Mehr Berlin! :)

On the train for my eleven hour trip back to Klagenfurt from Berlin. Incredibly exciting. Incredibly busy is a better description though. I think there’s been some sort of computer problem with seat reservations—every SINGLE seat on the train says reserved. They made an announcement but aside from “computer problems,” “reservations,” and “sorry,” I can’t be sure what was said.

Berlin turned out to be wonderful. If I hadn’t continually gotten lost Friday, I certainly would have seen a bit more but the trip turned out to be just right. I made it to my free tour on Saturday. I even got to grab a Dunkin’ Donut on the way (soo Berlin!).

The tour lasted from about 11:15 to 2:45. We went from the Brandenburg Gate, looked at the American Embassy, the hotel where MJ dangled his baby, and the French Embassy (overwhich Victoria conveniently stares), then we made our way towards the Memorial for the Jews murdered in World War II, an uneven pavement covered in identically-dimensioned cubes—our tour guide said some people interpret them as graves, others bodies… I kept picturing the bunkers in concentration camps like the one in the picture of Elie Wiesel. After that we made our way to a muddy parking lot—the official memorial to Hitler’s bunker. Okay, maybe not official but it’s quite appropriate. The parking lot is directly above where Hitler and Eva Braun killed themselves. The bunker has been destroyed and there was only one simple sign indicating the “significance” of the location. Our guide said Berliners bring their dogs to the parking lot on Hitler’s birthday to potty. Perfect J We made our way towards CheckPoint Charlie—a bit of a dissapointment—a bunch of signs about the wall, a fake checkpoint, a picture of an American soldier, a fake sign about leaving the American sector, and a museum. But I saw it, so that’s all right After lunch, we went to Gendarmenplatz, the location of the French cathedral… as well as the German cathedral (because could Germany really allow an entire market dedicated to the French? Of course not!). Our next stop was the Humbodlt University/State opera area. Humboldt University can pride itself on having alumni/former staff such as the Brothers Grimm and Einstein; however, Humboldt cannot deny its darker past—the burning of some 20,000 books under Nazi regime. Many of the burnt books were single editions, originals that could never be republished, from authors such as Einstein…? A memorial in the center of the market looks like an optical illusion at first: a room underground with white booksheleves—enough to hold exactly the number of books that were burnt that night. The most incredible thing here though was the plaque commemorizing the memorial with a quotation from Heinrich Heine in 1820: “When man burns books it is only an Vorspiel, man will also burn people.” Heine may have died before the Nazis…. but the connection to his quotation and the Nazi’s action is eery.

Our tour guide, Stephanie, was great—I was the first person at the meet point in West Berlin so I got to talk to her a bit on my own before others showed up and stayed in her group for the overall tour. I had lunch with her and her boss, who was from the States. They invited me to go dancing later and were soo friendly. At the end of the tour, I was sticking around to thank her, tip her, and ask her what she thought I just had to do in Berlin. A couple from my group was waiting around to ask a few questions as well. Their accents sounded British so I asked what part of the UK they were from and started talking. The four of us ended up going to get a hot chocolate together. The British couple, Gary and Jo, were lifesavers. When they found out I was alone, they invited me to spend the rest of the afternoon/evening with them.

We walked miles through Berlin and visited several Christmas markets, had several glasses of Glühwein… and most importantly (well.. my end goal, at least), we made it to KaDeWe (the Kaufhaus des Westens, also known as the largest department store in all of Europe). We basically walked the entire way across town to visit KaDeWe, so the expectations were rather high. It had better be worth the trek we had just made through Berlin or I was in for it! One word: massive. 7 stories of department store craziness. I walked in to a hallway that reminded me a bit of the Wynn’s shopping area—Louis Vutton, Prada, and so many brands I can’t even waste time looking at in a magazine. Beyond that was basically a Christmas market inside the store. Yep, it’s that big. We made our way through perfume heaven and up to the “gourmet restaurant.” After all, we’d basically been walking Berlin since 11, it was going on 6:30, we were a bit hungry! Everything was just incredible. It looked like a fancy restaurant but was a buffet-style food area. After some delicious cake, we made our way through the remaining 6 levels. Simply insane. I would love to go back and just spend hours in that one store. Had I been on my own, I’m sure I would have spent even more time than I did in KaDeWe… but it’s probbaly best for my wallet (and my ever-expanding luggage contents) that I didn’t have that time to spend!

I don’t know what I would have done without Jo and Gary. It was at no point awkward with them and we saw so much of the city that I would not have without them!

This morning I woke up and made my way further east towards the East Side Gallery—the longest remaining segment of the wall, covered in original artwork. It was such a whirlwind of emotions. A lot of the things I had seen on the tour Saturday were a rush of emotions as well, maybe it was being alone at the wall today, the weather, leaving Berlin, or just the significance of the wall itself, but the East Side Gallery was incredible.

17 days until I’m home to see everyone!! Only 7 until my family is here!!!

Day 2:

East Side Gallery: