Beavers Abroad: April 2014

Ok, I know I know - I'm Wayyyyyy behind on blog posts and I have a lot of upcoming travels to document! First...Berlin!

Herzlich Willkommen in Berlin!

We arrived in Berlin at the end of July and Europe was in the middle of a heat wave! We thought it would be no big deal for seasoned Texans like us but let me tell you - it's a game-changer if there's no air conditioning anywhere to escape the heat, and we learned that in Berlin! Lloyd calls me 'reptilian' for enjoying warm weather so much, but even I was struggling with the hot weather and not even our hotel had a/c!

We were determined to not let this interfere with our sightseeing so we set off in search of as many museums, activities, and exhibits as we could manage!

Our hotel was in a good location but we did so much walking that it felt like we literally walked from one side of the city to another and got a good sampling of the different areas.

When we first got to town we walked down to the city center to take in Berlin's sights.

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Walking over the river Spree that runs through the center of Berlin

Pretty locks on the bridge

Bridge over the river Spree

A city rich with history, Berlin has an interesting mix of old and new architecture and after the bike tour the differentiation between the east and the west became more apparent. From what we learned, the East and West sides of the city differed in architecture, job opportunities, ideologies, and quality of life of it's residents.

After crossing the river Spree on our walk towards the city center we headed towards Brandenburg Gate one of the city's iconic landmarks.

The Gate has played different roles in history and was first used by Napoleon for a triumphal procession after Prussion defeat in the early 1800's. When the Nazi's rose to power, they used the Gate as a party symbol, and when it survived WWII, the East and the West government's put together a joint restoration effort after Germany's surrender. The gate was badly damaged by explosions and bullet holes and were visible for many years following the end of the war. A soviet flag flew atop the gate from 1945 - 1957 when it was replaced with an East German flag.

During the cold war years The Gate was on the Western side of the city, restricting access to those on the eastern side who were unable to get the hard-to-obtain visa to come to the other side of the city. When the Revolutions of 1989 occurred and the wall fell, the gate symbolized freedom and the desire for a unified Berlin. Since then, the gate has been home to political demonstrations and speeches by modern leaders, including a speech by JFK, where the Soviets hung red banners on the other side of the gate in order to prevent him looking into East Berlin. Ronald Reagan also did a speech at Brandenburg gate in `989 demanding that the Berlin wall come down:

Two months after the wall was torn down, Leonard Bernstein conducted the Berlin symphony in a version of Beethoven's 9th Symphony at the newly opened Brandenburg Gate. In the concluding choral movement, the famous 'Ode to Joy', the word Freude (joy) was replaced with Freiheit (freedom) to celebrate the reunification of Germany.

The square in front of Brandenburg Gate

Horse drawn carriage around the gate

The next stop on our trip was to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. It was an area entirely made of concrete, a field filled with large rectangular boxes, almost like the above ground graves in Louisiana. The area is meant to produce an 'uneasy, confusing atmosphere', and the entire sculpture represents a 'supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason'.

It was nice and cold inside the museum since it was underground, and our time spent there was somber, reflective, and informative, with lots of pictures, stories, and history to think about.

One thing that struck me about Berlin was that it was very honest and open about its' history; it didn't try to sugar-coat the truth like countries often do; instead, there seemed a great desire to educate the people about the events that occurred so they would not be repeated.

After the museum we found a rooftop patio (as you do) for some sunshine and hefeweizen! Cold beer on a hot sunny day is the perfect thing to lighten the mood!

The next day was the most anticipated of the trip...Bike Tour Day!! Ever since Mom organised the bike tour in Nice we decided that it's such a great way to get to know a city, so we'd try to incorporate it into our (summer) travels. The Berlin bike tour started near parts of the Berlin wall, and it was so cool to see actual pictures of that spot from decades ago.

Bike tour buds

The large pictures of the bridge was really compelling, standing side by side with the bridge in current day. It made the idea of the Berlin wall very real, with vivid images dividing the East and West.

There were some great photos of the bridge right after the wall came down and you can see the excitement and sheer happiness on the faces going across the bridge after it was reopened.

Another park where the wall once stood - often called the most dangerous part of the wall since many people tried to escape and were murdered at this spot.

Pictures on the side of buildings near the park

Interesting architecture in the city

Interesting ad on the side of a truck...

Another stop on the bike tour was the Reichstag Building, built in 1894 to house the German Government, which was considered to be a modern and progressive parliament by modern standards.

Also located near the Reichstag Building...Angela Merkel's office!

Luckily for us, Barry was able to document several parts of our bike tour, so we could remember exactly what it was like to weave in & out of crowded streets, dodge trains, and sweat all the way through the city!

Another stop on our bike tour was the Gendermenmarket, a square in Berlin that is flanked by great big, beautiful buildings. The Konzerthaus Berlin is located in the middle of the square and is where the Berlin Philharmonic plays, and on either side of that building are two beautiful cathedrals, the Franzosischer Dom (French Cathedral) and the Deutscher Dom (German Cathedral). We happened to be in the square when the bells were ringing and I got a quick video:

Standing in front of the Konzerth

The next day we decided to go to another WWII museum, which was unfortunately outside with no air conditioning inside!! The museum started near one of the Berlin Wall barriers, which was built almost directly on the old Gestapo headquarters.

The museum outside the wall describing Hitler's rise to power. I was astonished at the short amount of time it actually took for the government to give Hitler almost complete control: January 30 1933 - July 30 1934.

Portions of the old Gestapo headquarters

Picture of one of Hitler's rallies in Berlin with thousands in attendance

While we had good intentions to learn lots from the museum, it was just unbearably hot so we didn't stay that long. We started walking around in search of some air conditioning. Lloyd essentially followed his nose and we ended up at the coldest chocolate store & museum in town!

Commercialism at it's best...even at the Mini Cooper store outside Checkpoint Charlie!

One of our favourite parts about Berlin was the FOOD! We had fresh, homemade falafel that was some of the best we'd ever had, fantastic Asian & Indian cuisine, and of course - Bavarian food! The Bavarian food we had was pretty heavy: schnitzel, a pasta dish (that was a phenomenal version of macaroni & cheese), pretzels, sausages, potato soup - but it was all delicious! And we made sure to wash it down with plenty of hefeweizen, or wheat beer. Wheat beer is my favorite type of beer and is virtually non-existent in England, so I was super excited to have lots of wheat beer choices in Berlin!

German 'Mac & Cheese'. SO good! Ate this two days in a row :)

German potato soup, pretzel, and boiled sausages

While we were in Berlin we met up with Angie, one of Lloyd's Australian friends. Angie was in the middle of a 6-month tour around Europe and we decided to meet up with her in between tours in Berlin. Angie took us to a place she visited on her tour one night, a cozy pub underneath the tracks. This place had 'serve your own' beer and it worked by selecting from the digital menu in the middle of the table and pouring your own. You could even order food this way!

Lloyd & Angie

There were pictures of cute little Pugs all over the pub!

The table next to us were English university students and we asked them to join us and we ended up hanging out with them the whole night. We all had a blast and enjoyed the company of some English-speaking friends!

After our night out, Angie led a rousing chorus of Bon Jovi's 'Livin on a Prayer' on the train, to make a really fun end to a fun night.

The next day we took a day trip out to Potsdam, a city southwest of Berlin. Along the river there was a small neighborhood tucked back away from the main promenade with the most amazing gardens. It looked like a small retirement community and was an interesting place. After a long (and sweaty!) walk, we finally found the large parks that Potsdam is famous for and enjoyed a leisurely walk while a thunderstorm passed overhead.