East Side Gallery, carnies and golf balls in the sky...

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Here I am, still in Berlin (disregard the "entry date" of this post.) I intended to only stay for 3 or 4 days but have been here for over a week. Needless to say, I've sort of fallen in love. Or, more likely, we're just in that honeymoon phase of infatuation. Either way, I'm not going to question things at this point.

When I first arrived in Berlin, the train station was huge in comparison to those of other cities, it was dark, there were millions of people rushing from one place to another. I was ready to leave before I even left the train station. But over my days here (including the best, FREE! short city tour in which I've ever taken part), we've warmed up to each other. I've played mini-golf, been to a wine bar, re-discovered what a 70 degree day feels like (I refuse to learn Celsius conversions!), attended a homemade 7-course meal, given in to the temptation of buying a small chunk of the Berlin Wall (yes, probably just part of someone's sidewalk with a little paint on the edge, I know), been to a wine bar where you pay what you "think" the wine is worth, witnessed some awful karaoke, seen an amazing concert, drank on the subway train (it's legal!), been on a 6+ hour biking tour of the city (and didn't kill myself... or anybody else!)... and, of course, met a slew of wonderful people. I'll post pictures in bits and pieces... this is not the only installment 😊

Berlin is an insanely rich city. I've heard a few people point out that it is not very representative of Germany given the urban population and diversity. This is probably true, but to me, this is exciting. The city is also rich in history. Sure, there have been a couple World Wars, but the Berlin Wall/Cold War resonate with me more because I was actually alive when these things were going on. One interesting thing to point out is that when many actual Germans (not transplants, like those New Yorkers who move to Vermont), talk about JFK's 1963 speech, they say he's best know for saying, "Ich bin ein Berliner" (roughly, 'I am a Berliner.) However, most American books I've read say his most well known part of this speech was when he praised West Berlin for being a sign of freedom and democracy: "Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. When all are free, then we can look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one and this country and this great Continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe. When that day finally comes, as it will, the people of West Berlin can take sober satisfaction in the fact that they were in the front lines for almost two decades."

Okay. Enough actual writing... let's get back to the good stuff.

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Photos

Another statue, near the train station
New flowers are placed here every day. This is one of the train stations where one could pass from East to West. I believe this is Hauptbahnof-Lehrter Bahnof, but may be wrong...

Parlement Building
I think...

Glimpse of the Holocost Memorial
(More photos of this to be added later)

Berlin Wall (East Side Gallery)
The East Side Gallery is basically the longest, most well preserved stretch of the Berlin Wall. It's all outdoors and many of the art is being redone by the original artists to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the day the wall 'came down'. Because there is so much graffiti in the city, apparently many of the paintings were tagged or altered by other artists. Most of what I saw was fairly "clean."

Berlin Wall (East Side Gallery)
Getting ready to paint...

Berlin Wall (East Side Gallery)
The eastern side of the wall. In the west you were allowed to do what you wanted, in the east, all you wanted to do was stay away...