Gesundheit in Berlin

So I have just come back from a whirl-wind tour of Berlin and will try to adequately summarize everything we did there. Pictures might come later when I find the best ones.

Since we had a few days before classes began, Jess and I decided to take the overnight bus to Berlin from Friday to Monday. After mentioning it to my friend Michelle and Ming, it turned into a trip for four!

Not without a little trepidation (overnight bus scars run deep), we booked our bus tickets and found a ridiculously cheap hostel rooms for 11 euro a night. Thankfully, the bus trip went rather well, especially considering we crossed 3 countries and took a ferry. When we finally got to our hostel, we were ready to crash. However we resisted the temptation, gaining fortitude from a hearty breakfast, and embarked on a 4 hour walking tour of the city. We went on the Sandemans Free Walking Tour, and I highly recommend it. If you ever find yourself in London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Prague, Paris, Madrid, Jerusalem, Brussels or Tel Aviv be sure to look them up. For a small (nonobligatory) tip, our entertaining Bulgarian/German guide took us all around Berlin, showing us the sights and telling us countless stories about each place.

We saw the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag (German Parliament building), the new Holocaust museum, Hitler's former bunker, Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall and so much more [I will try to post pictures and give more details later on]. It was so fascinating to actually see and experience Prussian history, the Weimar Republic, Nazi regime, Soviet occupation, and now. All the things that I have read about in history books or seen in movies didn't prepare me for the beauty and complexity of Berlin.

The second day we went back to the Reichstag and climbed the Dome which sits on top of the chambers of the Bundestag (German Parliament). This serves as a constant reminder to the German politicians that they are under (literally and figuratively) the people. During the 45+ minute wait in line, I noticed some people trying to edge their way in front of me in line. Excited to finally meet some Russians, I successfully boxed them out and started a conversation with them. They were Russians who were living in Germany from Kazakhstan! It was so good to hear a Kazakhstani accent again, and they were very patient with my broken Russian. We talked about Kazakhstan, Berlin, and the weather-- which is all I could manage. It was fun though.

After the Reichstag, we traveled north of Berlin to the Sachsenhausen Concentration camp. This camp served as the standard for most of the Nazi concentration camps and held up to 60,000 prisoners. Holding primarily political and anti-socials (anyone who did not fit the ideal German model: homosexuals, alcoholics, Jehovah Witnesses, and even people who were late too many times to work) as well as some Jews, the camp was brutal labor camp that killed several thousand people. It was heart wrenching to walk where the prisoners were forced to watch their fellow inmates hung or shot. We saw the gas chamber, shooting trenches, and the crematorium that produced over 10 million tons of human ash over the course of its operation.

After the Soviet Army liberated the camp (it was virtually empty because of the death marches), they used the facilities for their own interment/labor camp. Over 60,000 people; some innocent, including children, and others were Nazis war criminals; were held there over a five year period. Disease and malnutrition killed over 12,500.

I didn't mean to delve into the history and politics side so much, but it fascinated me to no end. I'll try to make the rest of this post a little less dry.

Back in Berlin, we treated ourselves to some delicious food and desserts at a little cafe by the riverside to take advantage of Berlin's wonderful cheapness. It was a lighthearted finish to a dark (but very good) day.

The next day was full of shopping, walking and museums. We went to the German equivalent of Walmart and filled our bags with cheap toiletries, food items, and some other nice things that Germany is famously cheap for. Afterward, we took the metro to the East Side Gallery which is a long stretch of amazing murals on the old Berlin Wall. Some of the paintings were weird and incomprehensible, but a vast number had such uplifting messages of hope and freedom. One of my favorite murals had this slogan: "Many small people, who in many small places, do many small things, can alter the face of the world."

Then we walked to the center of the city, ate a quick lunch, then went to Museuminsel (Museum island)-- a World Heritage Site with several beautiful, old museums filled with world famous pieces of art. We were able to see the bust of Nefertiti that I studied in art history but didn't appreciate her astounding beauty till I saw it in person. We also the Ishtar Gates of Babylon, which were incredibly huge and impressive. Although, I must admit that I was more interested in how they stole and shipped it from Iraq to Germany so long ago.

By this time my legs felt like they had run 10 miles on gravel, but Jess and I persevered and went to the last museum on the island to look at some 19 Century art. With 30 minutes to go before it closed, we weren't able to see much of anything especially after a German museum guard railed on us for a while about my jacket not being inside my bag and my bag not being held in front of me. We did get to take some entertaining/mockery pictures of us with the sculptures, so I felt a little vindicated.

With all of our energy spent, we dragged ourselves to the nearest sausage stand and inhaled a scrumptious currywurst, which is essentially a spicy sausage drenched in ketchup and curry powder and is actually much more appetizing than it sounds. After a quick stop at our hostel to pick up our luggage that was now suddenly the size and weight of punching bags, we made our way to the bus station where my short lived good luck with buses would soon run out.

That's right, our 9:30pm bus had broken down earlier somewhere and was now delayed for hours. It was inconvenient, but I did get to sleep on the bus terminal benches for a good while (I realized that I could definitely become a bum given my ability to sleep nearly anywhere). Around 1am, our bus pulls up, and we all pile aboard. It is a packed bus, and Jess and my seats do not recline at all. I end up sleeping on the floor in the tiny space between the seats and was quite thankful to God for making me travel-sized. And of course, no bus ride is complete without its requisite smelly hippy couple and completely drunk Swede. We finally reach Malmö at 10am and find since we missed our connecting bus to Lund by several hours, we need to wait till 11:20 for the next one. After some debate about taking the train sooner, we decided to wait for the bus. Whether it was due to our sleep deprivation or just plain stupidity, when a bus comes at 11:10 going to Oslo, nobody thinks to ask them if it was traveling to Lund until the bus has just turned the corner. It was. Seeing we missed the bus, we trudge to the train station with bags that have seemed to acquired several large bowling balls, buy our tickets, finally board the train.

After a refreshing 2 mile walk back to my corridor, Jess and I collapse at home at 12:30pm. I was able to recover for the rest of the day, but poor Jess had to go to classes just a few hours later.

Traveling is always exciting and draining, and this trip was no exception. I am so glad that I was able to go and experience some of Berlin, but it is also very nice to be back for a while. Our next trip is for the end of September to Paris (we booked our tickets today), so start being jealous now!

--- A quick note about the title of this post. The entirety of my knowledge of the German language consists of Auf Wiedersehen, danke, and Gesundheit. So I was determined to use them as much as possible. Hence, I was always on the lookout for people sneezing. Saying "Gesundheit" to them never failed to bring a smile to the often dour looking people and to me!