Ich Liebe Berlin! (And Alcala Too!)

<> I went ahead and added captions to all the other pictures, so if you're curious, they all have explanations now. :)

(for those of you not too familiar with german, Ich Liebe Berlin = I Love Berlin)

Okay, so it's been about a week since I last gave a real update. And seeing as how fast the time flies here, that means I have a ton of stuff to talk about. So without further ado, let's get this thing going.

Before I get into the stuff about Berlin, I have a couple of things to update about Spain.

First of all, I saw my very first socialist protest here in Alcala. Apparently the public education system in the Madrid province isn´t all that great and the teachers felt the need to strike. Which there really isn't much point to this story other than to mention that there are a ton of strikes and protests going on right now. Everyone from fishermen to truck drivers are doing it. Apparently it's the cool thing to do.

The other thing that I've forgot to mention (and I really can't believe I have because it is HUGE right now) is the Eurocup. The Eurocup is a huge soccer tournament between all the national teams of Europe and it's only held once every 4 years. So it's like waiting for the Olympics for the Europeans. And let me tell you, they get into it. So far I've watched a ton of soccer because Spain is doing so well. They made it through to the semifinals along with Russia, Turkey, and Germany. And every time Spain wins, the city goes into an uproar. It's the craziest thing.

Okay, now on to Berlin. :)

I first flew into Berlin on Thursday night, and right off the bat I knew it was going to be an awesome time. Germany had just one their game to get into the semi-finals, and Berlin was going nuts just like they've done so far in Spain. Philipp took me to this mountain in the middle of the city to see everything and it really was incredible. It was a great way to start off my trip.

One of the first places we went on Friday morning was to Potsdamer Platz, which is a huge plaza in the middle of the city where a ton of historical stuff is located. The incredible thing about Potsdamer is that it was completely 100% destroyed in the last world war (Berlin basically got blown of the map because everyone was attacking the Nazis) and so almost every single building here is brand new.

This is the view from one of the skyscrapers in Potsdamer. Philipp had decided that my first view of Berlin in the daytime should be from a bird's eye view, and he made a good choice. Berlin is a beautiful city, especially from way up high.

Right by Potsdamer Platz, there is a pretty big section of the Berlin Wall that has been left standing as a memorial. And I definitely took a picture with it. But the incredible thing is that throughout the entire city, there is this strip that marks where the Berlin wall stood. So anywhere there used to be a part of the wall, you can still see the mark it left. Really incredible.

And here I am with the Berlin Wall. You can't ever pass up a chance to take a picture with such a huge part of history. :)

Right down the street from Potsdamer is the Holocaust Memorial, which is one of the most unusual and interesting things I have ever seen. Basically it's this huge seemingly flat area with a ton of concrete blocks set up in rows, like you can see in the picture. From the outside looking in, it seems like all the blocks are different heights and they rise and fall throughout the entire huge area. However, once you walk in between the blocks, that is when you get the full effect of the memorial. The ground is actually not level at all, but rather very hilly and topsy-turvy (if thats even a word). And no concrete block is the same height. So once you walk in this labyrinth of blocks, you can't really tell which was is up, or down, or which blocks are taller than others, or where you are. It's supposed to symbolize the confusion and sickness of the Holocaust, and it really does it well.

This is the German Parliament building, which is called the Reichstag. It is a gigantic ornate building that really looked incredible from the outside. But you can kinda tell that there was a huge line to get in the building, so we opted to not waste time waiting in line.

This is me in front of the Brandenburg Gate, which used to be a huge section of the Berlin Wall. Basically, the way the gate worked was as a gate for the West Berliners. They were allowed to pass back and forth as they wished, as long as they obtained permission beforehand. However, the East Berliners didn't have that option, and should they try to pass through, the West German military force was allowed to shoot to kill. So sad.

This is a memorial in the center of a plaza whose name I can't remember. It's kind of hard to tell what it is from the picture, but basically it's a huge underground library with empty bookshelves. You are able to walk across the glass and see the emptiness inside. The reason it's here is because this is the plaza where Hitler burned all the books he felt were unnecessary in Berlin, which was almost all of them.

And you can also see Philipp making a crazy shadow at the bottom.

This was at an open air mall pretty close to Potsdamer. There really wasn't a ton to see here, because malls are pretty standard anywhere you go. However, the outdoor plaza area had some really cool architecture and I thought the picture turned out well.

This was also at the open air mall at this little outdoor cafe. This also wasn't too incredibly interesting as there are little outdoor cafes literally everywhere. But I took this because it represents just how crazy the German language is. Very throaty and with looooooooong words. I didn't understand a thing the entire time I was there. haha

And my next picture is somewhat controversial, and I apologize in advance for the language. However, one of the things I really like to do is to learn about what the natives think of America and the American political system. In a lot of places, there is indifference and the people don't really care one way or another. In Spain, everyone has an opinion, but most everyone seems to really strongly be in favor of Obama and pretty opposed to Bush. And in Germany, well, the picture pretty much explains it all:

Again, sorry for the foul language, but this little message was pretty much everywhere around the city. Apparently Bush isn't a very popular guy in Berlin.

On the other hand, apparently Obama is a pretty popular guy here as well. This little apple-shaped card was in the Jewish museum. There is a tree in the museum called the "wish tree" where anyone who wanted to could fill out a card with their wish or message of hope and hang it on the tree. It's kind of hard to read because the picture didn't turn out very well, but this apple says "Barack Obama will bring order to the universe." Seems like a pretty tall order to me, but hey, props to the guy if he can pull it off.

This, my friends, is about the most German dish you can possibly get. It originated in Berlin and the people of Germany are in love with it. It's called "currywurst" and basically it's a big bratwurst sliced into pieces and covered with this strange (but tasty) curry sauce. You can definitely taste the curry in it, but as one person described it to me, it kind of tastes like a mix of ketchup and chili. Which actually, oddly enough, fits the taste pretty well. The currywurst is always served with a side of fries, which more often than not are served with mayonaise on top. Gross. So I got the only other option for the fries, which was a HUGE mistake. Mine was the currywurst with the brown stuff on top of the fries. And it wasn't that it tasted bad, but the brown stuff was the spiciest stuff I have ever eaten. And I've eaten a lot of spicy stuff.

This is the Berlin dome, a very famous landmark in the city. It's a huge ancient cathedral that actually sustained a ton of damage during the war, much like in Potsdamer Platz. The entire dome was destroyed from bombings. But, as you can see, it was rebuilt perfectly and the cathedral really is incredible. Much like most of the pictures I take, the image just doesn't do it justice.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the entire trip, for several reasons. First of all, I just think the picture turned out really cool looking. It looks like it could be an album cover. :) But second of all, I love this picture because it represents the festivals that were taking place in the city. While I was in Berlin, there was a huge music festival called "Fete de la Musique." Basically anyone in the city that wanted to could go in the streets, strike up a band, DJ mixing table, etc. and be as loud as they wanted. So just randomly some streets would get blocked off as some band or DJ got started playing music. This particular picture is from a DJ playing and within minutes the street was packed with Berliners dancing in the street. It was awesome.

This is another picture from the Jewish Museum, which I'm sure you can imagine was very emotional and moving. It didn't focus entirely on the Holocaust, but rather on the entire history of the Jewish people all over Europe. It showed how the slowly moved from some of the richest and most respected people in society into some of the lowliest of everyone, basically less than human. Everything in the museum was symbolic and evey room was well thought out to mean something important. This garden was called the "Garden of Exile." The ground is slanted one way, the big concrete columns were slanted another way, and on every side you can see the building right side up. There is a warning before you go in that says you will likely get motion sickness just from standing in the garden, which I thought was silly. Until I stepped in and automatically felt sick to my stomach. Yet even though it is so sickening, the blocks, lines, and dimensions are all perfectly symmetrical. It symbolizes how perfect order can still sometimes hide the fact that there are sickening things taking place.

Also in the museum were these rooms called "voids." Every void was symbolic and each one was different to symbolize something new. This particular void was called the memory void. It is a room that is almost 4 stories tall with nothing but bare concrete walls all the way up and natural light coming in from openings at the very top. At the bottom are thousands and thousands of little metal faces, each representing the face of a victim. It was supposed to symbolize not only the victims of the Holocaust, but also every other needless victim of any other war.

Here are a couple more pictures from the void:

Here is a close up shot of the faces on the ground. You were allowed, and encouraged, to walk on top of them. It made an eerie clanking noise with every step, and it almost sounded like the wheels of a tank turning.

This is a shot of the walls of the void. As you can see they are completely bare and stretch up really high.

This is a shot of what a German sunrise looks like. Why would I have a shot of this, you ask? Well, Philipp felt it was necessary to take me out in true Berlin style on my last night. So we went to a party that was related to the Fete, and we stayed out until the sun came up. I literally went back to his apartment from the party, picked up my things, and took the bus to the airport. Philipp tried to wear me out.

And this was my parting shot on my way back home. (I just realized that I typed "home" for Madrid. Funny how Spain feels like home now) Could be the Alps. Could be the Pyrenees. I don't really know. But these mountains looked really cool from the air.

So thats all I have for now. As for me, finals are done and I'm on my way to the beach! Life is good! :)