Berlin!

Tuesday I returned from a weekend adventure in Berlin. Meagan and I took off Friday night and spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday soaking up all things Christmas and German.

Saturday morning we woke up early and went to the Reichstag building. This is the building where Parliament meets and has a giant glass dome on top. They allow people up to take a look at the panoramic view of the city and to look down into the Parliament's meetings. Because it was a Saturday there weren't any official meetings and because we got there at 10 am there wasn't much of a line. Last time I went to Berlin, Heather and I stood outside for what felt like forever then gave up because it was too cold and rainy. I'm glad Meagan and I made it through the 20 minute wait and up to the top. The view was gorgeous!

After we looked over the city we walked to the train station to meet up with Leo and his friend. Leo is the German student my mom hosted for about six months last year. He spent the 2007-2008 school year as a student at Forest Grove High, and in November had a housing crisis; that is when my mom stepped in and offered Jen's old room. He seemed to really like our family and we got a kick out of him being there, so it seemed natural that if one of us ended up in his homeland we should meet up.

The train station was huge and thus made finding him rather difficult. One would think that a nearly 7-foot tall German would be easy to spot. No true. By German standards Leo was tall, but not freakishly tall the way he would have been in Spain. We spent about a half hour looking and waiting. Finally Meagan spotted a second entrance (we thought we were perched at the only one) on the other side of the station. We walked over and found them. Apparently they had us paged, but let's be honest I don't speak German and really couldn't tell what any of the announcements over the loudspeaker were about.

With Leo and Heiko we wandered around town. Neither of them were experts on Berlin by any standards, so we all got to be tourists for the afternoon. We walked through a memorial dedicated to the Holocaust that was utterly creepy. The design was a series of cement pillars of various heights and the ground was uneven so as one walked through you became lost in the maze. The four of us stuck pretty close together, but I can see how if you got lost in there it would be a terrifying experience.

We also visited the Sony Center, which is basically a giant shopping mall. It was nice to see the Christmas market set-up in the central plaza. The Sony Center is right next to a few chunks of the Berlin Wall that have been turned into an educational installation. There were alternating panels of wall and information about the wall and its impact/history. We also visited the largest store in Berlin, the KaDeWe. "KaDeWe" is an acronym for something but I couldn't tell you what; what I can tell you is that it is a mad-house on the Saturday before Christmas! It was packed with Germans and tourists alike trying to find a last minute gift or looking at the lavish decorations. To be honest, it was a little overwhelming.

After the KaDeWe we had some thing to eat. I can't remember the name of it, but Leo had suggested a particular type of sandwich to us. Basically it was ham on bread with the tastiest mustard I've ever had. Simple but delightful. The Germans know how to make hearty and delicious food, which is something I've missed here in Spain. We then went to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. It had been bombed in 1943, but still managed to stand. Most of the building is gone, save for the bell-tower and some of the original hall. It has been transformed into a location that calls for people to reflect on the futility of war and the consequences thereof.


Finally, after a few more stops, it was time for the Germans to go home. Before we parted ways, Leo and I took a picture in front of the giant Christmas tree at the Reichstag.





On Sunday Meagan and I went on a tour to visit Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp that has been turned in to be both a memorial and museum. There were no pictures taken here, sorry. But I really couldn't bring myself to think of that as a touristy event. To me, it was more something that had to be done so that I could connect all the information I had been feed with something tangible. The tour started at the train station in Oranienberg, which is a little town that literally backs up to the camp. While we walked from the station to the entrance I couldn't get one thought out of my head "What was it like to live in this town?" I'd heard about what, generally, went on inside the camp, but what about right outside? Unfortunately I never got a decent answer to this question; we were told that propaganda had basically brainwashed the townspeople. While I believe that, I can't help but think there were some who just didn't buy the films of healthy people playing sports as truth.

We walked through the main gate, into one of the barracks where Jewish prisoners were "housed", then we saw the "prison within the prison" where high-profile people were tortured. After that we went to the camp kitchen, then on to the site of the extermination building and finally the "hospital barracks" which were the site of medical experiments rather than medial treatments. The whole experience was horrifying. The weather was cold and dank and fitting for the kinds of things that went on there. Though it was an emotionally draining afternoon, it was worth it. I don't know if I can put into words exactly why, but I think it has something to do with remembrance for those that died there, along with my belief that once you have seen a place like that (even for an afternoon) you can't let something equally horrible happen again.

After the tour Meagan and I took a few minutes to rest in the hostel then went out to the huge Christmas market we passed earlier in the day. The market was filled with ornaments and various gifts, but what we were mainly interested in was the food. This weekend taught me that the Germans know two things: Christmas and Food. Our first food stop was a potato stand. They were basically deep fried potato pancakes with some delicious herb mashed in to the potatoes. Wonderful. Next was Bratwurst with more of that amazing mustard. Then some Gluwien, hot wine with spices. We also bought a "cupcake" but this was more of a ball of almond flavored pastry that had some kind of fruit preserve between the layers and was iced. For dessert we had fruit, covered in chocolate. That was one fabulous Christmas feast!

On Monday we went to museums. Initially we were under the impression that the museums would be closed Monday, but not so. Before our tour on Sunday we swung by the museums to ask if they would be open and both of the ones we wanted to go in would be. Thank God! The way Meagan put it was that she "really wanted to go to the Concentration Camp tour but really, really, wanted to go to the museums". It would have been awful to have to choose between the two things, and luckily we didn't have to.

We visited the Pergamon Museum and the Ancient History/Egyptian History Museum. The Pergamon had pieces of ancient buildings and sculpture from Ancient Greece. The building I was most interested in was the Ishtar Gate. Don't ask why, but in high school Humanities class I really took a liking to ancient, pre-Egyptian cultures and this gate was one of their most famous items.

Our last major stop was the Berliner Dome, which was at the top of a rather large church. The Church was beautiful and was decorated for the holiday season. We had to climb several large staircases to get to the very top and while I enjoyed the view the height was making me a little nervous. I quickly circled the deck and began my descent. On the way down I popped into a small seating area on the upper level of the church to listen to a choir practice some Christmas songs. It was probably one of the most peaceful moments of the trip.

Once it was clear I had survived the height we went on to our dinner stop. Doner Kebab. This is something we have in Madrid, but it was "invented" in Berlin. On Saturday Leo told us that we could get Doner from pretty much any restaurant and it would be great, so we stopped in the metro station that was on our way home and had the best Doner of my life. I can't put into words what made it better, perhaps it was the flavor of the beef or maybe the quality of bread or the variety of vegetables, but it was delicious!

We ended our night with a return to the Christmas market. Meagan bought gifts for a few people and I bought pretzels to take back to Madrid and a Chocolate covered apple. In total, this trip was amazing! We did all the things we had set out to do, but didn't wear ourselves out. I told Meagan that if I learned the language Germany was I country I could see myself getting really in to. Perhaps after Spain I have a new destination to conquer...