Waking up early makes me feel like I am at work but on the days that I am traveling the choice is no longer mine. My bus left from the Flying Pig Uptown hostel at 8am on Friday morning so I was packed and out the door of my hostel by 7:30am.
I found out that day how small the world really was as the fellow that was acting as guide on the bus was from Tsawwassen of all places. To think that in a place halfway across the world I would find myself talking to someone about people and places from my home town.
Our day was long, the trip was planned to take about 10 hours but because of some unforeseeable traffic delays we did not arrive in Berlin until just before 8pm. The drop point was thankfully only a 10 minute walk from my hostel so walking in the 33 degree heat (yes even at 8pm) was not as bad as I thought it would be.
With a hot evening and a tired body from the long ride I decided not to try and navigate Berlin in the dark and called it and early night. There is no way to describe to you my ecstasy when my head fell upon the worlds most wonderful gift to me so far on this trip: a feather pillow. It was as if my cries had been heard in the previous weeks and I was rewarded for my patience. It is such a tiny thing but when you live life out of a backpack and you spend most days a little bit lost and disoriented (no matter how many times you look at your map), the simple joy of a soft pillow to rest your weary head is a little slice of heaven on earth.
When I finally ventured into the city I found myself with so many things to see, so much history to take in, in a very short time. Walking down one of the main roads Unter den Linden you find yourself surrounded by memories from a world gone by. I will admit to being surprised at how much the people of Berlin embrace their sordid history. I want to write about all the history here but with my simple knowledge I could never do it justice.
Seeing the original book burning square where in 1933 the Nazi's held the first of many book burnings was something that made me stop and think for awhile. As a lover of all types of literature the loss of such a library is heartbreaking.
The Memorial to the Murdered Jews was also something that inspired much thinking. It encompasses a massive area of ground that undulates as you walk along between what start off as smaller blocks of cement of uneven heights that eventually turn into blocks nearly twice my height only to return at the other side back into the small blocks again. There are a series of rules for entering this art piece although I do not think many see them. You are to enter slowly and quietly, you are to be reflective as to their meaning and the story that surrounds them. With many different routes to take from one side to the other you could spend much time just wandering and thinking all seemingly away from the rest of the world.
The Neue Wache has a rather glorious and almost Roman styled front facade but when you enter you encounter a very different atmosphere. The entire room is coloured dark, it is large in size with massive vaulted ceilings. Yet the only thing that rests in this room is a statue of two people cradling each other. This statue lies under a large round hole in the ceiling that is opens to the sky above. When it is sunny the statue is basked in sunlight and when it rains, the statue is also rained on.
My first day ended after a good deal of walking and a lot of pondering and appreciating the things of the past.
Only two days in Berlin is admittedly not enough, there is far too much to see to even crack the surface in the short time I had. I am sure if I took public transit I could have seen more but I have been enjoying these last few days of just walking between the places I want to see. You cannot see the different neighborhoods, the different people, the small little details when you spend all your time on the sky train or metro. Some of the places I enjoyed seeing the most were not on the tourist map and could be seen from a train.
My second day was supposed to start early but I was able to catch up with a friend from home online first thing so my activities were delayed. Communicating with people from home in real time is a difficult thing to do with a 9 hour time difference and it is always something I enjoy as there has been little opportunity for these moments in the last three weeks. So it is no sacrifice at all to put off my plans for a little while to chat and enjoy a friendly conversation with someone familiar.
After talking and having breakfast I made my way out to the East Side Gallery, the longest stretch of the Berlin Wall that still remains intact. The portraits go on seemingly forever and each one has it's own character and they are done by people from all around the world. I even found one done by people from Quebec. Each carries it's own message and it's own meaning. One part that surprised me was how small the wall was. It is not thick nor is it that high. To think that such a small thing could divide an area so vehemently.
After walking the gallery I crossed the river and made my way back to the Jewish Museum. It took much longer than I assumed and after 5 hours of walking already that day I was starting to feel weary. I walked the museums permanent exhibitions and learned a lot about Jewish history and tradition as well as a good deal of information about the war time persecutions and so forth. Definitely worth spending some time in.
I finished my day relaxing and repacking. With another early bus to Prague in the morning I thought that taking it easy, doing my 'chores' backpacker style (which is basically reorganizing all the things in your pack and trying to make them smaller).
One piece of advice I will give to anyone who goes to another country is this, I saved it for last: bring something from MEC (Mountain Equipment Co-op). It is probably the best, somewhat covert way of telling people you are Canadian. I did not sew any patches on my backpacks because I did not really care to advertise where I was from but even still, my shoulder bag is a MEC bag and people notice. Canadian people notice. Walking across the river the first day I passed by two guys that were taking photos and going the other way. As I pass all of a sudden I hear, 'Hey! She's Canadian' exchanged between the two of them. I turned around and we introduced ourselves. They had been traveling in the Baltics and had not encountered one Canadian that they knew of for almost a month. They were both from North Van and were excited to meet one of their own. 'We saw your MEC bag and knew you were one of us.'
Better than a flag.
Berlin Pictures
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