Berlin or Falling In Love With A Tortured City or Why Did That Guy Just Walk Across Our Table.

(Catching up on blogtimes...and apparently blogger is having problems uploading photos so you will have to check out Picassa if you want to see photos!)

Ah Berlin. Well, returning to the Western world after Egypt would have been a treat no matter where we went. But we went to Berlin and the treat was sweeter than we could have imagined (and I’m not just talking about the gummies). I have always said that Amsterdam is one of my favorite cities I have ever been to and from the moment we set foot in Berlin, I could tell it had a competitor.

The city is peaceful and gritty at the same time. There is something in the air that makes you feel at ease but at the same time it pushes you to want to create and live and thrive.

Of course that’s my view upon leaving.

A little journal action…

Saturday:

We arrive to Berlin at 230 but with getting off the plane, picking up luggage, changing money, getting maps and figuring out what we are doing, we don’t get on a train into the city until 5pm.

Berlin has one of the most amazing public transport systems I have seen. The whole city is covered with a ring to link all the spokes of the lines (how do you like that mom!) plus above ground trams and buses. And it’s the honor system here. You buy a pass but don’t swipe it anywhere. If you are caught without it there’s a fine. We have a week pass. I like this system.

The first night, we check into our hostel and then find the grocery store to make a simple dinner before going to bed early. This is when we discover the gummies. Morgan and I have an obsession with Haribo gummy candies and they are made in Germany so we are very happy (before we proceed to make ourselves sick from them).

Sunday:

We walk around our neighborhood today. We find Mauer Park and loads of street art and then it begins dumping rain so we hurry back to the hostel. I think we were both a little overwhelmed from Egypt and just enjoyed being able to be in a hostel and be online and just chill, so we do so for the afternoon.

That night we go to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum that is open until10pm. We thinking this museum will help us to understand the story behind the Berlin wall. We are wrong. The museum was once an apartment used as the last lookout point for the checkpoint to the American Sector of Berlin. It would be used as a lookout to help people plan their escape from the East Side to the West Side of Berlin. Once the wall came down it became a museum and then expanded into a very large museum. We begin by reading everything on the first floor. We are still left with no idea what the story behind the wall is. We go upstairs and continue reading everything and quickly realize that there is probably nothing here that will teach us why the wall went up. Its like the museum got new items and just kept adding them in without really worrying how it was all organized. But there were really interesting stories of people being smuggled over the border. They have cars that were altered to hide people, a hot air balloon and pulley chairs.

Note: We later learned the story of the wall…after WWII Berlin had to be divided between the different countries involved. The soviets got the east side, and the allies got the west side. A lot of people on the East did not like the way the soviets were (strict and controlling) so there were a lot of people leaving to the West. Since the Soviets didn’t want to loose all of their population they began harder and harder border regulations finally leading to the Berlin Wall. Tons of people died trying to escape the East to the freedom of the West. The wall went up overnight in 19** and did not come down until 1989.

Monday:

Last night a guy at our hostel told us about the Alternative Berlin walking tour. There are a couple free walking tours of Berlin (you give a tip at the end) but this one goes to the underside of the city. So we went. We met our guide (a Scotsman with dreads who has lived in Berlin for a year and a half) who told us what to expect. “This is not a history tour of Berlin, we are going to see graffiti, art houses, absinthe bars, part of the Berlin wall turned art gallery and an art center smack in the middle of the financial district.” Perfect. The group of 10 of us were off.

We rode the UBahn to different parts of the city…here is what we saw.

We began in Kreuzberg, the Turkish area of Berlin also known as Little Istanbul. There we began to see specific pieces of Street Art by some of the more well known street artists.

Then to the George Von Rauch house which is one of 2 famous squatter houses in the city. The other being the Tommy Weis Becker house which we saw later. The two men were activists during them time the wall was up. Both houses provide housing to activists traveling through.

Near there was a house that was built in the “dead zone” which was this bit of no mans land that existed after the wall came down. The government told them they couldn’t build there so they just cemented their outdoor furniture there so they wouldn’t take it away anymore and planted a huge garden. In the end the city decided the land belonged to a nearby church who decided the family could stay.

The last thing in that neighborhood was the Yaam Beach bar. A bar complete with sand and a teepee. It was cloudy the day we went but usually the place is bumpin.

After that it was to the East Side Gallery which is the largest stretch of Berlin Wall still standing (and it is long) which was turned into a gallery. For years it has just been painted over and over by different street artists but this year, for the 20^th anniversary of the wall coming down, artists were commissioned to paint it fresh. It was incredible. It’s a perfect example of this city not trying to hide its past but instead use it toward something better.

Back on the train to this complex called Cassiopeia. It had been severely bombed during the war but around the rubble still present there was built an indoor skate park, cafes, bars and a beautiful courtyard. And the old water tower was converted into a climbing wall.

Then onto Tommy Weis Becker house (I mentioned before). All four sides of the building were painted by one man in 6 months with political work about the media and the state of Berlin.

Almost next door was the 50 faces gallery which was painted to bring awareness to this very bad area of Berlin…and it worked. There were some famous faces but mostly paintings of locals.

Back on the train to K76, a camping store/absinthe bar…REI eat your heart out. And then to a big park with a man made waterfall and a beautiful view of the city.

We ended the tour at the best place of all, Tacheles. Tacheles is an art center in the heart of the financial district. It’s this old gunshot ridden building that has 34 artist studios, a back courtyard with bars and restaurants and the best feeling in all of Berlin. We stayed there for a long time looking at art and buying a little jewelry for ourselves.

What a cool city!

Tuesday:

Today Kevin’s niece Jillian Rose was born. Congratulations to Sarah and Evan!

Kevin sent me an email telling me that his coworker Allison was in Berlin so we decided to meet up with her. Allison was in Berlin to visit her friend Lukas who teaches English there. We had a beer with them (they were super awesome) and then Morgan and I went clothes browsing for a while. That night we went to Madam Claude’s, aka the upside down bar. It had furniture all over the ceiling and a really nice vibe. When it closed, Morgan and I walked to the tram to get back to our hostel and stopped at a club that had a jam session. We heard some of the best harmonica playing I have ever heard.

On the tram ride home, a guy told us that the last stop for the tram was 3 before we were suppose to get off. So we got off and started talking to him. His name is Bryan McDonald and is from Virginia, born to Irish parents, living in London with a kid in Berlin and is absolutely a pathological liar. But at 3am when you meet a guy like that dressed in a pinstripe suit, newsies hat with his shirt unbuttoned to reveal chest hair what are you suppose to do…you stand in the street talking politics to him for an hour and then sit at a corner store drinking beer for another two. He was really smart and had some really interesting ideas but was totally a liar/exaggerator…you know the type.

While we were sitting there talking, a man walked over our table. Didn’t ask for anything, just walked over our table.

Once again, I love Berlin.

And then came the great pee emergency of 2009 when both Morgan and I are desperate for a bathroom and there is none to be found. We have a completely comic episode with Bryan of trying to hail a cab and finally get back to the hostel.

What a freakin night.

Wednesday:

Today is Kevin’s birthday. I call him to say happy 35^th. It makes me sad to miss it.

Since we didn’t get in until 7, we sleep until 2. And then when we did get up we decided to just stay in. For some reason both of our computers got bumped off the internet (which is extremely frustrating when you need to make travel plans and phone calls) so we just read and chilled out.

Thursday:

Today we do laundry…wooo hooo! We were supposed to try to meet a friend of my dads at Brandenburg Gate (another famous access point from East to West) but we could not find her. It was disappointing. After, we walked around an area with many galleries that Morgan’s friend had told her about. It was nice to just stroll and see some really amazing art. We decided to try a place for dinner called The Bird. It turned out to be a burger place run by Americans. Really good burgers but completely snotty staff which kind of put a bad taste in my mouth. Also we had napalm wings which were the most unbearably hot things I have ever eaten. Totally not worth it!

Back to the hostel to dye Morgan’s hair and then we decided to just stay in. Sometimes it’s ok to just want to chill.

Friday:

We are off to Santorini.