crawl. The pub crawl took us to places we would probably never
go including a 60s/70s themed bar (well maybe I would go there), a
gothic/dominatrix bar, an absinthe bar, an 80s themed club, and finally a club
underneath a furniture store! Unfortunately, the furniture store club was not
very busy so we joined an Irish couple to another club with techno music and
hipsters galore. What a night!
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| Berlin has so many construction projects there are colorful pipes everywhere transporting gas and pumping out water |
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| Holocaust Memorial |
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| Holocaust Memorial for Homosexuals (inside the small window are clips of gay couples kissing) |
The
next day we took a free walking tour to see all the main sites of Berlin
starting at the Brandenburg Gate, to a parking lot sealing off the site of
Hitler’s bunker where he married Ava and committed suicide, the old Nazi
Airforce headquarters (now the German tax office), Checkpoint Charlie (the
checkpoint between the American and Soviet sides of Berlin), past 2 very
impressive cathedrals (now museums), Frederick the Great’s impressive cultural
square, and Museum Isle. Afterwards, Josh and I walked around and grabbed
Vietnamese food (another cheap and delicious food found all over the city). Tired
from walking all day and the night before, Josh’s “half hour nap” turned into a
12-hour sleep so we stayed in that night.
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| Brandenburg Gate |
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| Parking lot over Hitler's bunker |
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| Checkpoint Charlie (American soldier looking at Soviet side) |
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| Checkpoint Charlie (Soviet soldier looking at American side) |
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| Controversial Memorial with an unnamed Nazi soldier and unnamed concentration victim buried next to eachother |
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| Our tour guide in fron the world's largest granite bowl |
Sunday
we got off to an early start for breakfast and took Berlin’s alternative tour
(if you ever go to Berlin, this is my number one recommendation!) Our guide
(very alternative), took us through Berlin’s walls of notable graffiti,
explained their significance and the notable artists that did them. Considering
that the graffiti can change over night, he did an excellent job pointing all
of it out. We concluded the tour at a beach venue on the River Spree called Yam
that has been fighting to keep their location since investors have been trying
to buy up the land along the water for businesses and apartment complexes—and also
re-tearing down the Berlin Wall (the East Side Gallery). The East Side Gallery
is the longest strip of the wall still standing and covered with artist’s work.
After strolling along the wall, Josh headed to the Jewish Museum (I had been on
my first trip) and I headed to a massive flea market at Mauer Park (once again,
hipster central). I fell in love and spent quite a few hours there, before Josh
and I re-met and he left for his bus back to Copenhagen.
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| The future of Berlin? |
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| Berlin Graffiti |
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| Alternative tour guide in front of a tree house built next to the Berlin Wall when it was still standing |
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| East Side Gallery |
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| East Side Gallery |
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| Mauer Park Flea Market- AWESOME |
The
next day I got an early start and rented a bike as per usual for me. Starting
in the East I biked to the end of Treptower Park and explored an abandoned
amusement park and saw the WWII Soviet Memorial, which was huge and absolutely
over the top, but a common thing to do for Stalin. Then I continued on and
explored Kreuzberg, Berlin’s new trendy area and new reason to hike up the
rent. From there I got lost for quite some time and finally made it to the
Reichstag (Germany’s main government building) and biked all the way to the
west through Tiergarten park to see their victory tower and finally
Charlottenburg Palace.
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| Abandoned amusement park |
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| I went exploring... |
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| Soviet memorial |
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| Reichstag |
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| Victory Tower |
Exhausted, I took the metro back East to
meet my final host Dave (originally from England, but has been in Berlin for the
past few years). Since I had seen Berlin east to west, Dave took me south to Neukolln,
an area resembling what Berlin used to look like when it was comprised of small
villages and now predominantly populated by Turks. After a delicious Italian
dinner, (German food never really happened since their main delicacy is curry
wurst), we headed north to meet some of his friends. One of them was from Iraq
and told me how much he approved of the war we started there—in fact, if he met
George Bush, he would even shake his hand. Although I was surprised, it made a
lot more sense once I learned he was a Kurd from northern Iraq (which he told
me is beautiful and he’d be happy to host me there!) Since we were all having
an awesome time hanging out, after a while it didn’t make sense to sleep before
I had to catch my flight at 7am so we stayed out until one of his friends kindly
drove me to the airport and gave me a small architectural tour of the center of
the city.
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| Like I said, curry wurst is a big deal here |
Berliners love their city and so do the
tons of other people that have fallen in love with this raw and still growing
city. Although Berlin definitely grew on me by the end of my trip, I’m not sure
I will be rushing back any time soon. The city lacks the ornate and lavish air
of other European cities and despite Germany being a world leader they are very
much so debt. As their mayor stated, “Berlin is poor, but sexy.”
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