Night trains are a double-edged sword (stolen from one of Eli's new favorite sayings). They are nice because you end up in the place you trying to go early in the morning ready for a full day to explore the city, except you're tired and groggy from a terrible nights sleep. So that's how Berlin started... we got to our pension (small hotel usually 5-15 rooms), the owner was nice enough to let us leave our bags in the room we were staying in, use the bathroom, etc... so we set out for some breakfast, and then hit the city. The first stop was the German history museum, this was a pretty huge and intense museum, we rushed through the last half because we needed to find lunch. I liked the way this place was setup, starting in the early times, about the year 600 and continuing all the way to the present, but in a sequential and logical order. It had everything in here, artifacts, clothing, paintings, clocks, weapons, and even Napoleon's sword and hat that he left at Waterloo.
After lunch, we roamed to check out the Berlin Cathedral, unfortunately they were in the middle of mass, so we couldn't go in. Then we continued on to the Brandenburg Gate which was basically the main border between West and East Berlin, before the wall came down. Walking just a bit from the gate, we ran into the Reichstag building where the government does it's thing, walked through the park to visit the memorial for all the murdered Jews. This place was quite difficult to make it through, in fact we couldn't even make it all the way through. Many rooms were filled with stories and the lives of people that had been affected by the horrific event.
Pics below are from the memorial and another one with me and a leftover piece of the wall.
6 comments:
It was so awesome to talk to you yesterday! Tell Peter he needs to hop on the phone next time and say "Howdy, Padna!"
Berlin is such a weird place. Are there still tons of cranes everywhere?
It's funny you guys are beat there, cause when I went I was exhausted from tromping around too. Unfortunately, it was Love Parade time so I didn't get any rest. But we did stay at the Intercontinental, which was SWANK!
Miss you guys! Hope y'all are having a blast!
Hi Guys,
Wow,Germany sounds unique.Also,visiting those concentration camps/memorial should have sobered up anyone...fast.ALL IT TAKES FOR EVIL TO FLOURISH, IS FOR A FEW GOOD MEN TO SAY NOTHING!
PS. got your phone message, miss you.Is Peter massaging your head/neck enough?
Hi Mic and Eli,
Sean got your message yesterday.
Sorry we missed your call. We were at the game. You guys are having way too much fun to discuss the score. It was good to hear your voices (Eli we heard you in the background)-even though on voicemail.
Keep keeping us posted!
Your concentration camp visit reminded me of two of my high school teachers. One of them, Julia Scheuler, wrote a memoir of her experiences in Berlin during WWII which was published by LSU press: http://s50780.sites40.storefront-hosting.com/detail.aspx?ID=840
My German teacher, Olga Bronstein, referred to in that book as 'Vivi', was Leon Trotsky's niece. She was a tough instructor, and I still wake up in the middle of the night spouting German phrases.
Hey - speaking of books... I see there is a new book published about the McIlhenny empire: http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780060721848/McIlhennys_Gold/index.aspx
Since, Barbara's dad (Lafe) was involved with that company for most of his working life, you may be interested in reading the book. Barbara is probably familiar with some of the characters. Back in the mid to late 70's, when the Saints were losing, Barbara and I were often given the McIlhenny tickets to the games.
Post a Comment