5. Juli 2010

Day 2, Berlin.

After precious little sleep, I started my day by exploring some of the Nikolai Viertel, which was a well preserved medieval city until it was bombed in WWII. Now it's fully restored, some buildings in the older style, and some basic, concrete buildings.

Rathouse (Parliament)

After which I walked west for a big, saw Museum Insel (Museum Island) and the Brandenburg Tor once more. I decided against museum visiting, since I'd have to pay 12 Euros, and I wasn't particularly interested on anything featured. Plus, a gorgeous day in Berlin - why stay inside?

Berliner Dom

When the heat got a little much, I visited the Holocaust Memorial. I think they did a really excellent job with it. The outside is a ton of these pillars of all different sizes, and the walking through them - it's like a concrete hedge maze - is really powerful. They start out small and somewhat insignificant, but as you delve into the middle of the memorial, the pillars tower above you, and it's very intimidating and claustrophobic. For me, anyway. There were a ton of kids - 10 and 12 year olds - who were playing tag inside. In general, Germany seems to be doing a damn respectable job of living up to their past. There's no atoning for the Holocaust, obviously, but Germans seem very upfront about it, and are certainly trying to make sure no one forgets that it happened. Which is why I felt it was important for me to visit this. It was upsetting, certainly, but it'd be obtuse to just wander around Germany all "la-di-da, beer and meat" without acknowledging the history.

I finished off the day with a tentative journey into East Berlin (at the recommendation of both Betsy from the Hunter Honors Office and my host family). And may I say, Prenzlauer Berg, which is a district in East Berlin, is amazing. If I were to move anywhere in Germany, based on my experiences thus far, it'd be here. It's so many good things at once. It has a mix of old architecture (pre war) and communist architecture that's been painted bright colors in order to make the concrete seem less dead, and there are flowers and plants everywhere. Basically, it's cozy, artsy, and youthful. Everyone is really friendly, there are record shops and cafes with armchairs outside every couple of storefronts, and everything is independently owned. I'm in love, basically.