Berlin: the Whirlwind Tour

Berlin, Germany: 5-10 November 2009

Part II

On Friday morning we went across the street for a 5-euro all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet at a little shop called Green Eggs and Ham. There were a variety of breakfast-y foods, including eggs and ham as well as mozzarella tomatoes and the most delicious apple pancakes I have ever had. After stuffing our faces with lots of little dainties, we returned to the hostel's doorstep to wait for the tour guide who was to stop by and take us to where the Free Tour actually started. She was almost 20 minutes late; a woman with a fast walk, an even faster talk that was loud and clear and American, dressed in a sensible black skirt, a buttoned dark gray coat, matching bright red tights, scarf, and lipstick, and high-heeled boots. Her name was Summer. She greeted us in a rapid succession of German, English, and Spanish. We replied in English and the other two people from the hostel in Italian, which she could only remember a little of, she said. But we all had a wonderful chat in English as we walked. She pointed out some buildings on the way (such as the communist Pleasure Palace...) and we talked art for a bit until at last we got to Pariser Platz, famous home of the Brandenburg Tor (Gate), and were put in line with all the other people lined up for Free Tours.

At last everyone had a group and a guide and we navigated the construction to the other side of the square (not only was there construction, but they were also re-arranging the staging to switch from the U2 concert from the previous night – apparently with an amazing light show – to the set-up for Mauerfall on Monday). Our new guide, Ben, was a short lad from Maine with dark, tousled hair, a deep tan, and a backpack that had clearly seen much travel. He had just come from giving tours in the red light district of Amsterdam the week before and entertained us with stories from his time there in between stops.

We started at the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled a baby out the window. A lot of very important people have stayed there, and it is very expensive, but Jackson's the one that seems to stick... We say hello to the American and French embassies and then get a talk about the gate itself. The statue on top of a lady in a horse-drawn chariot used to be Irene, goddess of peace, but after Napoleon came through and took it and the Berliners later got her back, they changed her name to Victoria, gave her a staff with an eagle instead of olive leaves, and turned her head so that she's keeping an eye on the French embassy. We passed under the Gate and paused on the other side to peer through more de-construction of staging at the Reichstag (Parliament building – more on that later) and then headed down the street to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (usually referred to as the Holocaust Memorial).

This isn't the most impressive picture of the Memorial, but it gives the best idea of how it is set up: lots of concrete blocks in a grid, most taller than a person, some at chest height near the edges, some over twice my height in the center, and the ground rising and falling rapidly throughout. There was a lot of debate about the design and when first put up, there was no explanation. Now there is a little center with information on the Holocaust, though still no official explanation for the Memorial itself because a standard memorial with a simple explanation is easily forgotten or reduced to names and dates in people's minds. This way, the viewer is forced to encounter and react to the Memorial and make their own interpretation (which you are much more likely to remember). It is an eerie experience walking through. The noise of the city disappears and all around is gray and above the sky is bright. I don't remember if this was a fact or just my impression, but it made me think of the old Jewish cemeteries in Europe that I have seen pictures of where all the stones are crowded close and worn smooth with age and the lumpy ground makes everything seems tilted. There is a sense of tragic loss, and yet I wanted to play hide-and-seek tag among the narrow paths.

Not far from the Memorial is a car park next to a communist-era apartment building. Beneath the cars was once the bunker where Hitler took first his dog's, then his wife's lives with cyanide pills, then his own with a pill and a pistol.

As we walked to the next stop, we learned that almost half of the buildings in the city are un-occupied because the communists were a little over-enthusiastic and built up the city to house 7 million. Only 3.4 million live there. Unemployment is currently at 65%.

We come to a corner where there is a mural on the wall of a building under a covered walkway. It was painted early on in the reign of the communists to celebrate the happiness that all Germans would experience under their system. On the ground in the mini-platz in front of it is another mural of sorts. It is a section of a photograph from 1953, blown up to match the size of the mural. It is also full of people, but these people were protesting the latest installment of communist laws that were stricter than ever. All of these people 'disappeared'. There were no more protests until 1989.

We come to another section of the Wall, this one even longer than the last we saw. This section is even more torn apart and the heavy-duty metal bars that form the base of the Wall are revealed. This is also the site of Checkpoint Charlie (used mainly for military movement between East and West Germany). Though people talk a lot about it, there isn't much to see. In fact, nothing is left of the original checkpoint and the little guard station there is not modeled on the original and the stamp they put in your passport is not even the one they would have used. There is, however, a museum just up the street on Checkpoint Charlie and spying and such, which is supposed to be very good. We stopped here for lunch and Beverly, Ellen and I pulled out snacks and chatted with a young man from America who was taking a vacation in Europe more or less until his money ran out.

The next stop was a longer walk, but on the way we passed the Rausch Chocolatier, provider of the finest chocolates to the Hohenzollern family, who had been expanding the Prussian empire since the 1400s. In the windows were amazing chocolate sculptures. We returned later in the evening and bought some delicious chocolate for ourselves. We stopped in a platz with three buildings that exemplified Prussian architecture at its height: the Franz Dom (French Cathedral) facing its twin, Deutscher Dom (German Cathedral), across the platz, and the Konzerthous (Concert House, I'd guess). Neoclassicism at its best: pillars topped by triangles (they totally have a name that I can't remember right now) like the Parthenon and lots of domes and statues. The statues are all originals because Hitler was a big fan of Greco-Roman art (or imitations of it, in this case) and hid a lot of stuff in bunkers to keep it safe during the war.

Another little jaunt and we come to a very large platz surrounded by an opera house, the only Catholic cathedral in the city, a museum, and Humbolt University across the street. The cathedral was built by Frederick the Great, an atheist who held the strong conviction that everyone should be able to worship how they chose. At the time, the Prussian Empire was pretty much entirely Protestant. The University was also established by Frederick the Great. More interesting facts about him: It was really hard for him growing up under pressure from his great war king dad, especially when he realized he was gay. His father be-headed the boyfriend he tried to run away with. In front of him. Somehow this led to a closer relationship between them... and Fred the Great ended up being just as good as dad at empire-expanding, though his main focus was making Berlin a center for the arts. He did take a wife, but never consummated the marriage and so he asked his brother to bear him some male heirs, which his brother was happy to do on the condition that Frederick built somewhere for him to live and raise the kids. Hence Humbolt University (though it wasn't called that then).

In the ground in the middle of the platz is a memorial for the 1933 book burning held by the Nazis. There is a window in the ground and when you look down, all you can see are white, empty bookshelves. They could hold 20,000 books - the number of books burned. There is a quote from some dude from 1820. He said, "Book burning leads to people burning." Smart man. Also nearby is the Memorial to War and Tyranny. Its connotation changed with each regime change in Berlin, but now it is a more general testament to victims of – well, war and tyranny all over in general.

Another longish walk and we arrive at the last stop: Alexander Platz. The main sights we talk about here are the T.V. tower and the Berliner Dom. The former was built by the communists (they actually secretly brought in some Frenchmen to do it, since their design was faulty) and was supposed to be the largest of its kind, a testament to their regime. Unfortunately, the Russians promptly built a larger one. The latter was built by one of those Frederick or William Kaisers. He was pretty excited about building a cathedral and kept telling them to add more arches, more gold, more columns, more mosaics! And so he ends up with a ridiculously ostentatious building without a coherent style. I mean, it is pretty impressive, though. We sat on its steps while Ben gave his closing talk, which was a very eloquent description of the final events leading up to 9 November 1989 when the crowds tore down the Wall. It wasn't supposed to happen like that, but when the man reading the press release was asked when the changes regarding allowing people through would take effect, he couldn't find a date except for on the front of the press release: that day's date. So he said, 'Immediately'. The government had mean to slowly implement the changes and make it so only people with all documentation in order could go through, but all of a sudden, people heard that today 'all travel restrictions are lifted' and, well, the rest is history. We also watched a guy in a very nice Mustang fail to parallel park for about 5 minutes. He left the window down and lights on when he finally stopped trying to fix his poor parking job and got out of the car.

~~~

We got a late lunch/early dinner and walked back through some of the tour to get our chocolate. Next up on our list was a stop at the Reichstag. On the way we found a pink vespa and passed Brandenburg Tor, lit up in the dark, still half-blocked by fences. The parliament building is open to the public every day from 8am until 10pm. Or at least the Dome of Democracy is. The glass dome, a marvel of modern architecture, was added in 1994 as a symbol of the balance of power. Below, the purple seats of parliament can be seen through a hole in the middle of the floor of the dome and the representatives can look up and see their people walking above. It is supposed to remind them that they are there to support the people, the ones who elected them. I found it rather ironic that the majority of the people in there were tourists. Partially because of the flood of tourists for the Mauerfall celebrations, but I expect it is often foreigners in there staring down at parliament.

The earlier history of the building is as follows: Built by Kaiser William II in 18—. But he is a Kaiser – what does he need a parliament for? So everyone calls it the Monkey House. In 1933 it was burned. A known communist arsonist was blamed for it and he even confessed to it, but he confessed to a lot of fires that weren't his and he was actually completely stoned (or drunk, I forget) with his girlfriend on the night in question. Most likely it was a Nazi plot as Hitler then used this incident to convince the president to give him more power. And we all know how that turned out...

We spent a while in the Dome and walking around the roof outside it. The whole city of Berlin was twinkling below and the moon, gibbous, hung low and orangey in the sky. The dome has a mirrored structure in the center so you can see parliament better and up/down ramps wrapping around that give you better and better views of the city as you get higher. At the top, you can lay on a bench that wraps around the top of the mirrored thing where it attached to the ceiling and look up at the stars. It is a very cool place to visit and very photogenic.