Aaaand I have reached the end of my solo Central/Eastern European jaunt.
My last like, 12 hours in Prague were amazing. I wrote that we were going to go to the Nutcracker, which had been the plan in the morning. (My Argentinean friends and I split up and they were going to go to the cheap ticket booth to get tickets.) They instead, however, got tickets to the opera Don Giovanni, performed AT the theater where Mozart world premiered Don Giovanni 200 years ago or whatever it would have been. AMAZING.
I have never been to an opera before and was sort of scared. This might make me sound like a pretentious ass, but I really, completely thoroughly enjoyed the evening. They had subtitles up in Czech and English for those who didn’t speak Italian, and had it not been for those, I think I would have been bored stiff/wouldn’t have had the slightest idea what was going on. I’m not sure if it’s just the translation or the style of writing at the time, but someone of the dialogue was so stilted it was hysterical. Characters would say stuff like, “You have stabbed me. My blood is exiting my body. My life is over. I die now.” (I wrote that one down on my program because it was an especially excellent example.) Anyway, it was highly enjoyable. It really didn’t feel like three hours. It was great. Also, it cost the equivalent of 8 dollars. Eastern Europe FTW.
That same night I said goodbye to my Argentinean friends, which was super sad. I woke up this morning and just generally got myself to the airport – pretty boring. I’m waiting to board my flight now.
A couple of general observations:
1) I’m glad I gave solo traveling a try. I would not have wanted to have been stuck in Galway for 2 weeks alone before class started. I’m really glad I got over the, “but I have no one to go with me!” fear. That being said, I don’t exactly think solo traveling is going to become my preferred method of travel. I’ve discovered that I like doing daytime stuff by myself. I genuinely enjoy going to museums alone and I don’t even really mind eating lunch by myself. It gets HELLA awkward at night, though. I mean, there are SO many solo travelers in hostels all over Europe, but I am an exceptionally awkward person even with people I know quite well, so trying to strike up conversation with people in the hostel bar or common area is completely nerve-wracking for me. But I also feel stupid coming back at like 8 and just reading or going to bed, because I feel like… I’m in Europe! I can’t just stay in and read! But that doesn’t make chatting with other travelers any easier. Anyway, I’m glad I did it because now I KNOW I can do it, so if I really want to go somewhere and I can’t find anyone to go with, I know I have the capability to go it alone. But I definitely much prefer traveling with other people.
2) I am absolutely shocked nothing went wrong on this journey. Like, everything went SO smoothly. I was worried about forgetting to book a hostel, booking flights on the wrong date, going to the wrong city, getting pickpocketed, or just generally doing something insanely stupid but very me. (I am not very good at the logistics of traveling. One infamous incident would be May of 2010 when I booked a Megabus ticket going from DC to New York… instead of New York to DC. It was horrifying.) I mean, I shouldn’t say it quite yet because I’m still at the gate in the Prague airport, but it really seems like this entire journey is going to go off without a single hitch.
3) This is more specific, but I have to say it – I don’t terribly care for the Czech people. Our tour guide described them as “dour and sullen” and I’d be inclined to agree. They act really pissed off at you all the time. I don’t think it’s because I can’t speak Czech (kind of like how the French get angry when you don’t speak French) because I’ve tried to start all my conversations with waiters, museum employees, public transportation employees, etc, in one of the Czech phrases I committed to memory (mluvite anglicky?), and they also appear to be super angry at regular Czech people who approach them. Also, paying for services rendered in this country appears to be totally optional. I can think of numerous occasions where I’ve attempted to pay my bill in a restaurant or bar, only to have the waiter get extraordinarily frustrated with me and just wave me off or ask me just to leave. I also can think of times when I’ve been presented with the bill, and the only thing on it is a beer when I ordered a meal as well. When you try to correct the mistake and pay the correct amount, they also get really frustrated and just insist on you only paying for the beer. I also have tried to pay for tickets on the bus, tram, whatever, again only to be told just to get on the bus, followed by an exasperated puff of air. I don’t understand it at all. I guess they don’t quite have the hang of capitalism yet. It’s totally bizarre.
ANYWAY. So that’s the rub. Now I’ll go back to updating this thing like, once a month or so. haha :-) Thanks for reading, eeeeerbody.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Czech This Out: Prague
So I know that's the corniest title for a blog entry EVER, but I honestly could not resist.
Prague is, in a word, totally enchanting. It's just what I think of when I think of Europe. Old cobblestoned streets, this castle up on a hill, great old architecture, dark and windy streets... it's awesome. I am loving it. I can't believe I have to go to CLASS on Tuesday! Ugh.
So I got in on Thursday night, kind of too late to really do anything except go out. Agostina was meeting up with some of her friends from Argentina here, and they all took me under their wing and have become my friends. I literally cannot thank these people enough. This hostel is about the nicest hostel I've ever seen. It's honestly more like a hotel than a hostel. It's... awesome. I honestly can't think of another word to describe it. The downside, though, to it being kind of hotel-y is that it would have been a LOT more difficult to meet people than it was in my hostels in Munich and Berlin. Thank goodness, though, I don't have to! I can't get over how nice these people have been to me. They go out of their way to speak English to and around me (even though it's obviously none of their first language, and one guy in particular clearly really struggles with it, but he persists in speaking it in group settings when I'm around), they include me in everything they do, etc. When I was waiting in the hostel bar with Agostina for her friends and they showed up, I kind of hung around for about 15 minutes and was like, "okay, see you guys later." I didn't want to impose on them since they had all just been reunited (they all traveled with each other for awhile but then they all wanted to do their own thing, so they were split up for about 2 weeks and reunited here in Prague). They were all like, "What? Where are you going? You don't want to hang out with us?" I was like, "I don't want to impose..." and one girl got up from the table, did the thing were you kiss someone on both cheeks (very Latin, I feel) and was like, "you are very welcome here with us." They've been so great.
So ANYWAY by the time they all came in it was about 8, so we just ate dinner at the hostel and went out. We went to the club that virtually every visitor to Prague under the age of 30 goes to... THE LARGEST MUSIC CLUB IN CENTRAL EUROPE! I don't even remember the name, but I know EVERYONE goes here. If anyone who is reading this has been to Prague, I'm sure you know exactly what I'm talking about. Anyway, it was sort of an obligatory thing. The club has five levels and each does a different type of music... it's actually a really weird place. But now I can say I've been there.
So Friday we got up and did a walking tour of Prague, with that same New Europe tour company. Again... it was really cool. We hit all the main sights... Old Town, the astronomical clock, the Charles Bridge, etc. Then in the afternoon, I did a walking tour of Prague Castle, which is apparently the largest castle complex in the world. It. Was. Incredible. ALSO I SAW THE CZECH PRESIDENT THERE!!! His offices are there and he was in his car driving away from the building! The tour guide confirmed it for us (mostly because, in the words of Derrick Testa, "If I saw the Czech president, he'd have to be holding a sign that said, 'Czech President' in English for me to know who it was.") Regardless. So cool.
Today I went to legitimately two of the coolest museums I have ever been to in my life. First, the Museum of Communism was incredible. It had all this Soviet memorabilia and exhibits on life under Soviet rule... it was really, really cool. Then I went to the Kafka Museum, which I'm still sort of trying to process. It... I sort of can't explain it. That sounds so stupid. But the museum was one long...path, I guess, and you go through the Prague of Kafka's imagination. That sounds weird, but I legitimately can't think of another way to explain it. It was... wow. It was really good.
Tonight I'm going to a performance of The Nutcracker with my new Argentinean friends. For the equivalent of seven dollars. I. Love. Central. Europe.
Ugh. I have to leave tomorrow. Gross.
Prague is, in a word, totally enchanting. It's just what I think of when I think of Europe. Old cobblestoned streets, this castle up on a hill, great old architecture, dark and windy streets... it's awesome. I am loving it. I can't believe I have to go to CLASS on Tuesday! Ugh.
So I got in on Thursday night, kind of too late to really do anything except go out. Agostina was meeting up with some of her friends from Argentina here, and they all took me under their wing and have become my friends. I literally cannot thank these people enough. This hostel is about the nicest hostel I've ever seen. It's honestly more like a hotel than a hostel. It's... awesome. I honestly can't think of another word to describe it. The downside, though, to it being kind of hotel-y is that it would have been a LOT more difficult to meet people than it was in my hostels in Munich and Berlin. Thank goodness, though, I don't have to! I can't get over how nice these people have been to me. They go out of their way to speak English to and around me (even though it's obviously none of their first language, and one guy in particular clearly really struggles with it, but he persists in speaking it in group settings when I'm around), they include me in everything they do, etc. When I was waiting in the hostel bar with Agostina for her friends and they showed up, I kind of hung around for about 15 minutes and was like, "okay, see you guys later." I didn't want to impose on them since they had all just been reunited (they all traveled with each other for awhile but then they all wanted to do their own thing, so they were split up for about 2 weeks and reunited here in Prague). They were all like, "What? Where are you going? You don't want to hang out with us?" I was like, "I don't want to impose..." and one girl got up from the table, did the thing were you kiss someone on both cheeks (very Latin, I feel) and was like, "you are very welcome here with us." They've been so great.
So ANYWAY by the time they all came in it was about 8, so we just ate dinner at the hostel and went out. We went to the club that virtually every visitor to Prague under the age of 30 goes to... THE LARGEST MUSIC CLUB IN CENTRAL EUROPE! I don't even remember the name, but I know EVERYONE goes here. If anyone who is reading this has been to Prague, I'm sure you know exactly what I'm talking about. Anyway, it was sort of an obligatory thing. The club has five levels and each does a different type of music... it's actually a really weird place. But now I can say I've been there.
So Friday we got up and did a walking tour of Prague, with that same New Europe tour company. Again... it was really cool. We hit all the main sights... Old Town, the astronomical clock, the Charles Bridge, etc. Then in the afternoon, I did a walking tour of Prague Castle, which is apparently the largest castle complex in the world. It. Was. Incredible. ALSO I SAW THE CZECH PRESIDENT THERE!!! His offices are there and he was in his car driving away from the building! The tour guide confirmed it for us (mostly because, in the words of Derrick Testa, "If I saw the Czech president, he'd have to be holding a sign that said, 'Czech President' in English for me to know who it was.") Regardless. So cool.
Today I went to legitimately two of the coolest museums I have ever been to in my life. First, the Museum of Communism was incredible. It had all this Soviet memorabilia and exhibits on life under Soviet rule... it was really, really cool. Then I went to the Kafka Museum, which I'm still sort of trying to process. It... I sort of can't explain it. That sounds so stupid. But the museum was one long...path, I guess, and you go through the Prague of Kafka's imagination. That sounds weird, but I legitimately can't think of another way to explain it. It was... wow. It was really good.
Tonight I'm going to a performance of The Nutcracker with my new Argentinean friends. For the equivalent of seven dollars. I. Love. Central. Europe.
Ugh. I have to leave tomorrow. Gross.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Last Day in Munich
Soooo today was my last day in Munich.
If you ever come to Munich, three days is definitely enough, in my opinion. I did two day trips (one of which only took half a day) and then one and a half days in Munich and I honestly feel like I exhausted the city. The only thing I didn’t do that I sort of wanted to was a science museum, which is supposedly pretty cool, but it’s a full day and I’ve been to the Museum of Science and Industry approximately 1,000 times in my life so it’s not like I’m unfamiliar with the concept.
I finally got around to a walking tour of Munich today (just one sponsored by my hostel). My tour guide spent the vast majority of the tour explaining why Munich is far superior to Berlin, which I totally disagree with. His main point was that Munich and Berlin are these polar opposites, and everywhere else in Germany falls somewhere between them on the line, and I think that argument is probably legitimate. However, I was on the totally opposite side of the pole from him. He broke down the differences by saying that Munich is old, stodgy, rich and conservative, while Berlin is young, hip, broke and liberal. (The same dinner – a bratwurst, fries, and a beer – cost me 16 euro in Munich and 7 in Berlin.) It honestly seems a total no-brainer to me which one anyone under the age of 50 would prefer, but he just went on and on about how great Munich is (and he was in his mid-20s and of African descent, so it’s not like he is what you would think of as the “typical” Bavarian). I mean, Munich is fine. I don’t dislike it, but I’m not having a love affair with it.
Munich is very much “stereotypically” German. They’re into beer, sausages and lederhosen (although they apparently have some kind of knock-out business sector now…. I read that independently, our tour guide didn’t really get into it). Today we saw some Nazi history (Hitler started in Munich… I feel like if Hitler started in MY hometown, I would NOT play up the fact that the city was politically conservative, I’d want to dial down that emphasis as much as humanly possible), the Glockenspiel (like a big clock that plays music and wooden characters dance), the main square, etc. I mean, it was fine. I suppose “bland” is the word I’m really looking for.
After that, I went to the Olympic Stadium (where the 1972 Games were held). Again… fine. Lovely landscaping, pleasantly manicured lawns, an impressive stadium, a nice memorial to the Jewish athletes who were taken hostage… fine. Although I did go into the swimming pool (Schwimhalle! Say it out loud, it’s fun), which made me SUPER nostalgic for (real) competitive swimming. I’d really like to go to the Olympics once in my life, even if I only go to the swimming events. London 2012, anyone?
Concluding my extraordinarily Munich day, at night I went to the Hofbrahaus (the largest beer hall in Germany and I’m fairly certain the world). We also went here on our tour because Hitler formed the Nazi party here (but it was NOT the site of the Putsch…that was destroyed in the war and never rebuilt). But going at night was quite a different experience, obvs.
I went with these three girls I met at my hostel, two Australians named Lara and Kate and one Argentinean girl named Agostina. We German’ed it up and got sausages and sauerkraut and noodles and beer. It was good times, but EVERYONE there (as I’m sure you can imagine) was a tourist. After that, we just went back to our hostel’s bar. Agostina has zero accent when she speaks English – she claims it’s because she learned how to speak English from American TV shows, which I suppose makes a lot of sense – so when she talks, she sounds totally American. We had a great time convincing some people from Florida that she was from New Jersey. They were totally nice and pleasant. Then they left, and some ACTUAL people from New Jersey sat down and started talking with us! We were excited to play our game with them, although they were telling us a lot about themselves without asking any reciprocal questions. They were total stereotypical Jersey guidos – I wondered if they were trying their hardest to be exactly like Pauly D and the Situation. We were getting antsy to try out Agostina’s accent on them, so finally Agostina said, “So, three guesses as to where I’m from?” and one of them responded, “Oh, don’t care, don’t care and uh… don’t care.” THANKS AMERICA. I’m glad you have turned these shining examples of your citizenry loose on Europe.
Agostina was going to Prague today as well, so we took the “Albert Einstein Express” together. I’m on it right now, actually (no internet but I’m typing this into a word document and I’ll copy/paste it into the blog when I’m somewhere with internet). Anyway, this train is hysterical. It goes about 50 km an hour and takes SIX HOURS to reach Prague (you could do it in 2 ½ if you had a car and were going a normal speed). There’s no like, rows of seats like you think of on a train – it’s all individual compartments, which I actually really enjoy. Anyway, I bought some food before getting on the train, but Agostina said she’d just buy from the restaurant car. She went searching and couldn’t find anything, but there are signs saying “Café” with a cup of coffee so she asked the security guy where the food was. He had very little English, but he conveyed to her that once we cross the Czech border, there will be a buffet.
…what?
We have no clue what this means. There’s no empty car where a buffet could be set up. Do we exit the train and have a buffet on the Czech platform? Is food loaded onto the train by Czech people? Did he just have no idea what he was talking about? We wait in fervent anticipation.
I’m also pretty sure we’re going through the Black Forest right now. I’ve always wanted to see it because my mom’s mom’s family comes from somewhere near here and it’s where the Grimm Brothers collected all their fairy tales. Guess I can now cross that off my list.
SIDENOTE: I realized today why I’ve met so many Australians. It’s their summer break! Duh!
If you ever come to Munich, three days is definitely enough, in my opinion. I did two day trips (one of which only took half a day) and then one and a half days in Munich and I honestly feel like I exhausted the city. The only thing I didn’t do that I sort of wanted to was a science museum, which is supposedly pretty cool, but it’s a full day and I’ve been to the Museum of Science and Industry approximately 1,000 times in my life so it’s not like I’m unfamiliar with the concept.
I finally got around to a walking tour of Munich today (just one sponsored by my hostel). My tour guide spent the vast majority of the tour explaining why Munich is far superior to Berlin, which I totally disagree with. His main point was that Munich and Berlin are these polar opposites, and everywhere else in Germany falls somewhere between them on the line, and I think that argument is probably legitimate. However, I was on the totally opposite side of the pole from him. He broke down the differences by saying that Munich is old, stodgy, rich and conservative, while Berlin is young, hip, broke and liberal. (The same dinner – a bratwurst, fries, and a beer – cost me 16 euro in Munich and 7 in Berlin.) It honestly seems a total no-brainer to me which one anyone under the age of 50 would prefer, but he just went on and on about how great Munich is (and he was in his mid-20s and of African descent, so it’s not like he is what you would think of as the “typical” Bavarian). I mean, Munich is fine. I don’t dislike it, but I’m not having a love affair with it.
Munich is very much “stereotypically” German. They’re into beer, sausages and lederhosen (although they apparently have some kind of knock-out business sector now…. I read that independently, our tour guide didn’t really get into it). Today we saw some Nazi history (Hitler started in Munich… I feel like if Hitler started in MY hometown, I would NOT play up the fact that the city was politically conservative, I’d want to dial down that emphasis as much as humanly possible), the Glockenspiel (like a big clock that plays music and wooden characters dance), the main square, etc. I mean, it was fine. I suppose “bland” is the word I’m really looking for.
After that, I went to the Olympic Stadium (where the 1972 Games were held). Again… fine. Lovely landscaping, pleasantly manicured lawns, an impressive stadium, a nice memorial to the Jewish athletes who were taken hostage… fine. Although I did go into the swimming pool (Schwimhalle! Say it out loud, it’s fun), which made me SUPER nostalgic for (real) competitive swimming. I’d really like to go to the Olympics once in my life, even if I only go to the swimming events. London 2012, anyone?
Concluding my extraordinarily Munich day, at night I went to the Hofbrahaus (the largest beer hall in Germany and I’m fairly certain the world). We also went here on our tour because Hitler formed the Nazi party here (but it was NOT the site of the Putsch…that was destroyed in the war and never rebuilt). But going at night was quite a different experience, obvs.
I went with these three girls I met at my hostel, two Australians named Lara and Kate and one Argentinean girl named Agostina. We German’ed it up and got sausages and sauerkraut and noodles and beer. It was good times, but EVERYONE there (as I’m sure you can imagine) was a tourist. After that, we just went back to our hostel’s bar. Agostina has zero accent when she speaks English – she claims it’s because she learned how to speak English from American TV shows, which I suppose makes a lot of sense – so when she talks, she sounds totally American. We had a great time convincing some people from Florida that she was from New Jersey. They were totally nice and pleasant. Then they left, and some ACTUAL people from New Jersey sat down and started talking with us! We were excited to play our game with them, although they were telling us a lot about themselves without asking any reciprocal questions. They were total stereotypical Jersey guidos – I wondered if they were trying their hardest to be exactly like Pauly D and the Situation. We were getting antsy to try out Agostina’s accent on them, so finally Agostina said, “So, three guesses as to where I’m from?” and one of them responded, “Oh, don’t care, don’t care and uh… don’t care.” THANKS AMERICA. I’m glad you have turned these shining examples of your citizenry loose on Europe.
Agostina was going to Prague today as well, so we took the “Albert Einstein Express” together. I’m on it right now, actually (no internet but I’m typing this into a word document and I’ll copy/paste it into the blog when I’m somewhere with internet). Anyway, this train is hysterical. It goes about 50 km an hour and takes SIX HOURS to reach Prague (you could do it in 2 ½ if you had a car and were going a normal speed). There’s no like, rows of seats like you think of on a train – it’s all individual compartments, which I actually really enjoy. Anyway, I bought some food before getting on the train, but Agostina said she’d just buy from the restaurant car. She went searching and couldn’t find anything, but there are signs saying “Café” with a cup of coffee so she asked the security guy where the food was. He had very little English, but he conveyed to her that once we cross the Czech border, there will be a buffet.
…what?
We have no clue what this means. There’s no empty car where a buffet could be set up. Do we exit the train and have a buffet on the Czech platform? Is food loaded onto the train by Czech people? Did he just have no idea what he was talking about? We wait in fervent anticipation.
I’m also pretty sure we’re going through the Black Forest right now. I’ve always wanted to see it because my mom’s mom’s family comes from somewhere near here and it’s where the Grimm Brothers collected all their fairy tales. Guess I can now cross that off my list.
SIDENOTE: I realized today why I’ve met so many Australians. It’s their summer break! Duh!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Dear Germany, I Love You
So I’ve come to the conclusion that I love pretty much everything about this country (with the notable exception of its pretty appalling human rights record).
Seriously. I’ve been making notes on little things about Germany and little things that Germans do that I am just completely enamored with. It’s like we’re in the very beginning stages of a romantic relationship. Everything Germany does just enchants me and I want it to do more things just like it.
Here are the things I like about Germany:
1) They are extremely literal-minded and blunt. You know who else is extremely literal-minded and blunt? THIS girl. My mom’s mom was German, and my mom always used to say that Grandma Marge called it like she saw it. “She called a spade a spade,” I think is the phrase. There was no messing around with her. Things were what they were. GERMANY IS EXACTLY LIKE THAT. I’ve noticed that no one jaywalks here – like NO one. My good friend Andrew actually almost got arrested in Munich for jaywalking. So I brought this up to my cousin, Jay, in Heidelberg, and asked him what the deal was. Jaywalking seems like an extremely minor offense, you know? He told me that Germans are so literal-minded that this applies even to really minor laws like jaywalking. There’s no nuance. It’s black and white. It’s against the law, damnit, so don’t do it. Also, their train system? Their underground, etc, in their major cities? It’s not like every other metro system in the world where you buy a ticket and that ticket goes into an automated machine and only then are you allowed passage onto the train. It’s literally a good faith system. You buy a ticket but if you didn’t, you could still get on the train because there’s no turnstile or anything like that. Sure, they have ticket checkers check people on the train once in a blue moon, but they take it so for granted that everyone will follow the rules that they aren’t super stringent about enforcing them. The rules are clearly posted everywhere and everyone follows them. There is no mystery. I LOVE IT. Also, on a similar note, the word for sex translates literally to “genital traffic.” I AM OBSESSED WITH THIS COUNTRY.
2) They are also shockingly modest. Everyone speaks English. EVERYONE. But if you ask, they kind of look really shamed and say, “oh, little bit, “(everyone, without fail, says this exact phrase with the same look on their face), and then they start talking and they are fluent. Like, no bones about it fluent. But they don’t jabber at you and keep you around endlessly like the people in some countries I could mention. They tell you what you need to know or do and then your interaction is over. It’s incredible. No unnecessary embellishment or shooting the crap. I also act this way and so I feel completely at home here.
3) They are Type-A as HELL. I need to say no more to explain how this resonates with me, but I will point out that the very making of this list probably is a good example.
4) They love beer. Similarly little further explanation needed.
5) This is actually probably a story about Australia, but I learned it in Berlin and have kept forgetting to mention it. So the Australian embassy is in Berlin, except for three weeks of the year, when it moves to Munich. These three weeks correspond exactly with Oktoberfest. This suggests one of two conclusions to me: either Aussies get so hammered at beer festivals that they are in constant need of their embassy and so it’s just more efficient to move the whole shebang, or the embassy guys don’t want to miss out on the fun. I’m inclined to believe it’s a combination of both. Also, by including this paragraph I get to use my “Australia” tag again, which is great because I’m using that a LOT more than I thought I would. Also, my new Australian friends tried to get me to eat Vegemite last night. They succeeded. It was revolting. It was kind of funny – they were all gathered around this table, trying to get the American to eat Vegemite, and then I reacted probably exactly the way they thought I would. They also told me that I am their favorite American. This is probably because I have been really adamant about explaining my love for Obama and dislike for Bush to them, so they know I’m not one of “those” Americans.
So although I for reals for reals love Germany, not super obsessed with Munich. I mean, it’s okay. It’s no Berlin. Berlin was phenomenal. It was so full of history and culture and it was hip and happening all that crap. Munich has some stuff, but I’ve mostly just done day trips. I went to the Disney castle yesterday and Dachau today (also super depressing but I’ve already done the concentration camp entry) and then just wandered around the English Gardens (Central Parkish) today. I’ve actually been doing things kind of backwards – not going on a city tour til tomorrow because just of the way it’s panned out with people wanted to do things on certain days, etc. So tomorrow is my last day in Munich and also the only one I’ll spend the majority of the day in Munich proper. I’ll be fine with moving on.
But Germany, it will be so hard to leave you. Sigh.
Seriously. I’ve been making notes on little things about Germany and little things that Germans do that I am just completely enamored with. It’s like we’re in the very beginning stages of a romantic relationship. Everything Germany does just enchants me and I want it to do more things just like it.
Here are the things I like about Germany:
1) They are extremely literal-minded and blunt. You know who else is extremely literal-minded and blunt? THIS girl. My mom’s mom was German, and my mom always used to say that Grandma Marge called it like she saw it. “She called a spade a spade,” I think is the phrase. There was no messing around with her. Things were what they were. GERMANY IS EXACTLY LIKE THAT. I’ve noticed that no one jaywalks here – like NO one. My good friend Andrew actually almost got arrested in Munich for jaywalking. So I brought this up to my cousin, Jay, in Heidelberg, and asked him what the deal was. Jaywalking seems like an extremely minor offense, you know? He told me that Germans are so literal-minded that this applies even to really minor laws like jaywalking. There’s no nuance. It’s black and white. It’s against the law, damnit, so don’t do it. Also, their train system? Their underground, etc, in their major cities? It’s not like every other metro system in the world where you buy a ticket and that ticket goes into an automated machine and only then are you allowed passage onto the train. It’s literally a good faith system. You buy a ticket but if you didn’t, you could still get on the train because there’s no turnstile or anything like that. Sure, they have ticket checkers check people on the train once in a blue moon, but they take it so for granted that everyone will follow the rules that they aren’t super stringent about enforcing them. The rules are clearly posted everywhere and everyone follows them. There is no mystery. I LOVE IT. Also, on a similar note, the word for sex translates literally to “genital traffic.” I AM OBSESSED WITH THIS COUNTRY.
2) They are also shockingly modest. Everyone speaks English. EVERYONE. But if you ask, they kind of look really shamed and say, “oh, little bit, “(everyone, without fail, says this exact phrase with the same look on their face), and then they start talking and they are fluent. Like, no bones about it fluent. But they don’t jabber at you and keep you around endlessly like the people in some countries I could mention. They tell you what you need to know or do and then your interaction is over. It’s incredible. No unnecessary embellishment or shooting the crap. I also act this way and so I feel completely at home here.
3) They are Type-A as HELL. I need to say no more to explain how this resonates with me, but I will point out that the very making of this list probably is a good example.
4) They love beer. Similarly little further explanation needed.
5) This is actually probably a story about Australia, but I learned it in Berlin and have kept forgetting to mention it. So the Australian embassy is in Berlin, except for three weeks of the year, when it moves to Munich. These three weeks correspond exactly with Oktoberfest. This suggests one of two conclusions to me: either Aussies get so hammered at beer festivals that they are in constant need of their embassy and so it’s just more efficient to move the whole shebang, or the embassy guys don’t want to miss out on the fun. I’m inclined to believe it’s a combination of both. Also, by including this paragraph I get to use my “Australia” tag again, which is great because I’m using that a LOT more than I thought I would. Also, my new Australian friends tried to get me to eat Vegemite last night. They succeeded. It was revolting. It was kind of funny – they were all gathered around this table, trying to get the American to eat Vegemite, and then I reacted probably exactly the way they thought I would. They also told me that I am their favorite American. This is probably because I have been really adamant about explaining my love for Obama and dislike for Bush to them, so they know I’m not one of “those” Americans.
So although I for reals for reals love Germany, not super obsessed with Munich. I mean, it’s okay. It’s no Berlin. Berlin was phenomenal. It was so full of history and culture and it was hip and happening all that crap. Munich has some stuff, but I’ve mostly just done day trips. I went to the Disney castle yesterday and Dachau today (also super depressing but I’ve already done the concentration camp entry) and then just wandered around the English Gardens (Central Parkish) today. I’ve actually been doing things kind of backwards – not going on a city tour til tomorrow because just of the way it’s panned out with people wanted to do things on certain days, etc. So tomorrow is my last day in Munich and also the only one I’ll spend the majority of the day in Munich proper. I’ll be fine with moving on.
But Germany, it will be so hard to leave you. Sigh.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Heidelberg/Family Time
After my last night in Berlin (where I went out and drank beer from a horn...yes, like a Viking...it was awesome) I moved onto Heidelberg where my cousin, Jay, and his wife, Katie, and their three kids (Myah, Praza, Raadek) live. Jay and Katie are also from the Quad Cities, and whew, is Heidelberg a freaking upgrade. It was so. beautiful. Heidelberg is the site of Europe's first medical school (the college is still going strong), has an incredible castle and, on a less exciting and fun note, a U.S. Army base. (Jay used to be in the military.) Apparently Heidelberg is one of the only places in Germany that escaped heavy shelling during WWII because the Americans had already picked it out as a place they wanted to put their base when the war was over. Whatever the reason, I'm really glad it's preserved, because it is absolutely picturesque.
Having some family time was awesome. On Friday night, Jay and Katie got a babysitter for the kids so we could go out to this French restaurant, Le Coq. When the babysitter (Nora) arrived, she asked where we were going, we told her Le Coq, and she exclaimed, "Oh! Le Coq is so good! I love Le Coq!" I really had to bite the inside of my lip to keep from dying on that one. I had to keep repeating, "You are not fourteen, Molly... you are not fourteen..." Later, about halfway through dinner, Jay suddenly stopped and said, "Please excuse my junior high humor, but did it take a lot for you guys not to laugh when Nora said she loved Le Coq?" And yes, yes it did.
Saturday we woke up and Jay took me around to see the sights - the castle, the main drag, the old church, etc. Heidelberg is not really packed with a lot of history, it's the kind of town where you gasp and say, "Oh, how beautiful!" I'd upload a picture but the wifi in this hostel is agonizingly slow, so if you really care, google image it or wait for me to put a picture up on facebook. We watched football games that night (thanks to Jay's former military-ness, he can subscribe to this American package of channels) and hung out and generally had good times.
Sunday I left for Munich. I got in a little late and arrived in my hostel around 8ish. I checked into my room, which is a 6-bed all-female dorm. I walked in... four Koreans, all on their computers, none of whom could (or would) speak English. I was getting a little uneasy, because I'm not really the kind of person who can just walk into the hostel bar and just strike up a conversation - I need someone else to engage me first. I'm a bit reticent. Thank goodness this Australian girl named Lana walked in just as I was beginning to despair and think I was going to have to stay in the dorm for the night. We went down to the bar together and to Neuschwanstein (sp?) Castle today. The castle is the one Disney modeled the castle on the Disney logo on. It's freaking gorgeous. Lana is also traveling alone but has hooked up with this extensive Australian solo traveling community so I've been kind of folded into their crew and we're all going to the Augustiner Bierhaus tonight (like a less touristy Hofbrauhaus). I'm going to do a walking tour tomorrow and I think Dachau concentration camp the day after that - then on to Prague. Woohoo!
Having some family time was awesome. On Friday night, Jay and Katie got a babysitter for the kids so we could go out to this French restaurant, Le Coq. When the babysitter (Nora) arrived, she asked where we were going, we told her Le Coq, and she exclaimed, "Oh! Le Coq is so good! I love Le Coq!" I really had to bite the inside of my lip to keep from dying on that one. I had to keep repeating, "You are not fourteen, Molly... you are not fourteen..." Later, about halfway through dinner, Jay suddenly stopped and said, "Please excuse my junior high humor, but did it take a lot for you guys not to laugh when Nora said she loved Le Coq?" And yes, yes it did.
Saturday we woke up and Jay took me around to see the sights - the castle, the main drag, the old church, etc. Heidelberg is not really packed with a lot of history, it's the kind of town where you gasp and say, "Oh, how beautiful!" I'd upload a picture but the wifi in this hostel is agonizingly slow, so if you really care, google image it or wait for me to put a picture up on facebook. We watched football games that night (thanks to Jay's former military-ness, he can subscribe to this American package of channels) and hung out and generally had good times.
Sunday I left for Munich. I got in a little late and arrived in my hostel around 8ish. I checked into my room, which is a 6-bed all-female dorm. I walked in... four Koreans, all on their computers, none of whom could (or would) speak English. I was getting a little uneasy, because I'm not really the kind of person who can just walk into the hostel bar and just strike up a conversation - I need someone else to engage me first. I'm a bit reticent. Thank goodness this Australian girl named Lana walked in just as I was beginning to despair and think I was going to have to stay in the dorm for the night. We went down to the bar together and to Neuschwanstein (sp?) Castle today. The castle is the one Disney modeled the castle on the Disney logo on. It's freaking gorgeous. Lana is also traveling alone but has hooked up with this extensive Australian solo traveling community so I've been kind of folded into their crew and we're all going to the Augustiner Bierhaus tonight (like a less touristy Hofbrauhaus). I'm going to do a walking tour tomorrow and I think Dachau concentration camp the day after that - then on to Prague. Woohoo!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Auf Wiedersehen, Berlin
Today was my last day in Berlin :-( I'm pretty upset because I've started to become mildly obsessed with this city.
I had to fit in a bunch of stuff today that I've been meaning to do but never got around to. I woke up super early and went to the Topology of Terror museum, which is basically the museum that covers the various organizations of the Nazi police state - the Gestapo, the SS, the SA, etc. One thing I've definitely realized since being here and since going to Sachsenhausen is that in America, we REALLY put a lot of emphasis on the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. We absolutely should, don't get me wrong, but I think that a lot else about the Third Reich kind of gets lost in the shuffle. I think that we as Americans tend to believe that the Nazis' reason for existence was anti-Semitism and this huge, overwhelming desire to kill all the European Jews. The German perspective, however, is more that Hitler was above all else, a fascist who wanted to establish a totalitarian police state. He didn't care about the Jews so much BECAUSE they were Jewish, he just desperately needed a common enemy so he could rally most of the country around his cause. And what brings people together like a common enemy? Nothing. It is probably (sadly) the single-most effective way of uniting a ton of disparate groups of people. I don't think Hitler exactly had any great love for Jewish people, but I think that any large minority would have served his purpose equally well. What was convenient was that there was already this anti-Semitic strain running through German society, Jews were a pretty large minority, etc. I mean, the Nazis didn't even decide to kill the Jews until 1942. Until then they were humiliating them, taking their money, trying to force them to emigrate, however. It was only when they realized that losing the war was actually a possibility that they were like, "Crap. We have to cover our tracks now," and that's when they built the gas chambers, started the Final Solution, etc. Anyway. I don't know if this makes any sense, but it's definitely very interesting to get the German/European perspective.
So this Topology of Terror exhibit was basically an examination of the Nazi police state. This also might sound silly, but I never realized what a big deal public humiliation was for the Nazis. It was a hugely effective instrument of control. They humiliated Jews, women who slept with WWI POWs, Roma, intellectuals, etc. They had them wear signs that said stuff like, "I am a Jew-lover," or "I am a traitor to Aryan blood," and paraded them through the streets, shave their heads, etc. That was something I'd really never thought about, mostly because Americans (in my opinion) put most of the emphasis on the sheer killing of the Holocaust and the Nazis. We never really think or talk about the build up to that and how the Nazis consolidated their power by getting rid of their non-Jewish "enemies." Anyway.
So I also went to the Berlin Wall Memorial, which was fascinating. The Wall is only left standing in three areas of the city. Apparently the Germans were going to tear it all down, but there was this huge outcry from tourists that were like, "what are you doing? We want to see it!" The Germans were basically like, "Are you serious?" and the tourists were like, "yeah!" and the Germans were like, "Well, we're totally sick of it and we want it gone, but we'll leave up three very small sections to placate you." So I went to the official memorial, which was cool. It's kind of like a little park, but they have all these...posts, I guess, where they have audio from official speeches, including one from some GDR official who was recorded giving the East German border posts shoot to kill orders. I can't remember it verbatim, but it went something like this, "Do not hesitate to kill border crossers. These people are not your friends. They are not your brothers and sisters. No one who would betray the republic and refuse to believe in the power of the people has any right to life." It was so. effing. spooky. They also had this memorial to all the people who died trying to cross the Wall, and that was moving because people's relatives would come and leave flowers , so that was cool.
Last thing I did was I went on a street art tour. This started off absolutely fascinating and then it dragged on for five. and a half. hours. It went on FOREVER. Berlin is a huge graffiti city for a lot of reasons - the Wall provided a great canvas, there was a huge rise of both radical right and radical left groups in the 1970s who didn't have a lot of space to make their case so they took to public spaces, etc. So there's this huge graffiti scene in Berlin and it was extremely interesting to learn about. We covered different artists, styles, recurring characters and themes, etc.
My favorite story was about this sign that appeared one day in East Berlin that said something like, "Linda, I am so sad without you. My life has been a wreck since you left me. I will be at this bar every Tuesday until you come back to me. I love you. Please come find me."
So then ALL this stuff started popping up. Graffiti on the sidewalks, walls, etc, that urged Linda to go back to him, that urged Linda to stay away from the guy because he sounded like a stalker, messages that purported to be FROM Linda, etc. People started going to that bar every Tuesday to see if Linda would show up. This went on for close to a year, before a graffiti artist was like, "...okay, so I made that up. There is no Linda." But I thought it was an interesting way to show how people like to be engaged in public dialogue and get involved in stories, etc.
Anyway, the tour just dragged for a long time. But it started super interesting.
Tomorrow I'm off to Heidelberg to hang out with my cousin Jay and his wife and kids. I'm excited! Then it's on to Munich.
I will be sad to leave you, Berlin. You are awesome.
I had to fit in a bunch of stuff today that I've been meaning to do but never got around to. I woke up super early and went to the Topology of Terror museum, which is basically the museum that covers the various organizations of the Nazi police state - the Gestapo, the SS, the SA, etc. One thing I've definitely realized since being here and since going to Sachsenhausen is that in America, we REALLY put a lot of emphasis on the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. We absolutely should, don't get me wrong, but I think that a lot else about the Third Reich kind of gets lost in the shuffle. I think that we as Americans tend to believe that the Nazis' reason for existence was anti-Semitism and this huge, overwhelming desire to kill all the European Jews. The German perspective, however, is more that Hitler was above all else, a fascist who wanted to establish a totalitarian police state. He didn't care about the Jews so much BECAUSE they were Jewish, he just desperately needed a common enemy so he could rally most of the country around his cause. And what brings people together like a common enemy? Nothing. It is probably (sadly) the single-most effective way of uniting a ton of disparate groups of people. I don't think Hitler exactly had any great love for Jewish people, but I think that any large minority would have served his purpose equally well. What was convenient was that there was already this anti-Semitic strain running through German society, Jews were a pretty large minority, etc. I mean, the Nazis didn't even decide to kill the Jews until 1942. Until then they were humiliating them, taking their money, trying to force them to emigrate, however. It was only when they realized that losing the war was actually a possibility that they were like, "Crap. We have to cover our tracks now," and that's when they built the gas chambers, started the Final Solution, etc. Anyway. I don't know if this makes any sense, but it's definitely very interesting to get the German/European perspective.
So this Topology of Terror exhibit was basically an examination of the Nazi police state. This also might sound silly, but I never realized what a big deal public humiliation was for the Nazis. It was a hugely effective instrument of control. They humiliated Jews, women who slept with WWI POWs, Roma, intellectuals, etc. They had them wear signs that said stuff like, "I am a Jew-lover," or "I am a traitor to Aryan blood," and paraded them through the streets, shave their heads, etc. That was something I'd really never thought about, mostly because Americans (in my opinion) put most of the emphasis on the sheer killing of the Holocaust and the Nazis. We never really think or talk about the build up to that and how the Nazis consolidated their power by getting rid of their non-Jewish "enemies." Anyway.
So I also went to the Berlin Wall Memorial, which was fascinating. The Wall is only left standing in three areas of the city. Apparently the Germans were going to tear it all down, but there was this huge outcry from tourists that were like, "what are you doing? We want to see it!" The Germans were basically like, "Are you serious?" and the tourists were like, "yeah!" and the Germans were like, "Well, we're totally sick of it and we want it gone, but we'll leave up three very small sections to placate you." So I went to the official memorial, which was cool. It's kind of like a little park, but they have all these...posts, I guess, where they have audio from official speeches, including one from some GDR official who was recorded giving the East German border posts shoot to kill orders. I can't remember it verbatim, but it went something like this, "Do not hesitate to kill border crossers. These people are not your friends. They are not your brothers and sisters. No one who would betray the republic and refuse to believe in the power of the people has any right to life." It was so. effing. spooky. They also had this memorial to all the people who died trying to cross the Wall, and that was moving because people's relatives would come and leave flowers , so that was cool.
Last thing I did was I went on a street art tour. This started off absolutely fascinating and then it dragged on for five. and a half. hours. It went on FOREVER. Berlin is a huge graffiti city for a lot of reasons - the Wall provided a great canvas, there was a huge rise of both radical right and radical left groups in the 1970s who didn't have a lot of space to make their case so they took to public spaces, etc. So there's this huge graffiti scene in Berlin and it was extremely interesting to learn about. We covered different artists, styles, recurring characters and themes, etc.
My favorite story was about this sign that appeared one day in East Berlin that said something like, "Linda, I am so sad without you. My life has been a wreck since you left me. I will be at this bar every Tuesday until you come back to me. I love you. Please come find me."
So then ALL this stuff started popping up. Graffiti on the sidewalks, walls, etc, that urged Linda to go back to him, that urged Linda to stay away from the guy because he sounded like a stalker, messages that purported to be FROM Linda, etc. People started going to that bar every Tuesday to see if Linda would show up. This went on for close to a year, before a graffiti artist was like, "...okay, so I made that up. There is no Linda." But I thought it was an interesting way to show how people like to be engaged in public dialogue and get involved in stories, etc.
Anyway, the tour just dragged for a long time. But it started super interesting.
Tomorrow I'm off to Heidelberg to hang out with my cousin Jay and his wife and kids. I'm excited! Then it's on to Munich.
I will be sad to leave you, Berlin. You are awesome.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Berlin Pt 3: Pub Crawl and Sachsenhausen (Awkward Pair Up)
So the same day I went on the walking tour (Tuesday) I went to a pub crawl at night with four people I met in my hostel. Two of those people were from DES MOINES!!!! Two of the others were from Liverpool (although oddly, they had never met until the hostel). We went on something that advertised itself as an "anti" pub crawl, meaning it stayed away from the fratty-esque bars you usually find on these organized pub crawls. Neat idea. That being said, we didn't exactly go to anywhere I imagine a Berliner would call a local. We went to five bars and they were all...gimmicky. One was a flower power-themed bar, the other was this Goth-themed bar (that one freaked me out a little), then there was a ping pong bar, followed by an indie rock bar (that one was actually awesome) ending at an 80s bar. So yeah. Fun because it wasn't packed with OTHER pub crawls but yeah, I doubt the average Berliner spends their evenings in the flower power bar, you know?
So anyway, what's the logical thing you do the morning after a pub crawl? You go to a concentration camp, right? Well, that's what I did. I went out to Sachsenhausen, which is about 25 km from Berlin. You can actually access it on the S-Bahn, which is the suburban rail commuter system. I mean, it is the VERY last stop, but the suburban rail does go all the way out there. Stephanie, my fave person ever, had told us on the walking tour that she was leading a free tour of the concentration camp today, and because I love Stephanie now and want to be her best friend, logically I decided I had to go on her tour. And she did not disappoint.
First, I would like to clarify that visiting a concentration camp was legitimately the single most depressing experience of my life. I can actually think of nothing that had the power to depress me so deeply in such a short amount of time. Honestly, the only other scenario I could come up with was when my three grandparents died, but I was SUPER young when they all died so a) I didn't know them very well b) I couldn't really comprehend what was happening and c) We all kind of knew it was coming in all cases. So sure, I was depressed ON the day, but it wasn't like a shock that I had to recover from. That was also legitimately the only thing I could think of that has happened in my life that has had a comparable depressive quality for me. This was just... Jesus Christ.
Okay, so Sachsenhausen. It started off life as a labor camp for political undesirables, but towards the end of the war when the Soviets were making advances from the east and the Americans and British from the West, Berlin became one of the only places left that was a Nazi stronghold. So because the Nazis realized that the Soviets were going to liberate the camps in Poland soon (Auschwitz, Chelmno, etc) they shipped all the Jews they hadn't yet killed (I'd also like to apologize right now if anything I'm saying sounds crass... I genuinely don't mean to) BACK to Berlin to be killed at Sachsenhausen. The gas chamber was destroyed by the East German government, but most of the rest of the camp is still intact.
I assume everyone in the world has read this quote?
"They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up for me."
That was written by a pastor incarcerated at Sachsenhausen (when the camp was still being largely used for political prisoners). So... yeah. Little human interest byline.
I just honestly cannot describe how depressing this experience was. I was sort of morbidly and probably unhealthily obsessed with the Holocaust as a child, and visiting a camp has been a lifetime... not dream, that's certainly not the right word, but goal? for me. I have just always wanted to see it for real. First of all, when I was on the S-Bahn going out there, I felt like I was going to vomit because all I could think was, "This is the same train ride people would have to take when they were going to the camps. This is the same scenery they saw. They must have had this insane sinking dread in their stomachs as they were going out there." It was nauseating. I hadn't even gotten to the camp yet.
The camp has been actually fairly well preserved. It was in East Germany and because the Nazis used it to imprison political undesirables (aka Communists) the GDR saw this as an excellent opportunity to make some martyrs out of young communists. So they leveled the gas chamber (which was only used for Jews) and concentrated on making it into an example of what happens when you're ruled by someone who isn't a communist. Irony. You slay me. I will say this: because the camp was largely, in the beginning stages of its life, used for slave labor for people like communists, antisocials (homeless people, vagrants, drunks), homosexuals, etc - people who didn't fit into Aryanism for whatever reason - and the Jews only came later, it is a remarkably well-preserved memorial to what I hesitatingly call the "other" victims - the ones we don't think about as much as the Jews. You know? I mean, a LOT of Jews lost their lives here tragically - not trying to say that didn't happen by any stretch - but because for so long it WASN'T used for that purpose, it provides a real opportunity to think about the Roma, the disabled, etc, who were first used as slave labor and then exterminated in the camp.
Okay so anyway. The worst part about the camp, honestly, was that they've converted one of the barracks into a kind of memorial where they've spotighted 20 or so former inmates. There's like a little box for each individual. Some survived the camp, some didn't. It's basically an attempt to reconstruct each person's personal history. So I remember one guy in particular named "Bully" Schmidt. Bully was Jewish and there are these pictures of him from the 1910s of him being Bar Mitzvahed, then his wedding, then him boxing with an amateur club in Hamburg, etc. It's so remarkable how...real that made it, you know? So anyway there are all these pictures of Bully just living his life and he looks so happy and so normal and just so... like, one stuck out in particular of him on his wedding day and he's holding what's labeled as his niece on his lap and he is just BEAMING. You can tell he is just so happy and pumped to be alive and pumped to be married and surrounded by his friends and family and he just feels like the luckiest guy ever. The next picture is from 1954. Bully looks ANCIENT. He would have been in his early 50s, and he looks like a decrepit old man. What's worse though, is how utterly angry he looks. He is glowering at the camera, and there's an unlabeled woman sitting next to him and he's gripping her arm in what looks like a very forceful manner and she looks scared as hell and just all life and joy has completely left him. I cried right there and I definitely was not the only one crying in that exhibit. I mean, I suppose he's lucky he survived, but realistically, that man did not look happy about it. It was so unbelievably heart breaking.
Wow, this post is a real downer.
So anyway we looked around the camp and what I kept thinking was how freezing I was and then remembering I was wearing two pairs of socks, Ugg boots, leggings, jeans OVER my leggings, a long-sleeve t shirt, a cardigan, a coat, a scarf, hat and mittens. And the prisoners wore cotton pajamas. Are you kidding me.
Like I said, probably the heaviest experience of my life. It was earlier today and I'm still sort of trying to process it. I have to give Germany kudos as to how remarkably up front they are about this unspeakably ugly chapter of their history. They do NOT whitewash it in the slightest. I really respect them for it.
Last thing: this was on the gates as you left the camp. I took a picture but I haven't uploaded it yet.
"And I know one thing more - that the Europe of the future cannot exist without commemorating all those, regardless of their nationality, who were killed at that time with complete contempt and hate, who were tortured to death, starved, gassed, incinerated, and hanged..." - Andrzej Szczypiorski, Prisoner of the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, 1995.
So...yeah. This is really a downer, I am so sorry if you read this all the way to the end.
So anyway, what's the logical thing you do the morning after a pub crawl? You go to a concentration camp, right? Well, that's what I did. I went out to Sachsenhausen, which is about 25 km from Berlin. You can actually access it on the S-Bahn, which is the suburban rail commuter system. I mean, it is the VERY last stop, but the suburban rail does go all the way out there. Stephanie, my fave person ever, had told us on the walking tour that she was leading a free tour of the concentration camp today, and because I love Stephanie now and want to be her best friend, logically I decided I had to go on her tour. And she did not disappoint.
First, I would like to clarify that visiting a concentration camp was legitimately the single most depressing experience of my life. I can actually think of nothing that had the power to depress me so deeply in such a short amount of time. Honestly, the only other scenario I could come up with was when my three grandparents died, but I was SUPER young when they all died so a) I didn't know them very well b) I couldn't really comprehend what was happening and c) We all kind of knew it was coming in all cases. So sure, I was depressed ON the day, but it wasn't like a shock that I had to recover from. That was also legitimately the only thing I could think of that has happened in my life that has had a comparable depressive quality for me. This was just... Jesus Christ.
Okay, so Sachsenhausen. It started off life as a labor camp for political undesirables, but towards the end of the war when the Soviets were making advances from the east and the Americans and British from the West, Berlin became one of the only places left that was a Nazi stronghold. So because the Nazis realized that the Soviets were going to liberate the camps in Poland soon (Auschwitz, Chelmno, etc) they shipped all the Jews they hadn't yet killed (I'd also like to apologize right now if anything I'm saying sounds crass... I genuinely don't mean to) BACK to Berlin to be killed at Sachsenhausen. The gas chamber was destroyed by the East German government, but most of the rest of the camp is still intact.
I assume everyone in the world has read this quote?
"They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up for me."
That was written by a pastor incarcerated at Sachsenhausen (when the camp was still being largely used for political prisoners). So... yeah. Little human interest byline.
I just honestly cannot describe how depressing this experience was. I was sort of morbidly and probably unhealthily obsessed with the Holocaust as a child, and visiting a camp has been a lifetime... not dream, that's certainly not the right word, but goal? for me. I have just always wanted to see it for real. First of all, when I was on the S-Bahn going out there, I felt like I was going to vomit because all I could think was, "This is the same train ride people would have to take when they were going to the camps. This is the same scenery they saw. They must have had this insane sinking dread in their stomachs as they were going out there." It was nauseating. I hadn't even gotten to the camp yet.
The camp has been actually fairly well preserved. It was in East Germany and because the Nazis used it to imprison political undesirables (aka Communists) the GDR saw this as an excellent opportunity to make some martyrs out of young communists. So they leveled the gas chamber (which was only used for Jews) and concentrated on making it into an example of what happens when you're ruled by someone who isn't a communist. Irony. You slay me. I will say this: because the camp was largely, in the beginning stages of its life, used for slave labor for people like communists, antisocials (homeless people, vagrants, drunks), homosexuals, etc - people who didn't fit into Aryanism for whatever reason - and the Jews only came later, it is a remarkably well-preserved memorial to what I hesitatingly call the "other" victims - the ones we don't think about as much as the Jews. You know? I mean, a LOT of Jews lost their lives here tragically - not trying to say that didn't happen by any stretch - but because for so long it WASN'T used for that purpose, it provides a real opportunity to think about the Roma, the disabled, etc, who were first used as slave labor and then exterminated in the camp.
Okay so anyway. The worst part about the camp, honestly, was that they've converted one of the barracks into a kind of memorial where they've spotighted 20 or so former inmates. There's like a little box for each individual. Some survived the camp, some didn't. It's basically an attempt to reconstruct each person's personal history. So I remember one guy in particular named "Bully" Schmidt. Bully was Jewish and there are these pictures of him from the 1910s of him being Bar Mitzvahed, then his wedding, then him boxing with an amateur club in Hamburg, etc. It's so remarkable how...real that made it, you know? So anyway there are all these pictures of Bully just living his life and he looks so happy and so normal and just so... like, one stuck out in particular of him on his wedding day and he's holding what's labeled as his niece on his lap and he is just BEAMING. You can tell he is just so happy and pumped to be alive and pumped to be married and surrounded by his friends and family and he just feels like the luckiest guy ever. The next picture is from 1954. Bully looks ANCIENT. He would have been in his early 50s, and he looks like a decrepit old man. What's worse though, is how utterly angry he looks. He is glowering at the camera, and there's an unlabeled woman sitting next to him and he's gripping her arm in what looks like a very forceful manner and she looks scared as hell and just all life and joy has completely left him. I cried right there and I definitely was not the only one crying in that exhibit. I mean, I suppose he's lucky he survived, but realistically, that man did not look happy about it. It was so unbelievably heart breaking.
Wow, this post is a real downer.
So anyway we looked around the camp and what I kept thinking was how freezing I was and then remembering I was wearing two pairs of socks, Ugg boots, leggings, jeans OVER my leggings, a long-sleeve t shirt, a cardigan, a coat, a scarf, hat and mittens. And the prisoners wore cotton pajamas. Are you kidding me.
Like I said, probably the heaviest experience of my life. It was earlier today and I'm still sort of trying to process it. I have to give Germany kudos as to how remarkably up front they are about this unspeakably ugly chapter of their history. They do NOT whitewash it in the slightest. I really respect them for it.
Last thing: this was on the gates as you left the camp. I took a picture but I haven't uploaded it yet.
"And I know one thing more - that the Europe of the future cannot exist without commemorating all those, regardless of their nationality, who were killed at that time with complete contempt and hate, who were tortured to death, starved, gassed, incinerated, and hanged..." - Andrzej Szczypiorski, Prisoner of the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, 1995.
So...yeah. This is really a downer, I am so sorry if you read this all the way to the end.
Berlin Pt 2
couple of things I forgot to mention that I found awesome about Berlin:
1) the city is literally crackling with energy. You actually can't walk very far without running into a theater, a poetry bar, etc. It is a MECCA for young creative professionals, German or otherwise. Related point: one thing it's really hard for European countries to do these days is to keep their young professionals. A lot of Euro countries are experiencing a brain drain like no other. Right now, Germany is experiencing the complete OPPOSITE of that. It is retaining the yuppies and pulling in yuppies of other nationalities at breakneck speed. It is so cool here I can barely even stand it.
2) The Reichstag. You used to be able to go up to the top of it. You can't anymore because of terrorist threats but I found out that the very top level of the Reichstag (German parliament) is a dome with a glass floor. That dome is solely for people to climb to the top of, look out, etc. That glass floor serves as the ceiling to German parliament, so whenever the politicians look up, they are reminded that they work for the people and the people rule them. Isn't that awesome?
1) the city is literally crackling with energy. You actually can't walk very far without running into a theater, a poetry bar, etc. It is a MECCA for young creative professionals, German or otherwise. Related point: one thing it's really hard for European countries to do these days is to keep their young professionals. A lot of Euro countries are experiencing a brain drain like no other. Right now, Germany is experiencing the complete OPPOSITE of that. It is retaining the yuppies and pulling in yuppies of other nationalities at breakneck speed. It is so cool here I can barely even stand it.
2) The Reichstag. You used to be able to go up to the top of it. You can't anymore because of terrorist threats but I found out that the very top level of the Reichstag (German parliament) is a dome with a glass floor. That dome is solely for people to climb to the top of, look out, etc. That glass floor serves as the ceiling to German parliament, so whenever the politicians look up, they are reminded that they work for the people and the people rule them. Isn't that awesome?
Germany Pt. 1: I Am a Berliner
Okay, not really, but you know.
I am in Berlin! And have been since Monday (the 3rd). Berlin is an excellent, excellent city. I am totally digging it. Much like Beyonce's rendition of "Little Drummer Boy" (long story). I've heard a lot of people describe Berlin as New York in the 80s. But anyway I've learned a ton of cool and fascinating things and if you don't want to hear a lot about WWII/the Holocaust/the Cold War this may not hold a ton of interest for you, but I love history (especially recent history) so this city is a freaking gold mine for things of that nature.
Anyway.
I got here on Monday after my flight got delayed yet again. I'm going to say it. I am never taking Aer Lingus again. They may be cheap, but it's too much work. All their flights are delayed all the time, their planes are REALLY old, they don't publish the gate your flight is leaving from until like half an hour before you board so you have to be paying attention all the time... I don't know. I'm so over it. Also I am frustrated with them enough by now to admit that they're the airline that almost wouldn't let me on the plane to London, so there's that. And this flight to Berlin was delayed because the original plane actually broke down and they had to fly another in so we could leave. Yeah. I'm over it.
MOVING ON, I finally arrived in Berlin about 3 p.m. Monday. I figured out public transport all by myself from the airport to the hostel. I was MASSIVELY proud of myself for that, especially because I speak not a word of German. I will say this, though - some of the city trains are aboveground, and I was waiting for one, on this platform, snow was falling, this guy had a German shepherd and this voice was barking something in German over a loudspeaker... I don't know, I got realllllll uneasy for a second. It was a little too Auschwitz-y for a second there. (more on death camps later...hooray!)
I'm staying at Raise a Smile, which I would totally recommend for anyone staying in Berlin. A lot of their profits go to a Zambian childrens' charity and the hostel is small and clean and really well-done. Just a plug for them there. Anyway my first night in Berlin I went ice skating (random but fun) with some people from my hostel and then to just this local neighborhood bar. It was really low-key but I got in so late in the day that that was really all I had time to do. Total sidenote: I don't think Germans use conditioner. I didn't pack any liquids and figured I'd just buy everything in Germany, and I went around to a bunch of pharmacies looking for conditioner. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Had no problem finding shampoo, but not only did my German guidebook have a word for "shampoo" but none for "conditioner," every single person I asked for help literally had no idea what I was talking about. If the attendant spoke English, I'd explain that I was looking for conditioner, "you know, it goes on after shampoo?" and they'd say, "AFTER shampoo?" and look at me with this totally quizzical stare. If they didn't speak English, I'd say, "ahhh... conditioner?" and smile and point to my head and mime putting in conditioner. Shockingly, they couldn't help me either. But isn't that odd?
On Tuesday, I went on a walking tour of Berlin organized by this company called New Europe. Another shameless plug: If you are in pretty much any Western European city (or Jerusalem...oddly) GO ON THIS TOUR. It's free, it's informative, the guides are funny and extremely knowledgeable... huge thumbs up. My guide was named Stephanie and she was originally from New Zealand and she is also my new favorite person. She knew SO much about Berlin (she's been living here for like 3 years or something) and clearly loved loved loved the city and she was just freaking adorable.
Things I saw/learned:
1) The first stop on the trip wasn't really a stop. It was just that there was this hotel right across from the origin of the tour, and Stephanie pointed to it and was like, "here, history was made. In (whatever date) Michael Jackson was staying at this hotel and he decided to dangle his baby over the balcony." She laughed and said, "I show you guys Kaiser Wilhelm's palace, I show you Hitler's bunker, but always, ALWAYS, the site that gets the ah-HAs! and the nods of attention are when I show you the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his baby off the balcony." It was pretty funny.
2) A couple of our first stops were the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe (technically NOT the Holocaust Memorial because this concentrates solely on Jewish victims) which is, oddly, right next to Hitler's bunker. Here is a picture of Hitler's bunker:
Seriously. It's a car park now. That is where Hitler committed suicide. Basically, the German government is actually doing a baller job of Holocaust attrition/memorialization, and in this particular case they really didn't want it becoming a shrine to neo-Nazis/in the words of my tour guide, "it's historically significant but not historically important." Like, why memorialize the place Hitler died? They literally paved it over and made a car park. In...2006? I might have that date wrong, the World Cup came to Germany, so the government put up an extremely bland, matter of fact sign that explains what the site is, but offers no kind of flourishes or engaging material. I thought it was actually kind of cool - why turn the place where Hitler died into some kind of tourist mecca? Like, why bother? Don't pay him any attention, you know? I liked that they did that, but obviously some people don't, so it's mildly controversial that the site isn't more...touristy, but I'm glad it is the way that it is.
3) We also saw the former Luftwaffe (Nazi Air Force) building. After the war, this building ran SMACK up against the Berlin Wall, on the East Side. It was turned into the East German Ministry of Ministries, which honestly sounds like something straight out of Orwell, but it's a terrifying building. There's this horrifying mural that glorifies Soviet totalitarianism and everyone is blond and smiling and happy and German and like, baling hay... it's totally weird. This is also the site of a workers' rebellion that was horribly, bloodily squashed by the East German police, and there's a huge photograph commemorating that right outside the building (the Germans are nothing if not totally up front about their past). Stephanie also told us that she is 5'7", so not exactly short. However, the doorknobs on the doors of the building are past her shoulders. The Nazis did that in a deliberate effort to intimidate people and make them feel small. However, my favorite fact about this building? So it started life off as the HQ for the Nazi Air Force, turned into this bureaucratic Soviet nightmare, and what is it today? ...the tax office. The German IRS. Continuing the tradition of horrifying and intimidating.
4) From there, we moved to the Berlin Wall. There are three sections of the Wall still standing, and this, Stephanie told us, was quite frankly the least interesting, but it was right there, so that's where we went. She gave us some facts about the Wall that sort of surprised me: 10,000 tried to escape (that number doesn't surprise me... whatever, I would have no clue how to even ballpark it) but THIS is what I found interesting. 5,000 succeeded. FIVE THOUSAND! THAT'S HALF OF ALL THOSE WHO TRIED! That's a SHOCKINGLY good success rate! I was blown away by that. My image was totally this wall manned...fortification surrounded by shoot to kill, trigger happy border guards, and Stephanie clarified that this is mostly an accurate image, but people came up with creative ways to escape, etc. Still, that blew me away. Also, 138 people died trying to escape. I don't want to trivialize 138 people losing their lives by any stretch of the matter, but that also seemed relatively low to me, you know? I also learned that when you see images of graffiti on the Wall, that's ALWAYS on the West, because basically if you got that close to the Wall on the East the guards would kill you. (Again seems discontinuous with 5,000 people escaping, but whatever.)
5) There are a lot of museums in Berlin, more than in London OR Paris. They are mostly full of Egyptian pottery and you can see that anywhere and let's move on. (Although one museum DOES have the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which is pretty awesome.)
6) Last story Stephanie told. This is probably SO apocryphal it's not even funny, but I like it and it makes this really nice narrative so I'm going to choose to believe it. So at the end of the 80s, when Gorbachev was president (that's not the right word but I can't think of the correct one and you know what i mean... also, sidenote, Gorbachev was the only Soviet president to go to university. Wow, Soviets. Your republic FAILED??? SHOCKING.) anyway. 80s. Gorbachev. He offered each Soviet republic the option of self-governance and de-communization and some countries (Czechoslovakia, Hungary, etc) took him up on that straightaway. However, East Germany was having none of it, but it was starting to be obvious that East Germans were going on "holiday" to Hungary or wherever and just...not coming back. Basically, they were having this massive population drain. So they had this huge meeting to decide what to do and they came up with this plan: they'd offer anyone with proper documentation, a certain amount of money, etc, the option to leave the country and resettle elsewhere...Hungary, West Germany, USA, etc. Wherever. However, this option would not be time-sensitive. So they could be like, "yeah, you can go on ahead, just wait for us to give you a date," and then they'd never give a date. Stephanie explained this better than me, but I'm trying, I swear. So basically the plan was to keep a lot of people in limbo and make them THINK they could leave East Germany but never actually give them the option to do so. Similarly, the same minutes said the Wall WOULD come down, but gave no timeline as to when.
So the guy they chose to read off this new plan at a press conference was the main spokesman for the GDR. Apparently he was also a PR nightmare... like the Burlusconi of his day. He partied all night, dated prostitutes, did all these drugs, etc. So he missed this big important meeting for whatever reason, and when it comes time to give this press conference, he has literally no clue what he's meant to talk about. So he gives literally the most boring press conference in history. He's droning on about Gorbachev and communism and whatever. Journalists are falling asleep in their chairs, people are getting up and leaving, etc. So this Italian journalists decides, screw it, I came for a story and I'm getting a story, raises his hand and decides to deviate from the standard questions. He raises his hand and says, "What is going to happen with the Wall?"
Of course the PR guy has no idea. He missed the meeting. So he starts flipping through the minutes and it's apparently a lot to process. He says, "Well... it seems as though anyone can now leave East Germany. The Wall is coming down." He misses the part about proper docs, about the money in the bank, about the undefined waiting period, etc. So now people are REALLY paying attention. Did he just say that people can leave East Germany of their own free will? They start peppering him with questions, none of which he can answer (also, apparently this is all on youtube) and he just gets overwhelmed. He's flipping through the minutes, trying frantically to answer questions, nothing's working. Finally one journalist says, "Can you tell us WHEN the wall will be coming down?" and, at a loss, this guy just looks up and says, "Well, as far as I can tell...immediately."
WHOA! People lose their SHIT! (Sorry for cursing but that is about the only word that can convey what would be happening right about now.) All the journalists at the press conference go INSANE. They're cabling back home, urging their newspapers to get ON the story, etc. They thought they were coming for a routine East German propagandistic whatever, and they got news that would literally change the world. As the news gets out, people start FLOCKING toward the wall. The guards have no clue what's going on, but they take one look at the huge crowd and are just like... what the hell are we supposed to do? They say anyone with the proper docs can go through, but there's such a huge crowd that people are throwing receipts, napkins, anything made of paper at them and rushing through before they can be stopped. And obviously, once they're on the Western side, they ain't coming back. It was just this massive flood of people, all brought about by that one single word - immediately - and it totally changed hte course of history forever.
So, like I said, probably totally apocryphal. But still really a cool idea.
This is SO long. I have more to write about - including a pub crawl and a concentration camp - but I'm going to call it quits for right now and hopefully maybe write some more later. Cheers!
I am in Berlin! And have been since Monday (the 3rd). Berlin is an excellent, excellent city. I am totally digging it. Much like Beyonce's rendition of "Little Drummer Boy" (long story). I've heard a lot of people describe Berlin as New York in the 80s. But anyway I've learned a ton of cool and fascinating things and if you don't want to hear a lot about WWII/the Holocaust/the Cold War this may not hold a ton of interest for you, but I love history (especially recent history) so this city is a freaking gold mine for things of that nature.
Anyway.
I got here on Monday after my flight got delayed yet again. I'm going to say it. I am never taking Aer Lingus again. They may be cheap, but it's too much work. All their flights are delayed all the time, their planes are REALLY old, they don't publish the gate your flight is leaving from until like half an hour before you board so you have to be paying attention all the time... I don't know. I'm so over it. Also I am frustrated with them enough by now to admit that they're the airline that almost wouldn't let me on the plane to London, so there's that. And this flight to Berlin was delayed because the original plane actually broke down and they had to fly another in so we could leave. Yeah. I'm over it.
MOVING ON, I finally arrived in Berlin about 3 p.m. Monday. I figured out public transport all by myself from the airport to the hostel. I was MASSIVELY proud of myself for that, especially because I speak not a word of German. I will say this, though - some of the city trains are aboveground, and I was waiting for one, on this platform, snow was falling, this guy had a German shepherd and this voice was barking something in German over a loudspeaker... I don't know, I got realllllll uneasy for a second. It was a little too Auschwitz-y for a second there. (more on death camps later...hooray!)
I'm staying at Raise a Smile, which I would totally recommend for anyone staying in Berlin. A lot of their profits go to a Zambian childrens' charity and the hostel is small and clean and really well-done. Just a plug for them there. Anyway my first night in Berlin I went ice skating (random but fun) with some people from my hostel and then to just this local neighborhood bar. It was really low-key but I got in so late in the day that that was really all I had time to do. Total sidenote: I don't think Germans use conditioner. I didn't pack any liquids and figured I'd just buy everything in Germany, and I went around to a bunch of pharmacies looking for conditioner. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Had no problem finding shampoo, but not only did my German guidebook have a word for "shampoo" but none for "conditioner," every single person I asked for help literally had no idea what I was talking about. If the attendant spoke English, I'd explain that I was looking for conditioner, "you know, it goes on after shampoo?" and they'd say, "AFTER shampoo?" and look at me with this totally quizzical stare. If they didn't speak English, I'd say, "ahhh... conditioner?" and smile and point to my head and mime putting in conditioner. Shockingly, they couldn't help me either. But isn't that odd?
On Tuesday, I went on a walking tour of Berlin organized by this company called New Europe. Another shameless plug: If you are in pretty much any Western European city (or Jerusalem...oddly) GO ON THIS TOUR. It's free, it's informative, the guides are funny and extremely knowledgeable... huge thumbs up. My guide was named Stephanie and she was originally from New Zealand and she is also my new favorite person. She knew SO much about Berlin (she's been living here for like 3 years or something) and clearly loved loved loved the city and she was just freaking adorable.
Things I saw/learned:
1) The first stop on the trip wasn't really a stop. It was just that there was this hotel right across from the origin of the tour, and Stephanie pointed to it and was like, "here, history was made. In (whatever date) Michael Jackson was staying at this hotel and he decided to dangle his baby over the balcony." She laughed and said, "I show you guys Kaiser Wilhelm's palace, I show you Hitler's bunker, but always, ALWAYS, the site that gets the ah-HAs! and the nods of attention are when I show you the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his baby off the balcony." It was pretty funny.
2) A couple of our first stops were the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe (technically NOT the Holocaust Memorial because this concentrates solely on Jewish victims) which is, oddly, right next to Hitler's bunker. Here is a picture of Hitler's bunker:
Seriously. It's a car park now. That is where Hitler committed suicide. Basically, the German government is actually doing a baller job of Holocaust attrition/memorialization, and in this particular case they really didn't want it becoming a shrine to neo-Nazis/in the words of my tour guide, "it's historically significant but not historically important." Like, why memorialize the place Hitler died? They literally paved it over and made a car park. In...2006? I might have that date wrong, the World Cup came to Germany, so the government put up an extremely bland, matter of fact sign that explains what the site is, but offers no kind of flourishes or engaging material. I thought it was actually kind of cool - why turn the place where Hitler died into some kind of tourist mecca? Like, why bother? Don't pay him any attention, you know? I liked that they did that, but obviously some people don't, so it's mildly controversial that the site isn't more...touristy, but I'm glad it is the way that it is.
3) We also saw the former Luftwaffe (Nazi Air Force) building. After the war, this building ran SMACK up against the Berlin Wall, on the East Side. It was turned into the East German Ministry of Ministries, which honestly sounds like something straight out of Orwell, but it's a terrifying building. There's this horrifying mural that glorifies Soviet totalitarianism and everyone is blond and smiling and happy and German and like, baling hay... it's totally weird. This is also the site of a workers' rebellion that was horribly, bloodily squashed by the East German police, and there's a huge photograph commemorating that right outside the building (the Germans are nothing if not totally up front about their past). Stephanie also told us that she is 5'7", so not exactly short. However, the doorknobs on the doors of the building are past her shoulders. The Nazis did that in a deliberate effort to intimidate people and make them feel small. However, my favorite fact about this building? So it started life off as the HQ for the Nazi Air Force, turned into this bureaucratic Soviet nightmare, and what is it today? ...the tax office. The German IRS. Continuing the tradition of horrifying and intimidating.
4) From there, we moved to the Berlin Wall. There are three sections of the Wall still standing, and this, Stephanie told us, was quite frankly the least interesting, but it was right there, so that's where we went. She gave us some facts about the Wall that sort of surprised me: 10,000 tried to escape (that number doesn't surprise me... whatever, I would have no clue how to even ballpark it) but THIS is what I found interesting. 5,000 succeeded. FIVE THOUSAND! THAT'S HALF OF ALL THOSE WHO TRIED! That's a SHOCKINGLY good success rate! I was blown away by that. My image was totally this wall manned...fortification surrounded by shoot to kill, trigger happy border guards, and Stephanie clarified that this is mostly an accurate image, but people came up with creative ways to escape, etc. Still, that blew me away. Also, 138 people died trying to escape. I don't want to trivialize 138 people losing their lives by any stretch of the matter, but that also seemed relatively low to me, you know? I also learned that when you see images of graffiti on the Wall, that's ALWAYS on the West, because basically if you got that close to the Wall on the East the guards would kill you. (Again seems discontinuous with 5,000 people escaping, but whatever.)
5) There are a lot of museums in Berlin, more than in London OR Paris. They are mostly full of Egyptian pottery and you can see that anywhere and let's move on. (Although one museum DOES have the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which is pretty awesome.)
6) Last story Stephanie told. This is probably SO apocryphal it's not even funny, but I like it and it makes this really nice narrative so I'm going to choose to believe it. So at the end of the 80s, when Gorbachev was president (that's not the right word but I can't think of the correct one and you know what i mean... also, sidenote, Gorbachev was the only Soviet president to go to university. Wow, Soviets. Your republic FAILED??? SHOCKING.) anyway. 80s. Gorbachev. He offered each Soviet republic the option of self-governance and de-communization and some countries (Czechoslovakia, Hungary, etc) took him up on that straightaway. However, East Germany was having none of it, but it was starting to be obvious that East Germans were going on "holiday" to Hungary or wherever and just...not coming back. Basically, they were having this massive population drain. So they had this huge meeting to decide what to do and they came up with this plan: they'd offer anyone with proper documentation, a certain amount of money, etc, the option to leave the country and resettle elsewhere...Hungary, West Germany, USA, etc. Wherever. However, this option would not be time-sensitive. So they could be like, "yeah, you can go on ahead, just wait for us to give you a date," and then they'd never give a date. Stephanie explained this better than me, but I'm trying, I swear. So basically the plan was to keep a lot of people in limbo and make them THINK they could leave East Germany but never actually give them the option to do so. Similarly, the same minutes said the Wall WOULD come down, but gave no timeline as to when.
So the guy they chose to read off this new plan at a press conference was the main spokesman for the GDR. Apparently he was also a PR nightmare... like the Burlusconi of his day. He partied all night, dated prostitutes, did all these drugs, etc. So he missed this big important meeting for whatever reason, and when it comes time to give this press conference, he has literally no clue what he's meant to talk about. So he gives literally the most boring press conference in history. He's droning on about Gorbachev and communism and whatever. Journalists are falling asleep in their chairs, people are getting up and leaving, etc. So this Italian journalists decides, screw it, I came for a story and I'm getting a story, raises his hand and decides to deviate from the standard questions. He raises his hand and says, "What is going to happen with the Wall?"
Of course the PR guy has no idea. He missed the meeting. So he starts flipping through the minutes and it's apparently a lot to process. He says, "Well... it seems as though anyone can now leave East Germany. The Wall is coming down." He misses the part about proper docs, about the money in the bank, about the undefined waiting period, etc. So now people are REALLY paying attention. Did he just say that people can leave East Germany of their own free will? They start peppering him with questions, none of which he can answer (also, apparently this is all on youtube) and he just gets overwhelmed. He's flipping through the minutes, trying frantically to answer questions, nothing's working. Finally one journalist says, "Can you tell us WHEN the wall will be coming down?" and, at a loss, this guy just looks up and says, "Well, as far as I can tell...immediately."
WHOA! People lose their SHIT! (Sorry for cursing but that is about the only word that can convey what would be happening right about now.) All the journalists at the press conference go INSANE. They're cabling back home, urging their newspapers to get ON the story, etc. They thought they were coming for a routine East German propagandistic whatever, and they got news that would literally change the world. As the news gets out, people start FLOCKING toward the wall. The guards have no clue what's going on, but they take one look at the huge crowd and are just like... what the hell are we supposed to do? They say anyone with the proper docs can go through, but there's such a huge crowd that people are throwing receipts, napkins, anything made of paper at them and rushing through before they can be stopped. And obviously, once they're on the Western side, they ain't coming back. It was just this massive flood of people, all brought about by that one single word - immediately - and it totally changed hte course of history forever.
So, like I said, probably totally apocryphal. But still really a cool idea.
This is SO long. I have more to write about - including a pub crawl and a concentration camp - but I'm going to call it quits for right now and hopefully maybe write some more later. Cheers!
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Katy and Tara Visit Part 2
And so on to Dublin.
I am typing this in the Dublin airport after Katy and Tara left me to go back to America. I am being brave and strong, I swear. I'm killing some time before my flight leaves for Berlin and so am updating this because realistically, what else am I really going to do?
So we arrived in Dublin midday on New Years Eve. All the stars oddly aligned for us. We got the early bus that we wanted to get, we managed to get dinner reservations the day of NYE, and we got tickets to a nightclub, also day-of (much more on this later). On our way to dinner (this is not a stars-aligning story, this is a "this is weird" story) we were stopped by a man on the street who asked us if we smoked. When we said no, we thought he'd just let us go, like he was looking for a lighter or something. However, then this exchange occurred:
man: ah, from the States, huh? Whereabouts?
(we all tell him. He seems confused.)
man: How do you all know each other?
us: we went to college together.
man: ah! Where?
(at this point we're starting to think this is a little too personal, but we also didn't really know how to end the conversation. So we kept going.)
us: Notre Dame.
man: Oh! Indiana!
us: ...yes.
man: What did you study?
This was becoming not only oddly personal, but we were going to miss our dinner reservation. So I turned to Katy and said, "Do you remember the name of the restaurant?" in hopes of dropping a hint.
man: Oh, don't worry. I mean no harm. What did you all study?
me: English.
Katy: political science
Tara: pre-medicine.
man (to Tara): Now, you have a quite exotic look to you. How did that happen?
My jaw actually dropped at this point. I mean... really?
Tara: both my parents were born in India.
man: Wow. I really don't know what to say about that.
Okay, two things here. One, you probably don't need to say anything because it's not any of your business and also you shouldn't have even asked in the first place. Two, what in God's name were you expecting her to say? "Oh, my parents are blond Germans?" No. I mean, use your head. Come on.
Anyway. We finally broke free of him and had a really delicious dinner - if you are ever in Dublin and craving Italian, we would all three highly recommend Il Baccaro - and headed off to our nightclub.
Oh. My. God.
Club M.
There is no way to completely explain this nightclub. We all agreed it was never going to translate - you totally had to be there. The best way we can explain it - and this is not doing the hilariousness of the situation justice - is that it was sort of like Club Fever (MICHIANA'S HOTTEST DANCECLUB!) transported to Dublin. But that doesn't really capture Club M. It was... hilariously awful. It was dark and there were smoke machines and we kept running into these same three girls from County Meath and it was the kind of place the stars of The Jersey Shore might frequent... I honestly cannot explain it. At some point we decided to just embrace how bad the club was and we ended up having a riot, mostly because we were laughing at the place. But... if you're ever in Dublin, it is TOTALLY an experience.
We left Club M basically at midnight because after the New Year struck, we lost any mild interest we may have had in being there. We went to the Mint Bar, which was in the basement of our hotel and is actually my new favorite place. We met these three Americans who were lovely (sidebar: I've actually decided that I really like some - key word SOME - Americans abroad because if you meet the right kind they aren't obnoxious jerks and you can bond over your shared Americanness) and we hung out in the Mint Bar until it closed. Then Katy said probably the most clever thing she has ever said. We got back to our room and she was gchatting with someone back in America - I want to say it was roughly 10:30 where this person was - and he said something like, "I wonder what 2011 will be like." Katy's response? "Well, speaking as someone from the future, I can tell you that it's a lot like 2010." It was hilarious.
New Years Day was devoted to some sightseeing. We went to Dublin Castle, tried to go to Kilmainham Jail, walked around the city, etc. We also went to the Guinness Storehouse which was borderline the most intense experience any of us have ever had. First of all, it was awesome, but all these overwhelming things kept happening. We were accosted by a jester on the way in who made us drink fake rubber Guinness with him and then made us take a picture. I know that's a really weird sentence, but it's actually the only way to explain what happened. Tara has pictures of it I trust she will put on facebook.
So now into the factory. The first thing you do in the factory is have this orientation on the ground floor. This really cheerful and upbeat woman named Liz gave us ours, and at one point she said something like, "and on the 5th floor, we have a quiz where you can see how much you know about how your body reacts to alcohol." I thought she was going to keep talking, so I said to Katy and Tara, "ha. Mine reacts negatively." However, Liz did NOT keep talking, so I said this out loud into silence to this large tour group. After orientation, you are turned loose into a self-guided tour of the factory. Liz showed up on every floor that we were on, and every single time, she changed her shirt. It was totally weird. Each time, it was this striped polo that said, "STAFF," on the back, but each floor she was wearing a different color. At one point, Katy remarked how comforting this was that her shirt was marked, "STAFF," because it made her feel like she was at summer camp and would be able to locate a staff member in case she was ever lost or afraid. Which, to be honest, sort of happened a lot. The Guinness factory is totally overwhelming, but in a really good way. Definitely go - it's just huge sensory overload and a lot is constantly going on at once.
That night we went out with my roommate Siobhan (she goes to NUIG with me but is originally from Dublin and was home for the holidays) and she showed us this really cool unnamed bar that is trying really hard and really consciously to be super hip but was still really fun. The next day we did some more cultural sightseeing stuff and ended our trip with a lovely extended session in a pub. I am now in the airport waiting for my flight and they have left and I am really sad. It was the best week ever. I am so lucky to have such incredible friends.
I'm also really glad I'm going to Germany because I think if I had to go to Galway right now I'd be depressed out of my mind. I'm glad I'm going somewhere and doing something. (FYI I'm going to Berlin, to visit my cousin Jay in Heidelberg, then onto Munich and Prague). I start classes on the 17th.
Honestly, also, now that Katy and Tara have come, I feel like I want visitors constantly. Alana (NYC roommate) is coming, my friend Kyle is coming, and my friend Kiel is coming, but if you are not one of those three people, please book your flight ASAP. K thanks.
I am typing this in the Dublin airport after Katy and Tara left me to go back to America. I am being brave and strong, I swear. I'm killing some time before my flight leaves for Berlin and so am updating this because realistically, what else am I really going to do?
So we arrived in Dublin midday on New Years Eve. All the stars oddly aligned for us. We got the early bus that we wanted to get, we managed to get dinner reservations the day of NYE, and we got tickets to a nightclub, also day-of (much more on this later). On our way to dinner (this is not a stars-aligning story, this is a "this is weird" story) we were stopped by a man on the street who asked us if we smoked. When we said no, we thought he'd just let us go, like he was looking for a lighter or something. However, then this exchange occurred:
man: ah, from the States, huh? Whereabouts?
(we all tell him. He seems confused.)
man: How do you all know each other?
us: we went to college together.
man: ah! Where?
(at this point we're starting to think this is a little too personal, but we also didn't really know how to end the conversation. So we kept going.)
us: Notre Dame.
man: Oh! Indiana!
us: ...yes.
man: What did you study?
This was becoming not only oddly personal, but we were going to miss our dinner reservation. So I turned to Katy and said, "Do you remember the name of the restaurant?" in hopes of dropping a hint.
man: Oh, don't worry. I mean no harm. What did you all study?
me: English.
Katy: political science
Tara: pre-medicine.
man (to Tara): Now, you have a quite exotic look to you. How did that happen?
My jaw actually dropped at this point. I mean... really?
Tara: both my parents were born in India.
man: Wow. I really don't know what to say about that.
Okay, two things here. One, you probably don't need to say anything because it's not any of your business and also you shouldn't have even asked in the first place. Two, what in God's name were you expecting her to say? "Oh, my parents are blond Germans?" No. I mean, use your head. Come on.
Anyway. We finally broke free of him and had a really delicious dinner - if you are ever in Dublin and craving Italian, we would all three highly recommend Il Baccaro - and headed off to our nightclub.
Oh. My. God.
Club M.
There is no way to completely explain this nightclub. We all agreed it was never going to translate - you totally had to be there. The best way we can explain it - and this is not doing the hilariousness of the situation justice - is that it was sort of like Club Fever (MICHIANA'S HOTTEST DANCECLUB!) transported to Dublin. But that doesn't really capture Club M. It was... hilariously awful. It was dark and there were smoke machines and we kept running into these same three girls from County Meath and it was the kind of place the stars of The Jersey Shore might frequent... I honestly cannot explain it. At some point we decided to just embrace how bad the club was and we ended up having a riot, mostly because we were laughing at the place. But... if you're ever in Dublin, it is TOTALLY an experience.
We left Club M basically at midnight because after the New Year struck, we lost any mild interest we may have had in being there. We went to the Mint Bar, which was in the basement of our hotel and is actually my new favorite place. We met these three Americans who were lovely (sidebar: I've actually decided that I really like some - key word SOME - Americans abroad because if you meet the right kind they aren't obnoxious jerks and you can bond over your shared Americanness) and we hung out in the Mint Bar until it closed. Then Katy said probably the most clever thing she has ever said. We got back to our room and she was gchatting with someone back in America - I want to say it was roughly 10:30 where this person was - and he said something like, "I wonder what 2011 will be like." Katy's response? "Well, speaking as someone from the future, I can tell you that it's a lot like 2010." It was hilarious.
New Years Day was devoted to some sightseeing. We went to Dublin Castle, tried to go to Kilmainham Jail, walked around the city, etc. We also went to the Guinness Storehouse which was borderline the most intense experience any of us have ever had. First of all, it was awesome, but all these overwhelming things kept happening. We were accosted by a jester on the way in who made us drink fake rubber Guinness with him and then made us take a picture. I know that's a really weird sentence, but it's actually the only way to explain what happened. Tara has pictures of it I trust she will put on facebook.
So now into the factory. The first thing you do in the factory is have this orientation on the ground floor. This really cheerful and upbeat woman named Liz gave us ours, and at one point she said something like, "and on the 5th floor, we have a quiz where you can see how much you know about how your body reacts to alcohol." I thought she was going to keep talking, so I said to Katy and Tara, "ha. Mine reacts negatively." However, Liz did NOT keep talking, so I said this out loud into silence to this large tour group. After orientation, you are turned loose into a self-guided tour of the factory. Liz showed up on every floor that we were on, and every single time, she changed her shirt. It was totally weird. Each time, it was this striped polo that said, "STAFF," on the back, but each floor she was wearing a different color. At one point, Katy remarked how comforting this was that her shirt was marked, "STAFF," because it made her feel like she was at summer camp and would be able to locate a staff member in case she was ever lost or afraid. Which, to be honest, sort of happened a lot. The Guinness factory is totally overwhelming, but in a really good way. Definitely go - it's just huge sensory overload and a lot is constantly going on at once.
That night we went out with my roommate Siobhan (she goes to NUIG with me but is originally from Dublin and was home for the holidays) and she showed us this really cool unnamed bar that is trying really hard and really consciously to be super hip but was still really fun. The next day we did some more cultural sightseeing stuff and ended our trip with a lovely extended session in a pub. I am now in the airport waiting for my flight and they have left and I am really sad. It was the best week ever. I am so lucky to have such incredible friends.
I'm also really glad I'm going to Germany because I think if I had to go to Galway right now I'd be depressed out of my mind. I'm glad I'm going somewhere and doing something. (FYI I'm going to Berlin, to visit my cousin Jay in Heidelberg, then onto Munich and Prague). I start classes on the 17th.
Honestly, also, now that Katy and Tara have come, I feel like I want visitors constantly. Alana (NYC roommate) is coming, my friend Kyle is coming, and my friend Kiel is coming, but if you are not one of those three people, please book your flight ASAP. K thanks.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Katy and Tara Visit Part 1
Happy New Year!
I've decided to write about Katy and Tara's visit in sections because there is a lot to say because they are the best friends anyone could ask for and their visit has been insanely epic. Also there are still two more days before they leave. So.
The epicness started on December 28. My flight was delayed about an hour and a half. Given that Katy and Tara's flight was already getting into Dublin about an hour before mine, this made me stressed because I didn't want them to have to wait around the airport any longer than they had to waiting for me. So as soon as our plane landed, I BOOKED it off that sucker. I literally ran to baggage claim (which as anyone who has been to the Dubs airport probs knows, is an INSANELY long way because the Dublin Airport is one of the most poorly organized airports in probably the world.) I was running, scanning the baggage claim from left to right. Apparently I didn't do a very good job because I ran past these two girls I didn't think I knew and all of a sudden I heard, "MOLLS!" I pulled to a stop and, gasping for breath, pointed ahead at these two women who had also run off the plane with me (I think they had a connecting flight though) and panted, "You see those women? They are the only two who beat me off the plane." That ushered in the first of many, many, many belly laughs which, we decided, are good for the soul.
So from there it just got better. We took the bus back to Galway and were there by early afternoon. I took them to Monroe's, which is my favorite food-serving pub, for dinner, and then we just kind of pub-hopped in my neighborhood and up Shop Street (the main drag). We met some people from Australia and New Zealand and this inspired Katy's antics the next night. (slight sidenote) She decided to pretend she was also from New Zealand so she could get free fries at Vinnie's before we went home for the night. If this doesn't make sense to you, that is okay. It probably shouldn't. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, either. But it did work.
So the next day (this being the 29 and the day of the night Katy got free fries... sorry if that seems confusing but I wanted to group Oceania-related events together) I showed them around Galway (the like 3 things there are to see). I took them to my school and to Eyre Square and we took a picture of a Galway hooker sculpture (a hooker is a kind of boat). We also considered renting a car to drive out into the country but decided against it when we realized it was 150 euro. I am very glad we decided against this, because while at the time we were under the impression we would be able to drive on the left side of the road, I very much doubt that when push came to shove any of us would have been able to competently do so. That night we listened to Irish music at the Crane Bar and went to my fave restaurant and Katy almost broke her hand because someone slammed it in a door but overall we had very good times. Also, this night Tara wandered around in an alley forlornly calling, "Katy? Katy? Kattttyyyyyyyyyyyy?" until she found her.
NEXT DAY we were going to go to the Aran Islands (an Irish-speaking community off the coast of Galway). We missed the bus by three hours. That is not an exaggeration. It was supposed to leave at 9 but we got ourselves together at noon. Then we did some googling and thought there was a noon boat to the islands, but there ended up not being. So we asked the Aran Islands tour organizer lady we spoke with to recommend a new day trip and she suggested going to the Bus Eireann (kind of like the Greyhound of Ireland) station and looking at the destinations to get inspired. That led to this conversation with the Bus Eireann ticket lady:
Me: Hi! Can you tell me where the buses are going today?
Lady: (taken aback) um... where do you want to go?
Me: Anywhere. What buses are leaving in the next half hourish?
Lady: Do you have... a destination in mind?
Me: I dunno. We'll pretty much go anywhere. (seeing her confusion, I leaned in and got real.) Okay, so here's the deal. We were going to go to the Aran Islands today but we missed the bus by three hours. We need a new day trip. Where can the buses take us?
Lady: Well... it's a little late in the day for a day trip. But there's a bus going to Westport in ten minutes. You could go there.
Us: Okay!
Then we went to Westport. The journey there was probably the single-worst two hours of any of our lives. It was on these twisty, tiny roads that were bumpy and at one point the bus jounced so hard over a bump that we literally flew out of our seats and our heads almost grazed the top of the bus. It was miserable. I actually did not think I was going to make it for a few minutes.
But then we got to Westport. Westport is my new favorite town. It is so beautiful. It's really cute and precious and Georgian and lovely and resort-like and calm and peaceful and gorgeous and there is this river that runs through it that makes it look like something out of a movie. Westport is highly recommended to anyone who finds themselves in the west of Ireland. We took a two hour bus there, spent four hours in the city, and then took a two hour bus back. But it was actually totally worth it.
This is Westport:
See?
The next day it was time to go to Dublin. As we are still in Dublin and we are getting ready to go to dinner soon, I'll save that for another post. But preview: we went to a club called Club M and a man stopped Tara on the street and asked her what her ethnic heritage was. It was WILDLY inappropriate but also mildly hilarious.
TO BE CONTINUED!!!
I've decided to write about Katy and Tara's visit in sections because there is a lot to say because they are the best friends anyone could ask for and their visit has been insanely epic. Also there are still two more days before they leave. So.
The epicness started on December 28. My flight was delayed about an hour and a half. Given that Katy and Tara's flight was already getting into Dublin about an hour before mine, this made me stressed because I didn't want them to have to wait around the airport any longer than they had to waiting for me. So as soon as our plane landed, I BOOKED it off that sucker. I literally ran to baggage claim (which as anyone who has been to the Dubs airport probs knows, is an INSANELY long way because the Dublin Airport is one of the most poorly organized airports in probably the world.) I was running, scanning the baggage claim from left to right. Apparently I didn't do a very good job because I ran past these two girls I didn't think I knew and all of a sudden I heard, "MOLLS!" I pulled to a stop and, gasping for breath, pointed ahead at these two women who had also run off the plane with me (I think they had a connecting flight though) and panted, "You see those women? They are the only two who beat me off the plane." That ushered in the first of many, many, many belly laughs which, we decided, are good for the soul.
So from there it just got better. We took the bus back to Galway and were there by early afternoon. I took them to Monroe's, which is my favorite food-serving pub, for dinner, and then we just kind of pub-hopped in my neighborhood and up Shop Street (the main drag). We met some people from Australia and New Zealand and this inspired Katy's antics the next night. (slight sidenote) She decided to pretend she was also from New Zealand so she could get free fries at Vinnie's before we went home for the night. If this doesn't make sense to you, that is okay. It probably shouldn't. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, either. But it did work.
So the next day (this being the 29 and the day of the night Katy got free fries... sorry if that seems confusing but I wanted to group Oceania-related events together) I showed them around Galway (the like 3 things there are to see). I took them to my school and to Eyre Square and we took a picture of a Galway hooker sculpture (a hooker is a kind of boat). We also considered renting a car to drive out into the country but decided against it when we realized it was 150 euro. I am very glad we decided against this, because while at the time we were under the impression we would be able to drive on the left side of the road, I very much doubt that when push came to shove any of us would have been able to competently do so. That night we listened to Irish music at the Crane Bar and went to my fave restaurant and Katy almost broke her hand because someone slammed it in a door but overall we had very good times. Also, this night Tara wandered around in an alley forlornly calling, "Katy? Katy? Kattttyyyyyyyyyyyy?" until she found her.
NEXT DAY we were going to go to the Aran Islands (an Irish-speaking community off the coast of Galway). We missed the bus by three hours. That is not an exaggeration. It was supposed to leave at 9 but we got ourselves together at noon. Then we did some googling and thought there was a noon boat to the islands, but there ended up not being. So we asked the Aran Islands tour organizer lady we spoke with to recommend a new day trip and she suggested going to the Bus Eireann (kind of like the Greyhound of Ireland) station and looking at the destinations to get inspired. That led to this conversation with the Bus Eireann ticket lady:
Me: Hi! Can you tell me where the buses are going today?
Lady: (taken aback) um... where do you want to go?
Me: Anywhere. What buses are leaving in the next half hourish?
Lady: Do you have... a destination in mind?
Me: I dunno. We'll pretty much go anywhere. (seeing her confusion, I leaned in and got real.) Okay, so here's the deal. We were going to go to the Aran Islands today but we missed the bus by three hours. We need a new day trip. Where can the buses take us?
Lady: Well... it's a little late in the day for a day trip. But there's a bus going to Westport in ten minutes. You could go there.
Us: Okay!
Then we went to Westport. The journey there was probably the single-worst two hours of any of our lives. It was on these twisty, tiny roads that were bumpy and at one point the bus jounced so hard over a bump that we literally flew out of our seats and our heads almost grazed the top of the bus. It was miserable. I actually did not think I was going to make it for a few minutes.
But then we got to Westport. Westport is my new favorite town. It is so beautiful. It's really cute and precious and Georgian and lovely and resort-like and calm and peaceful and gorgeous and there is this river that runs through it that makes it look like something out of a movie. Westport is highly recommended to anyone who finds themselves in the west of Ireland. We took a two hour bus there, spent four hours in the city, and then took a two hour bus back. But it was actually totally worth it.
This is Westport:
See?
The next day it was time to go to Dublin. As we are still in Dublin and we are getting ready to go to dinner soon, I'll save that for another post. But preview: we went to a club called Club M and a man stopped Tara on the street and asked her what her ethnic heritage was. It was WILDLY inappropriate but also mildly hilarious.
TO BE CONTINUED!!!
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