Many Monuments of Berlin
It is hard to pin down where my favorite place in Berlin is. There are so many monuments and historical sites plus really cool new spaces that have been built recently. Before coming to Berlin, I had read a lot about the Jewish Holocaust Memorial site and everyone I know who had been to Berlin posted pictures from this tourist hotspot. I expected to get there and experience something really deep and introspective, but I was shocked when little kids were climbing all over the large block stones and other tourists were shouting in the maze of pathways. To top it all off, there was a memorial guard who would pop around corners and yell at people who stood up on top of the massive blocks, but he allowed people to sit on them. It was like no other memorial I had ever been to and it really changed my perspective on what a memorial is or what it could be. They do not necessarily have to be a place of silence and seriousness because they can provide a space to celebrate life.
The Brandenburg Gate is another tourist spot that I love. A massive structure sits on the edge of a large square of embassies and tourist traps. So much history happened at this location and it is just incredible that people can casually visit where so many historical hot shots had stood before. I remember seeing paintings and pictures of people like Napoleon and Hitler storming through the gate to make their presence known so it was so crazy to visit this place with our class. Other pictures show a bombed out Berlin with a damaged gate covered by soot. Today it stands clean, tall, and strong.
The next place that I hope to venture off to on my own is Berlin’s East Side Gallery. This is a portion of the Berlin Wall that is still standing and it is right in our neighborhood Kreuzberg. Mural artists came in and emblazoned the wall with huge works of art and pattern work and I am so excited to see it in person. Graffiti is considered an art form in Berlin and it is very much a part of Berlin’s aesthetic and its people as well. In America, graffiti can mark territories and make an area seem threatening, but here it is just a way people express themselves and contribute to the overall feel of their city.
Each Friday we have been going to a city or town outside of Berlin to explore Germany a little more. For the past two weeks we have met up with a local german man named Helmut who is the best tour guide we could have asked for. Even though he is around seventy years old, he was definitely the leader of the pack and marched us all around Potsdam and Dresden in his matching sweater and oxford shirt combos. Even though we were exhausted by the end of these tours, we covered so much ground and heard so many stories about his childhood and what it is like to live in Germany. Potsdam was a gorgeous place. It may sound odd, but it really reminded me of a European Cape Cod. There was beautiful dutch architecture, little shops lined the streets, and street performers stood on the busier corners. We got to go inside palaces and walk through a huge park that housed a few other palaces as well. Dresden was more modern and spread out than Potsdam was. It had other large and beautiful government buildings and former palaces mixed with clock towers and huge churches. In one of the city squares a man had his xylophone and was playing the Titanic song. The song was echoing throughout the whole city and made it seem like a surreal place.
This Friday we are going to Dessau to see the Bauhaus which was one of the first schools of modern design. The founders and students of this school revolutionized architecture, graphic design, and theatre. I have done so many papers and projects about this amazing place and I cannot wait to get on the train and see it.
