Back in the UK

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It might only be 7:30am here, but the sun has already been up for two hours. Yes, friends, I'm in the Scottish highlands, on a train this time instead of my usual blogging bus (typing to the sound of, "Please mind the gap when alighting from this train." The British make everything sound so proper). Since my last post I have been to Berlin, Edinburgh, and Loch Lomond, and I am en route to London--when I tell all the Scots where I'm going, they make a face and express their sympathy. Scottish people probably win the award for friendliest, most helpful people so far on this trip, rivaled only by the Irish; considering the Scots descended from the Irish, it's not surprising that things from their mannerisms to their accents are similar. Let's start from where I left off last time.

I had a great couple of days in Berlin, but will need to go back someday because there was so much I didn't have time to see. Not to say I wasn't able to cover a lot of ground--I visited the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, went on a walking tour, visited the Topography of Terror museum about the SS and other Nazi groups, ate the best street food of the city at Mustafa's Gemuse Donner kebab, and toured the Reichstag (German parliament building). I learned an incredible amount here, even if most of the attractions could hardly be described as fun. Choosing not to ease into anything, I went to Sachsenhausen early in the morning on the first day, a great strategy for beating the hordes of tour groups that come in the afternoon. The Nazi's model concentration camp is located about an hour outside the city, it functioned as a work camp, a death camp, and a Soviet NKVD special camp starting just a few months after the war ended. Not a very happy history. The Soviets leveled a lot of the buildings after they wanted to turn it into a monument against Fascism in the 60s, but some had been reconstructed and the audio guide did a great job of filling in the pieces. Even long defunct, the place looked creepy. After entering through the walls, past the gravel death strip, and underneath the central guard tower, one finds themselves surveying the gigantic triangle-shaped camp. Over 10,000 people had been crammed here at one time, occupying one of the extremely overcrowded and unsanitary barracks. The audio guide told stories of guard brutality, ascetic living conditions and backbreaking labor. A thunderstorm rolling in just after I had visited the execution chamber went along very nicely with the feeling in the air. Definitely a downer, but something I am glad I experienced to better understand the human side of the history.

The Topography of Terror museum was similar: fascinating but disturbing. I was especially interested to learn about how Hitler and the Nazi party rose to power, and what German cities were like during the war. Nowadays, it's hard to imagine what could have driven people to act as they did during the war, but understanding the state of Germany after the First World War and the worldwide economic crisis in the 1930s shows how small, seemingly reasonable steps led to the unthinkable. The museum is also next to the last original section of the Berlin Wall, and it was great to get a perspective on life in divided Germany as well. As the tour guide said, Berlin is such a young city: it had to be completely rebuilt after WWII, and has only been unified for the last 15 years. Despite the newness of the buildings, though, it's an extremely history-rich place that is combined with the dynamism of a city still discovering itself.

The last part of Berlin I'll mention is my trip to the Reichstag, an 18th century Prussian palace that's now the seat of Germany's parliament. I booked my tickets to the dome online to skip the line; even with the line for tickets at the door, though, it's far more accessible than the US Capitol building. The dome is an architectural curiosity, since it's a modern glass and steel structure crowning the ornately carved facade. A spiral ramp on the inside afforded spectacular views all across the city, since nearly all of all Berlin buildings are under 5 stories tall. It was also neat to see the functional and symbolic uses of the dome: a sophisticated sun screen diverted light into the plenary chamber below, the open top of the dome provided ventilation, and the structure overall symbolized the transparency of the modern-day German government, which is seen as a way to prevent the political corruption and takeovers that marked Germany's past. It's great to see the Germans taking environmental consideration on their building designs, as could be seen in the number of solar panels and green roofs seen across the city, but I suppose it's easier to design that way when the buildings are completely reconstructed or brand new.

Scotland has also been phenomenal, but for very different reasons. I started in Edinburgh, the region's largest city. While things in Berlin are new, things in Edinburgh are old: New Town dates from the late 1800s, and Edinburgh Castle, the city's focal point, dates from the 7th century. I took two tours to get a better handle on the history; while the general free tour was fine, I much preferred the nighttime "Dark Side of Edinburgh" tour that highlighted the gruesome, strange, and supernatural elements of the city. The city certainly had a barbarous and primitive past, known for its filthy inner city (named Auld Reekie, literally "old stinky") and plentiful executions (either by drowning in the lake of sewage at the end of town, burning at the stake during the witch craze, or being beheaded by "the Maiden," a primitive guillotine that usually took 4 blows to sever the neck). My visit to Edinburgh Castle taught me a lot about early Scottish-British relations (they usually weren't very peaceful, to say the least) and gave me the chance to see the Crown Jewels of Scotland, including the Stone of Destiny used to crown British kings and queens. The Chateau de Chillon was definitely more architecturally impressive, but that's mainly owing to its more boring history--one doesn't have to keep rebuilding the castle if it isn't destroyed by enemies. I rounded out my learning experiences in the city by visiting the National Museum of Scotland, a Smithsonian-scale museum on every topic including Scottish history, the natural world, technology, and design. Noteworthy exhibits were the Maiden (see above) and Dolly the Sheep (though I'm unsure why Edinburgh got to have her). For an entirely unintellectual experience, I ran a Tough Mudder at Dalkieth Estate the next day--it was a huge coincidence that my Frankfurt friend's boyfriend had signed up for the race with some of his friends, and so I was able to jump into their team after I learned about it last week. I'm glad I did it, especially in good company, but I'm not likely to do one again--unlike marathons, it's run by a for-profit company so they gouge participants everywhere they can (registration was as expensive as the Chicago Marathon, plus it cost to park and check gear), there were mobs of participants (there are heats every 20 minutes for two days, and ours still had around 300 people in it; parking wasn't fun for this reason either), and the running part isn't that great (considering the amount of sliding around, dodging other people, and feeling the load of gravel in your shoe). The obstacles were generally fun--although definitely not the two involving electric shocks. Needless to say, I'll be cleaning mud and sand out of my shoes for the rest of the trip; they took three days alone to dry. Fortunately, I was staying in a hotel with a friend of a friend of a friend (haha) so we had room to clean our stuff out and could order room service after the race when we were feeling lazy.

Finally, I spent the last 2 days in Balloch, on the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond (

). It's Scotland's largest freshwater lake, and very picturesque with little islands nestled in the hills. Yesterday I did a grand bike tour around Loch Lomond and Loch Katerine (inspiration for Sir Walter Scott's Lady of the Lake), and my legs today are not overly pleased with the 60 hilly miles that entailed. I recouped last night by eating a massive amount of traditional Scottish takeaway--white pudding (don't ask), baked potato, mushy curry peas, and fried Mars Bar. This complemented the other Scottish staples--fish and chips and haggis--that I consumed in Edinburgh.

In closing, I have two weeks and three countries left on my Grande Adventure! My plane tickets are all booked so my schedule is set. I'll be seeing three more friends in as many countries and leaving the EU for the first time this trip (to Turkey, only to reenter it before the end of the trip).

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Photos

Death Strip at Sachsenhausen
How far concentration camp inmates were from freedom

Traditional Berlin Currywurst
Basically sausage covered in catsup and curry powder--not bad.

Berlin at night
View down the River Spree at the TV Tower

The dome in the Reichstag
The top is open, resulting in a half-inside, half-outside sensation.

Holocaust Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
It took Berlin 40 years after the war to get a monument up, but at least they did it right in the end. Very powerful to wander through.

Edinburgh Castle
It's the focal point of the entire town. Only the part on the left is original--the stuff on the right was built by the military in the 1800s.

The coffee shop where JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book as a struggling single mother
Several names of characters in the series (including McGonagall and Tom Riddle) can be found in the graveyard behind the cafe.

Tough Mudder Dalkieth Estate
Needless to say, this picture was after I showered off and changed clothes

Loch Katherine no. 1
A rare sunny day in Scotland

Loch Katherine no. 2
No wind!