Blogs from Berlin, Berlin, Germany, Europe - page 132

Last weekend turned out to have the curious theme of GDR memory. On Saturday night I went to a bar with Natalie and her boyfriend, who is visiting, that was full of GDR kitsch--posters and banners and bottles and all manner of GDR decorated paraphernalia decorated the walls, and I got a coaster in the shape of a red star with my beer. It was all very congenial and cozy and fun. But, before I could get to carried away with GDR nostalgia, I was reminded of the much darker side of GDR life when I visited the former Stasi (secret police) headquarters on Sunday, where there is now a museum and memorial to those who were tortured, killed, and imprisoned in their opposition to the regime. They had some interesting exhibits showing spying apparati Stasi ... read more

We've really been looking forward to Germany. Perhaps Brian felt some sort of draw to his ancestral land (or at least the half of him that is German), and Alissa was definitely looking forward to staying at the Marriott in Berlin (Thanks entirely to Lisa Rooney and her employee discount). Berlin also turned out to be a totally appropriate place to transition between the formerly Communist eastern and central European countries and the unadulteratedly capitalist havens of Frankfurt, Dublin, and finally back to Boston. The Marriott, in fact, was 5 meters from the (former) Berlin Wall. To start off, Berlin is enormous. Over four and a half days we were able to visit only a handful of the city's dozens of distinct neighborhoods, and wish that we'd had another month to fully feel the place out. ... read more

So.... Robyn and I have developed a talent for following vans that are giving out free coke... 'Zero Coca Cola' to be exact. It all started in Mainz. We had just finished a wonderful 8-hour boat ride down the Rhine River (lots of castles, which made me very happy!). Anyway, we were wandering through Mainz, trying to find our train station, when Robyn suddenly said 'Hey! Are those people giving out free coke?' Sure enough, they were. It was a fantastic surprise on a very hot day. So now we're in Berlin. We've had a really interesting time here. There is so much history in this city. Yesterday, we took a walking tour of the city. Our tour guide was very funny and dynamic, which made the tour extremely enjoyable (plus he was VERY tall, but ... read more

Berlin... Berlin... that place is amazing anytime of the year! And even though Germany has lots of great, beautiful, interesting cities, I still think Berlin should be a country!! I took a ride there on Wednesday (really.. cheapest, faster way to travel in Germany!! Mitfahrzentrale- english version) and got there around 11pm, so I just went to my "hostel" to check it out: Hauptbahnhof. Yes, that's right, main train station.. slept with the view from the Reichstag and even had a roommate! This guy that asked me if I knew any hotels but only needed to wait for his train for about 3 hours.. he even offered to pay for me to go to the hostel too, that was very nice!! He said the police told him it wasn't allowed to sleep at the hbf... ... read more

I have no idea what the exact temperature is, but i can tell you that there are small rivulets of sweat dripping down the back of my legs and my wrists are making small puddles on this keyboard as I type. Also, it is almost 8 pm and definitely cooler than earlier in the day. Class today was a break from the normal routine, as we divided into small groups and went on little field trip/scavenger hunts at various places around the city. My group went to Oranienberger str., where we stopped outside the Neue Synagogue, which was badly damaged on Krystall Nacht, but has now been rebuilt and is both an operating Synagogue and a museum. I plan to return and go inside. We also explored Tacheles, a big old un-renovated building that became an ... read more