Berlin: Poor but Sexy

Never has a tour slogan had a more accurate definition of a city. Berlin is poor, but it is sexy. It was such an interesting city. So full of recent disaster, recent discrepancy, recent pain, recent reconstruction. It is every sociology majors dreamland. The contrast between the East and the West and the presence of all the memorials- whether they are over 2,000 cement blocks in a plaza of miniature cobblestones laid out in front of the last known residences of holocaust victims was fascinating. It is nice that there is a presence of the past.

It seems that Germany has rapidly embraced non-suppression and has made very conscious efforts to commemorate the past, but focus and change the future. The amount of pain and strife that Berlin has seen is unfathomable. It is a once in a world opportunity to rebuild an already-modern city. Everything could change and everything did. It was a perfect opportunity after the Cold War to rebuild and recreate. Half the city was destroyed in World War II and again in the Cold war. It is a city sought by foreigners, artists and people looking to live in a cheap European city.

My favorite part of the city was honestly the East Side Gallery. It is the longest left-standing portion of the Berlin Wall and it is painted by difference artists from around the world. It shows the biggest social commentary about the wall and is the most realistic in terms of grasping how huge the wall was. It was truly confining. It felt hopeless. The art brought to life the necessity of not allowing history to repeat itself, to always remember but to continue to live.

I feel like I hit everything in Berlin I wanted to hit. We went on a free walking tour that showed us the historical areas and interesting anecdotes. We went on an "alternative pub crawl" that lead us to bars I will never return to. We saw a concentration camp and became completely overwhelmed with the reality of brutality. While it was one of the most difficult parts of the trip, I feel like I finally bore witness to the holocaust. I never want to return to a concentration camp to visit. It was simply too much for me.

We went on political history tour in order to try and comprehend life under Hitler and grasp how a country could look away from the horrors. We went to a techno club with Texans and danced til dawn-unintentionally. We slept in the Tiergarden. We ate Bratwurst almost every day and tried Schnitzal. We drank, we laughed, we cried and we coped.

This was the last leg of the trip for Ms. Sandy. It was really difficult to say bye to her. But luckily she lives close and I know I will see her soon.

I am currently a few cities behind on this blog. Steph and I are in Austria (and have been for the last 2 nights) visiting a new friend. We leave for Venice tomorrow and then France.

Alright, I am far to tired to be writing after 17 hours of hiking in the last 24 hours. Peace out.