After developing a relationship with the floor of the Easy Jet terminal at the Barajas airport (and then the sounds of the engines “warming up” as we taxied for over an hour), we eventually took off for the capitol of Germany and arrived at Schöenfeld Airport around 5 pm, about 18 hours later than planned.
In order to make up for lost time, we headed directly to the Jüdisches (Jewish) Museum in central Berlin. We whet our lips at the special Kosher & Co. food exhibit, which began with a mosaic crafted from various types of bread. With the purchase of our ticket we were given a plastic spoon that could be swiped over plates in each room. Each of the plates held the code to a secret recipe that I will be able to access online! We saw some pretty intriguing items including tools for making matzah, an array of ornate challah loaves, and a “bug checker” that is commonly used by Orthodox Jews (since bugs aren’t kosher)!
Although we didn’t realize until later that our communication with Mel and Bennett was flawed, we headed to the main portion of the Judisches museum to begin the ominous journey sans friends. One of the most perplexing aspects of the museum was the layout and architecture; the building is in the shape of a lightning bolt, which is intended to disorient the visitor. The first floor consisted of an axis of hallways – one led to the Holocaust tower and the other lead to the Garden of Exile. The exhibit began on the second floor, and from there we zigzagged our way through a series of exhibits beginning with the Tree of Life and culminating with explanations and activities relating to modern day practices. Some of my favorite sections were the “Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution” portion with a feminist Haggadah (obviously), the display of kippahs, and the presentation of circumcision tools (Adam didn’t really find it very captivating). The museum was incredibly interactive with stimulating audio, visual, and palpable tokens along the way!
We then walked to the original site of Checkpoint Charlie and visited the adjacent Museum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie. The detailed exhibit paid homage to the many successful passages (via hollowed out surfboards, loudspeakers, low-riding cars, and homemade harnesses) and failed attempts (in the case of Peter Fechter) through the checkpoint.
Upon checking in at our hostel (first time in a hostel!) we met up with Mel and Bennett, dropped our bags, and headed out for a typical German dinner nearby at Alt Berliner Beirsalon. We downed some Berliner Kindle and filled up on some currywurst, schnitzel, and apple streusel while enjoying the live (American – Katy Perry and Coldplay covers, to be specific) music. Per Mel’s recommendation, we ended the night with a drink at A-Trane, a local jazz club, where we stumbled in at the encore of Andy Kissenbeck’s Club Boogaloo!
Next day: we woke to our alarm at 6:45 am, and five showers later we were out the door to pick up some delicious German pastries nearby and head to Schloss Charlottenburg (a royal palace) and its surrounding garden, home to the Mausoleum and Bellevue teahouse. Although the palace hadn’t opened for the day, we skidded through the icy trails of the beautifully groomed grounds.
We then returned to the plaza near our hotel in order to meet up with a tour guide to begin our free (tip-based, really cool concept) 3½-hour tour of Berlin! Our quirky tour guide hailed from Virginia but had lived in Berlin for the past two years. He had a carefree attitude and knew his schpeel (though he didn’t have to walk backwards)! We went on a whirlwind walk through the city and hit up some major spots including the Brandenburg Gate, Hotel Adlon (where the King of Pop dangled his baby out of the window), Reischtag (the Parliament building), the Holocaust Memorial (an incredibly disorienting, well-designed constant reminder), the Berlin Wall, the site of Hitler’s bunker where he committed suicide, Checkpoint Charlie, Gartenmrkt, the memorial for the Nazi Book burnings, and the Berliner Dom, among others. We also stopped to see examples of Nazi architecture, which was designed to dwarf the civilian and reinforce the power’s status. The tour gave us lesson of Berlin History 101 lesson (and I got to check off several points on my to-do list!)
The tour conveniently ended at Museum Island, home to several of Berlin’s largest most prestigious art spaces. We visited the Pergamon Museum, which is known for the Zeus Altar and Gates of Babylon (among other peculiar ancient Roman, Greek, and Islamic sculptures, artifacts, and paintings). [It’d be unfair to ignore the amount of time that I spent in a store looking at Christmas ornaments and Nutcrackers (family tradition…) as Adam, Mel, Bennett, and his roommate patiently paced around the store.] After the brief stop, we headed to Kurfürstendamm, Berlin’s Fifth Avenue (Madrid’s Gran Vía). While the guys were at Nike Town Berlin, Mel and I got lost in KaDeWe, an upscale department store with a gourmet market on the sixth floor. The thousands of sausages, wheels of cheese, pastry platters, and shelves stocked with marzipan could have occupied us for hours. Salivating, we left and headed to dinner at Dicke Wirten, a local German pub. I filled up on pork, bread dumplings, and cabbage!
We slept in on Sunday morning (no later than 7:45 am) before hailing a cab to drive to Nicolassee, the neighborhood in Berlin where my dad lived for two years with his family. Although I got the street (Cimbernstrasse) correct, we accidentally had a photo shoot in front of his neighbor’s house (32) instead of his (32A… details!) Regardless, it was fun to travel outside of the city center to get a taste of residential Berlin. Our cab driver informed us that diplomats now inhabit the area, so I suppose that a lot has changed since the “good ol’ days.”
Breakfast at Dunkin Donuts was a taste of home (but even better – an everything bagel with pesto, mozzarella and tomato) before heading to the Gemäldegalerie to take in some of Germany’s most highly regarded artwork. Given my luck, the Neue Nationalgalerie (20th century art) was rehauling their exhibit on the day we paid a visit, so we checked out the modern Sony Center and Filmhaus (Museum of German film history) on the nearby Potsdamer Platz instead.
The trip was a welcomed change of pace from the museum-hopping routine that I had grown accustomed to in Madrid and Paris. It was an interesting feeling to be able walk freely throughout these streets that had been so arbitrarily divided only twenty years earlier. Better yet, I felt a unique connection to the city knowing that my dad had, at one point, called this city home. Most importantly, we were joined by two of our close friends who made the trip infinitely better!
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