Berlin

Man is this town cool. What town has had more happen in it in the last 100 years than Berlin? We took a great walking tour in the late afternoon for a few hours from a free tour company. They advertise at all of the Hostels and work off of tips. Genius idea really. Sadly, I probably wouldn't pay for a tour like this. I especially wouldn't pay the money that I actually did pay. But since it was free...??? Yet, makes so much sense. I was very interested to see how the city of Berlin has chosen to represent its past. Top 3 things.
3- The Jewish memorial. Near the Brandenburg gate. Great big stones, all different heights, with the length and width of a coffin. A quote by Joseph Stalin. "The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is just a statistic." Sadly true. The memorial center in the middle of these huge stones is dedicated to collecting the stories of Holocaust victims.

2- The old Nazi Air Force headquarters. Now the National Tax offices (makes sense). The building remained largely unscathed from bombings. Perhaps since it was a landmark for opposing pilots to orient themselves, or as legend has it, a gentleman's agreement between England and Germany's air force chief, Hermann Goering,

The front of the building has a communist mural. I saw lots of these in Mongolia. These murals show pictures of young and old people working together, officials and commoners shaking hands, and everyone working together. The mural still stands as it was painted in the 50's in East Berlin. This building was the site of the first anti-communist uprising June 17, 1953 when workers protested that work demands increased as wages remained flat. Those who lost their lives are commemorated in a black and white photo, to the same scale, and about 15 yards in front of the mural. The photo that has the faces of these people protesting was taken on this occassion.

1- In the town square across from Humboldt University over 20,000 books were burned that contained ideas incongruent with Nazi ideology. In the middle of the square, the cobblestone stops at a square piece of glass about 4'x4'. When you look down into the glass you see that the cobblestone you are standing on is part of the top of a room about 40'x40' and 20' high, and the glass forms the center of the room. The empty room contains bookshelves from ceiling to floor, all empty- room enough for about 20,000 books. A few feet across the square in the ground is a metal plaque with the words "First comes the burning of books. And then comes the burning of people." The quote, referencing the Spanish Inquisition, was written in a book published in 1820, one of the very books burned during the Humboldt book burnings in 1936 (i think).

We ended the tour on the steps of one of the museums on 'museum island.' Something talking about how the Berlin wall came down. After the tour we ate some amazing cake at the Opera House cafe. The lady that took my order complimented my German accent. At least I think she did. It was kind of a surprised look, like 'You said it right'... and then a bunch of words that I didn't understand except 'good.' That made my day.

But then what REALLY made my day happened walking home after dinner. We were propositioned by 4 hookers. One right after the other, within about a 30 second time span. Rapid fire. One of them pinched my left cheek. Nope, not the face.

Oh to have only been able to understand 30 seconds' worth of German.