Sniffles

Day 162
I was feeling a bit sniffly when I woke up in the morning. I decided to treat myself to the not so cheap hostel breakfast and I drank about a gallon of orange juice.

I managed to arrive at the HBF just a few minutes before my train departed. I was headed to Hanover.

It wasn’t a long ride and I was there before I knew it. It didn’t take me long to find my hotel. I actually had my own room and even a shower, just no toilet. After a short break I headed out to see the town. It was a bit rainy and I was still feeling a little off. I did manage to find a really top heavy looking building though and an interesting sculpture.

I sat in a café for a bit and tried to decide what to do with myself. There isn’t much to do in Hannover and I had another day to see it. I decided that I would just go back and watch the Olympics for a while and catch up on CNN. On my way back I picked up some dinner.

This was a very uneventful day, but I didn’t want to make myself sick and was asleep early.

Check

Day 161
The Italian girls in my room had to be up really early and it took me some time to get back to sleep after they left. They had been friendly, they just didn’t really speak any English so we couldn’t really get to know one another or hang out. By the time I woke up again it was a little later than I had expected.

Today was my last day in Berlin, I had to do something good. I decided to go to the Check Point Charlie Museum. I had been here before but I remembered thinking that there was just too much to see in one visit and that I wanted to return at some point. This was a check point between east and west Berlin. Shortly after the erection of the Berlin Wall a standoff occurred between U.S. and Soviet tanks on either side of Checkpoint Charlie. It began on 22nd October as a dispute over whether East German guards were authorized to examine the travel documents of a U.S. diplomat passing through to East Berlin. By October 27th, 10 Soviet and an equal number of American tanks stood 100 meters apart on either side of the checkpoint. The stand-off ended peacefully on October 28th. I guess this is why this is the most well known check point today.

After WWII Germany was split up. The western allies (not Russia) thought that it was unfair for Berlin to go completely to the USSR so half of it was given to them despite its eastern Germany location. At first the GDR tried to win the west Berliners over to their lifestyle. They lowered the prices on goods to try and get people to shop in eastern stores. This didn’t work.

From June of 1945 to May 1949 a blockade was put on goods from the west. Everything was airlifted in at a rate of a drop off every three minutes.

The GDR was anti west and blamed the 1950 failed potato crop on sabotage. There were protests by both sides. At one point there were warning sides in west Berlin train stations that if you got on a train going the wrong way you were putting your personal freedoms at risk.

The division of Germany tore families apart. By the early 60’s over 2.5 million people had fled to the west. The GDR put a stop to this exodus by building the wall. This didn’t stop people from trying to escape. Most of the museum is about this. Often GDR guards would only shoot to miss those scaling the walls despite the financial gain possible from catching people. Motion detectors were installed on the wall for some years. If they were tripped up to 50 pieces of metal shrapnel would be fired. Most of the people who ran into these died.

Some people managed to literally drive through the wall, but soon it was too heavily fortified for this. About 800 people made it through with fake passports that read United Nations on them. There was no such thing as a UN passport. Some people painstakingly put together US army uniforms and practiced their American accents to get through.

Often the people who filled out the paperwork to leave legally were arrested. This happened to one woman who wanted to join her husband in West Germany. Her daughters were put into foster care. It took her 6 years to get her freedom and her children back.

Some of the ways people did escape were really creative. A few women where hidden in suitcases. One was even 5’7! Others hid in specially reconstructed cars. Some tried to jump across, but this just caused the windows facing the wall to be bricked up. Those who attempted to swim across often didn’t make it, many of these were children. A few people successfully dug tunnels under the wall. This included a group of people in which the youngest was 85.

The museum ends with the wall being torn down Germany being reunited. This museum is huge and took me hours to get though. Even so, I don’t feel like I have really seen it all.

After dinner I spent some time at the internet café before doing a bit of packing and going to bed.

95 Reasons

Day 160
Today I had things to do. I was going to be staying with some family in Paris shortly and I wanted to bring their teenage daughters something nice. Of course I had no idea what to get them. It was a teenager a couple of years ago, I don’t know why it was so hard. After checking out about a dozen stores I finally just asked the sales lady, turns out that purses were the most sought after so that’s what I got.

Mondays in Europe tend to be a bit boring with everything shut down for the day. I decided to head out to Wittenberg after my little shopping spree. This is where Luther started the Protestant Reformation. I just wrote about this about 2 days ago. If you don’t remember I suggest taking notes during future entries. There will be a test at the end of this trip. Just kidding!

Wittenberg is a really cute little town. It was quiet too. I wandered down the main street to the Castle Cathedral. On the wall was a bronze version of Luther’s thesis. I liked up with everyone else to get a picture. Inside the church wasn’t that interesting. They were charging €1 to take a picture and I decided to be cheap, therefore I have no pictures.

On a street not far away I found the St. Mary Church. The inside was pretty interesting. An info sign said that outside there was a stone carving that depicted Jews as pigs. It said that this was typical of medieval churches. I have never heard this and went outside to find it. The carving had a plaque in front of it, but I couldn’t see anything that remotely resembled a pig. There was a holocaust memorial on the ground in front of it.

After wandering the town for a bit longer I simply headed back to Berlin. It was dinner time when I returned and I made myself some pasta. Berlin had been a bit lonely so I once again tried to meet people. I think this is just a bad week for that. I did run into an Italian guy that I had met in Frankfurt though. He annoyed me in Frankfurt and he annoyed me in Berlin.

I ended up watching the Olympics for a while in my room. When the other girls in my room returned I shut off the tv and went to sleep.

Kung Foo Fighting

Day 159
Jason, the bootie I had had drinks with the other night had invited me to join him and some friends for a ropes course in Potsdam. I had meant to go and do this, but I was dumb and underestimated how long it would take to walk to the train station. I missed it by about 5 minutes. Luckily I hadn’t confirmed with him so he wouldn’t think I was a no show.

I was irritated with myself and didn’t know what to do with my day now that my plans were squashed. At this point it decided to rain. I decided to be a really lazy person and went to see Kung Foo Panda. Even though it was animated violence it still made me jump a bit. I liked it though, panda was cute.

When the movie was over I contemplated going to an art museum, but I was simply not in a productive mood. I just picked up dinner and took it to the cheapie (€0.49 an hour) internet café and watched ANTM for a few hours. When I got bored of that I tried to make friends again at the hostel but came up short.

I really need to stop this lazy thing, it’s driving me up the wall and making for a very boring blog!

Time Travel

Day 158
I really wanted to make sure that I accomplished things today. I actually managed to get to museum island before anything had even opened.

My first stop was the GDR Museum. Unlike the Stasi Museum in Leipzig, this was about how people lived.

In 1952 the border into and out of the GDR was closed. The only exit was through Berlin. By 1961 2.6 million people had fled from the country. In order to prevent this barbed wire was put up around West Berlin almost over night. Over time it was expanded into the wall that is recognizable in pictures and around the city today. This museum wasn`t about the wall though, it was about the people.

The museum started with childhood. At some preschools kids were taken on collective potty breaks on long benches. There were also classes on Marxism-Leninism just like math and composition. Only about 10% of students ever made it to university. If they did studies were strictly controlled.

A large section discussed the types of jobs that people had and what the average pay was. This was interesting, it would have been nice to know what living expenses were though to put it all in perspective. Most people seemed to have been in manufacturing. There were a huge number of factories producing all sorts of things in the GDR. Most of this was exported and it could often be hard to find GDR made goods as well as foreign goods.

The GDR had its own fashion designers. There was a big shortage on natural fabrics and most were synthetic. Eventually the GDR even created its own denim. Despite this, people often paid a months salary to get a pair of Levi`s.

There were a couple of rock bands that were pretty popular; UDO Lindenberg, Klaus Renft Combo, City and Puhdy`s. The last even toured the states. At dance halls and other events it was required that 60% of the music had to have been created in the GDR, the rest needed to be approved by the government. To get around this dj`s would play only parts of the GDR songs. The television was also controlled by the government. One of the kids shows that was created in the 50`s was called Unsersandmannder and is still shown today. The kids show of the 80`s was called Brummkreisel and featured a guy in a red hat and an easily offended dwarf.

Travel was often difficult and the government sponsored their own package trips. According to the museum there were often shortages on bathing suits and people often simply swam nude. The government really didn’t like this. Despite efforts people continued to swim nude as a form of protest. Despite an aversion to nudity the GDR was rather liberal when it came to sex. Girls were given the pill for free as early as 16 and abortions were free and legal. People were encouraged to get married and have children.

There was a small section on the Stasi, but I had already had enough of that so I didn’t stay long. The museum was really well done and very interactive along with informative.

After the GDR Museum I tried to check out the Pergamon, but the line was really long. I had been there before and decided to just skip it. Instead I headed to the German History Museum. This place was huge both in size and detail.

The word German came from the Romans. The Germanic tribes had contact with the Romans, but were never Romanized themselves. The Franks began to rise as a group in the 5^th century, but it wasn’t until Charlemagne became king that their empire was cemented and expanded.

After this my notes get a bit spotty. I’m sure you’re a bit sick of history anyway, apparently I was too.

I did however pay attention to the section on the Reformation. One of the biggest complaints of the reformist was the selling of indulgences to absolve sin, or even to get into heaven. Ninety-five percent of people were peasants, this made heaven a place for only the wealthy. In 1517, shortly after an outbreak of the plague, Martin Luther nailed 95 thesis on the door of the Castle Church in against the sale of indulgences. This began the Protestant Reformation and in turn the 30 Years War.

Germany became a country in 1859. There were sections on both WWI and II, I didn’t spend much time here though, I was getting a little museumed out. I was interested to see that there were a few objects from the Hygiene Museum, though.

At this point I decided that it was time to get some major blogging done and I picked up dinner on my way to the internet café. Later on I did try to meet some people a the hostel bar, but there wasn’t much going on there and I soon left for bed.

Rain, Rain Go AWAY!

Day 157
I was up early and ready to go. I had so much energy that I walked to the HBF. I was headed to Potsdam. I just didn´t consider fact that it was raining and that I might want to bring an umbrella with me.

I had thought that there was some sort of big memorial here, but I guess I was wrong. It was just a lot of rain. For whatever reason I had problems finding the tourist office. The signs were all pointing different ways with different distances. I kept just grabbing teas and snacks. It was like I thought the rain would stop if I ate enough.

During my wet wandering I found a store that had American food. I could have gotten Quakers for about $15, peanut butter for $10 or Koolaid for $8. I went for the Hersey bar for $2.

When I did find the tourist office and got a map I found out that there wasn´t that much to do anyway. I did try and walk around the castle gardens, but it was wet and muddy. The last place I ducked into to dry off at was an icecream shop. I got a massive icecream that looked like steak and fries.

I had waited all day for the rain to stop and I was tired of it. I was also tired of being in wet clothing. I headed back to Berlin and went to another movie. This time I saw Zohon. It was pretty stupid.

When the movie was over the rain had stopped, it was just too late to do anything. I ended up back at the internet cafe to blog and screw around on You Tube. When I was done I just went back to the hostel to sleep.

Monkey´s in a Barrel

Day 156
I had some real issues getting myself out of bed in the morning. I hadn´t gotten back last night until almost 4am and I was exhausted. When I did get it together I decided that it was time for another long walk.

I walked past Potsdammer Platz and checked out a Holocaust Memorial. Six years ago this was just an empty space. Now it is full of square stones of different heights. It was really ugly. Beneath the memorial is Joseph Goebbels, Hitler´s propaganda minister, bomb shelter. It is still intact. I think that might make a better site than an bunch of stones.

Not much further down the street is the Brandenburg Gate. Last time I was here it was under restoration and covered by a big sheet. It was fabulous to be able to see it in its full glory this time.

The Reichstag, Germany´s main government building, was just a stone´s throw away. I had wanted to walk up to the top, but the line was really long and I decided against it.

Next on my list was a walk through the Tiergarten. I walked the entire length of it. It was really nice and calm compared to the speed and noise of Berlin.

In the far corner was my next stop, the Berlin Zoo. I had heard really fabulous things about it and decided to check it out myself. It was really fabulous. The animals, for the most part, were not in cages. Instead they were on islands with deep ditches around them. It made me feel like I could reach out and touch them, or that they could go and check out the other animals if they wanted.

The elephants were huge and fun to watch. I can´t wait until I get to Africa and get to see them in the wild! Peaceful giraffes lounged near some animal that looked like a goat but wasn´t. As always, the monkeys were my favorite. I think one of them would make a great travel partner. Some rather large ones were jumping around while wearing sheets over their heads, they were like ghosts monkeys. My favorite ones were squeezing themselves into a barrel.

The zoo did seem on the rather bird heavy side. I had a lot more fun in the petting zoo then I did looking at feathers. I spent some time checking out the polar bears, but didn´t see the baby Knut. For some reason a few bears were play fighting with each other. They were really cute.

At this point it was near 6 and the animals needed some sleep and I needed some dinner. I headed back to the hostel to take care of that. I had wanted to grab a drink after dinner to celebrate the Euro falling, but I was tired. Instead I went back to my room and read for a bit before falling asleep.

Booties in Berlin

Day 155
The vacation had to end. No more lazy days and movies. I was here to travel and see stuff. I wanted to see something.

After breakfast and checking my email to confirm my evening plans I headed to Check Point Charlie. This is where the original checkpoint to the allied size of Berlin was. This is, however, not the original building or sign. Those are in the Allied Museum across town, and I saw them 6 years ago the first time I was here. Now you can get a stamp in your passport that was an actual GDR stamp. I wanted to get one, but I need to be careful about dates in my passport so I decided against it.

Eventually I wandered to Humbolt University. In the square across from the main building Hilter had several thousands books burned. There is now a memorial that is a room of empty book shelves, enough to put all the burned books. Nearby was the monument to those who have suffered from tyranny.

In Alexanderplatz there is a tv tower built by the GDR. Strangely, when the sun hits it, you can see a cross. The GDR tried to stamp out religious symbols so it was a bit of a joke on them.

I then had a very long walk to the East Side Gallery. This is the longest stretch of the Berlin Wall still in its original place. There is just over one kilometer here. These have a lot of interesting bits of artwork on them, however there is also a lot of graffiti. It´s now illegal to break off bits of the wall, but there still seemed to be several people who were trying to take some of it home.

After I had crossed the Spree I found a really cheap internet café and worked on blog for a bit. Once this was finished I headed back to the hostel for a bit of a rest. I had been walking for about 5 hours at this point and needed to sit down. I just hadn´t taken the time into consideration. There is only one pot at the hostel and I had to wait some time before I could make my dinner. I had just enough time to eat and clean up before running for the s-bahn.

I met Jason, a fellow bootie who is now living in Europe, at a really nice beer garden. I hadn´t seen Jason since a bootie meetup in Chicago about 2.5 years ago. It was really fabulous to be able to catch up.

I must have been more tired than I had thought, because I fell asleep and missed my stop. By the time I realized this the s-bahn had closed. I really had no idea where I was. After one bus in a the wrong direction I found a bar that was open and didn´t look scary. They told me where I needed to go and the correct bus to get on. I even learned a new German word, hoffen, to hope. I hope that I get back before sunrise.

The bus didn´t take me to my hostel, but a few streets away. As unhappy as the whole thing made me, I didn´t once feel the need to panic. Travel seems to be calming my need to overreact.

When I got back to the hostel I fell exhausted into my bed.

Alone Again

Day 154
I woke up early in order to say goodbye to Markus, he once again had that work thing to do. It was sad packing up, I had had such a good time catching up with Markus. I guess that this does get a little lonely sometimes.

It was still early when I made my way to the train station. I was now headed to Berlin! After a touch of confusion at the HBF, I managed to find the bus for my hostel. It was really quite easy to get there. I was glad to see that there were only three other people in the room. I was going to be here for 8 nights and this just meant a better shot a good nights sleep.

The day was overcast and a bit rainy. I decided that I could spend one more day not doing a whole lot. I headed to Potsdamer Platz to see a movie. The Mummy had just come out. It was pretty good, I still have a crush on Brendan Friazer. I think that another one might be coming out too.

After the movie I did some grocery shopping. At the hostel I made myself some dinner. In the hostel bar I met a couple of people and chatted with them for a while before going to sleep.