Berlin

Last weekend I took a very nice weekend trip to Berlin. It was an Ohio State reunion of sorts, and conveniently timed to coincide with my friend Cory's birthday. As Cory, and another Ohio State student, Laura, are studying in Berlin, we had some guides for the weekend and a nice place to stay for free! There were quite a few of us, 8 Ohio State design students (me and Jackie from Darmstadt, Tim and Will from Essen, Laura and Cory who live in Berlin, and Jackie and Shaina from Swabisch Gmund) and Jenae. We got there on Friday afternoon, but since everyone arrived at different times it was 11pm by the time everyone had arrived and taken their stuff to Laura's [very very nice] flat. Laura and Cory both live in Prenzlauer Berg, outside of the main city but very nice. They have a mall and an amazing coffee shop that had sensational seasonal concoctions such as my favorite the Apple Cinnamon Latte. 

On Friday we went out to a few bars and a club. Berlin is quite famous for its nightlife and there are many bars, clubs, and prostitutes everywhere. I don't believe I have ever travelled anywhere where the hookers are so abundant! (We accidentally found ourselves in a red light district of sorts the second night too when the boys tried to get us to go into a strip club that they were convinced was really a sportsbar.) We stayed out pretty late the first night, arriving back at Laura's at about 530am (which is early for Berlin) and stopped at the bakery for some straight from the oven treats before bed...or rather a nap...and headed back out at around noon to do some sightseeing. It was quite a dreary and cold Saturday, and looking at Holocaust monuments did not really brighten up the mood. The Jackies, Jenae, and I went to a monument for the victims of the Holocaust created by Peter Eisenman (an American architect who also created the Wexner Center at Ohio State!). The monument consisted of hundreds of concrete rectangles protruding from an undulating surface. The rectangles varied in height due to the irregular surface beneath. There was a very interesting and well done exhibit beneath the monument detailing major WWII events and included many letters, pictures, and quotes from Holocaust victims. We next went to the Topography of Terror exhibit which is set on the remnants of what were Nazi Secret Police headquarters in Berlin. The imagery here was quite disturbing as it included a lot of photographs of those murdered at the hand of the Nazis during WWII. We also saw some remaining panels of the Berlin wall. This October was the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall so there was a lot of extra signage and exhibits around the city. 

After being quite downtrodden while looking at these memorials we were in dire need of laughter, smiles, and some food to fuel us through the rest of the night. We met up with everyone else (who had stayed in bed all day) and went to a charming little restaurant with typical German fare for Cory's birthday. After this we were on the hunt for a good place to have a drink and ended up at a bar inside a hotel. We met a nice German couple who reside in Mainz (right near Darmstadt...the church with the pretty windows...) and had quite a funny bartender who was constantly making fun of the boys (they had consumed far more to drink than Laura, Jenae, and I) but she ended up coming out with us afterward so they must've been quite charming. 

We next tried to go to a club which we were not quite dressed for and didn't want to pay the 10 Euro cover fee. So we headed back to Laura's with hopes of catching some more Berlin sights on our way out of town the next day. We saw the Brandenburger Gate in the morning, which is a main symbol of Berlin, the only remaining gate of the gates which people could formerly enter Berlin. We then went to the Reichstag which is home to the German Parliament. The building was free to tour and had an audio guide telling about everything you can see through the glass dome and also discussed German parliament. The tour also told about the architecture of the Reichstag, which is state of the art in heating and cooling and has a hole in the top with a cone underneath to collect and use rain water as well as a filtering system for bringing fresh air into the parliament chamber. 

I thought Berlin was really nice, it is very clean and a pleasant place to visit. There are giant bear statues everywhere because Berlin is "bearland" or so I am told...Even in the most touristy parts it did not seem to be too busy though we did wait in line at the Reichstag. It was also nice that we didn't have to pay for any of the touristy activities, which has not been the case in other towns. It was also neat to see how much pride there is in Berlin and their willingness to educate both locals and visitors alike on the events of the war and Berlin's enormous role in the war. We were instructed by a "German culture class" not to really bring up the war at all but it is hard when remnants of it are everywhere. It was interesting to see Berlin's take on this subject and cool to see the city embracing and teaching about what occurred.