I thought an entrée of Calvin and Hobbes was suitable for a Monday. There's nothing like laughing at some naked mischievous Calvin ass. Hee hee.
So this was the weekend of Berlin. Dude, if I thought Belfast was bleak, Berlin takes the cake. 'Austere' is my word for Berlin. I mean really, it shouldn't have surprised me. A lot of the city has only been rebuilt since the 90's and unification so it's a weird mix between 'new' 90's architecture and buildings that have been rebuilt in imitation of what used to be there. The whole place feels quite bleak and a bit artificial and leaves me quite cold. The other thing of architectural/arty note, at least for me, were the memorials to things from the war. They were totally different from other ones that I have seen which, once again, if my brain was working, would not have surprised me either. Usually war memorials are tributes to the soldiers who have given their lives. They've commemorative, maybe uplifting and a bit inspiring. Not the German ones- and rightfully so really. One was a large stone room, all grey concrete slabs and high ceiling and I was already weepy before I got in. I'm not really sure why, this wave of emotion just hit me. And when I got inside I was looking around this massive, bleak, grey room and was ready to bolt, it was getting a bit much. In the middle of the room was a large bronze statue of a person holding/sheltering another one half on their lap and the only light on the room was a hole in the ceiling which cast light on to the statue. It wasn't pretty and it was slightly abstract but as I made myself stand there, I could feel my distress gradually dissipating. There was a sense of peace and comfort that gradually took its place. This is not to say that peace etc radiated from it because they didn't. It just fascinated me how somehow I could stand in this grey, bleak room and gradually it felt like things weren't quite so bad. And as I came out and thought about it, it seemed totally suitable. Another one that got to me was the holocaust memorial. It's a large square of undulating ground filled with a grid of grey stone columns of varying heights. As you walk in to it, the ground drops away and the columns get higher. From the outside, it doesn't look like it takes up that much room but when you're walking through it, you're glancing down row upon row of grey columns and it seems to go on forever. It feels like a graveyard and becomes quite overwhelming, like it will never end. Again, totally appropriate. I took photos of neither because at the time, it didn't feel appropriate. These are images I will carry in my mind and feelings I will remember forever.
[On a side note, how art is used to commemorate things of war and conflict (finding this hard to articulate) fascinates me. Before coming to Europe, I was used to triumphant statues of fallen heroes and plaques with names written on them . Then I go to Belfast and they have massive murals on walls glorifying both martyrs and terrorists (sometimes the same, sometimes not) which is a totally different slant on things and now I have the sombre, almost dark, not at all glorifying memorials from Berlin. It's fascinating.]
But now for the photos, the bit people really care about:
Me in front of the Brandenburger Tor. Day one in Berlin was overcast and cold and really did nothing to create a good first impression.
The Berlin wall. This is not apparently the prettiest section, the ones in the west are better but this was the bit we got to see. The bits that aren't still standing are marked by cobblestones and you can follow the whole line of the wall, all 150km (ballpark estimate) of it.
This was taken in the most amazing chocolate shop ever. This was a huge hulking santa made of mini santas. Oh the cunning artistry.
Day 2 in Berlin was much colder, probably because it was crisp and clear. It was sunny although I still didn't find the city beautiful, it was a much better day. Lotte and I wandered around markets and had mulled wine and it was fab.
What caught my attention on this cathedral was this sign. Siehe, ich bin bei euch alle Tage bis an der Welt ende. Which I translate to be 'I will be with you all until the end of the world'. I don't know if it's a quote from something and I'm not a person for poetry and as previously demonstrated, am not religious, but I thought that in German it read very eloquently and was a very nice sentiment.
This is the ground above the bunker of Hitler where he ended his life. Apparently it's a car park because the walls of the bunker were built so thick that they couldn't be demolished and no building could be built on top of it. So it's doomed to be a carpark until the end of time in all likelihood. Part of me thought it would be nice to make it a garden but that might be falsely interpreted as a celebration or glorification of Hitler. I see it as being the complete opposite of everything he stood for. You could take it to be- here beneath us is the final resting place of one of the largest atrocities of mankind. Because of the death and destruction and intolerance (I could go on, I'll stop here) that he stood for, we choose to wipe that memory away with new growth. Come here in spring to contemplate the daffodils poking up and the buds appearing on the trees and think about new life, come here in winter and sit on a cold concrete bench and look at the bare tree branches and the grey sky and the horrible accommodation blocks that enclose the space and feel gloomy but remember that spring will be coming and soon this grey and brown patch will be green and thriving and life carries on. (Gosh, look at me being all wanky. I think those memorials had a greater impact than I thought.)
On these columns, the chipped away parts are from bullets. We're looking at history folks. Apparently there is conflict as to whether the columns should be beautified and replaced or left as they are. I say keep your history Germany, leave them where they stand.
And this is the mob who went, minus, of course, me. Because I'm taking the picture, duh.
So essentially it was a weekend of sightseeing but mainly wandering around markets and trying out my German. It’s well rusty, I haven’t spoken it in 8 years, but I still got by just fine and could translate for my friends. I felt quite a sense of achievement from that which is cool because me and German/Germany… well lets just call I a rocky relationship…
the way things work
And I'm sorry but was there something in my last entry that somehow got thrown up by Google because 55 hits? It seems a freak anomaly. But on the other hand, it's made my clustermap look a whole lot more populated so I shouldn't really complain. *slight pause* I just checked my blog for comments and it would seem that my rise in hits are in fact due to Damien. It would seem he did a massive spamming of Hi5 people and if most of them googled him or that link, they would have come across my blog (apparently) which explains my rise in hits. It's a funny world.
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