The Reichtag, Street Art and Theatre

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Sometimes, I need to pay more attention. The arrival time was 8:30 not 9. So much for breakfast. I was there on time, but it involved some jogging. The Reichstag is amazing building mixing historic and modern styles. It was gutted in a fire in 1933 and not fully restored until 1991 when the Berlin Wall came down. The fire was pinned on the Communist Party was the excuse that enabled Hitler to assume unlimited power. Members of the Reichstag that objected, ultimately ended up dying in prison or a concentration camp.

History repeats itself when you don’t learn from what happens. One the things that brought Hitler to power is the conservative party thought it could control him if they included him in their coalition. Trump is not Hitler, by the story of the Republican Party and Trump has a similar plot. Too bad they didn’t learn the lesson that when you bring a megalomaniac closer to the center of power, they simply take more power.

In the most recent renovation, original walls were uncovered. These walls along with the graffiti from the Russian soldiers after the battle of Berlin has been left in place. The guide commented that the Russians felt capturing the Reichstag was the ultimate goal in the battle. She said she didn’t understand why since the Reichstag was so important since no government business had been conducted there after the arson. To me it makes perfect sense that the Russian soldiers would want to capture the Reichstag since the they were fighting the Reich. In the main chamber, there is a giant eagle over the podium. The guide said it is affectionately known as the fat hen. The redesign after reunification was done to make the eagle less threatening. The architect wanted a sleeker eagle but was overruled by the politicians. The most interesting part of the building was the dome. It is a huge glass dome that allows you to see into the legislative chamber. The symbolism is obvious and important to the Germans. Inside the dome is a large cone that vents the warm air from the legislative chamber. The top of the dome is open and when it rains or snows the liquid is captured by the cone and recycles. Around the cone is a circular ramp. As you walk along the ramp the audio tour explains which buildings you ae seeing. It’s a great way to see the city. Since Berlin was virtually destroyed at the end of the war there are very few historic buildings. Instead there are stunning new buildings. Just as we had seen in Asia, the architecture in Berlin is far more innovative than what we usually see in the US (except for at MIT).

After the tour I went back to the apartment to meet Jack for the Street Art tour. I was famished and we were in a hurry, so I had gelato for breakfast.

The Street Art Tour started at the other end of the city from where we were staying. After checking in we immediately got on the subway and headed back to nearly where we started. Just as in Barcelona, street art is a finable offense, although the fines are much lower. Large pieces are on private buildings where the artist has obtained permission from the owner. The guy leading the tour was a street artist himself. The problem is he kept cracking corny jokes that only the 80 year-old lady from Duluth found humorous. Maybe, I’ve seen enough street art to satisfy my interests for at least another 10 days. The final part of the tour was a visit to the guide’s studio where he was going to teach the group how to spray paint. After 3 hours of walking, Jack was tired so we decided to bag the spray art class and head back to relax a bit. We had tickets to an English language play and Jack was undecided about whether or not he wanted to attend. We had excellent Korean food around the corner and Jack decided to stay home. Getting to the theatre was easy and I had plenty of time to wait. The play had 3 male characters and 3 Barbie dolls in supporting roles. The gist of the play was about the end of a relationship. There was about 10-15 minutes of dialogue that was repeated over and over with two of the men switching roles in every iteration. The third man played with the Barbies and since the Barbies spoke only German, I missed that part of the play. I’m pretty sure the Barbies were the children. One of the lines was “You can stay, but you can’t take care of the children. I don’t trust you.” I can’t say I loved the play, but it captured the circular, repetitive process that can happen at the end of a relationship. The cast received a standing ovation.

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