Busy Berlin

Hallo Alle!

I am happy to tell you that we all made it back in one piece from Berlin! We had some interesting happenings on our first day there and to make it more fun I will do so by making you guess which of these three things did not happen on our first day in the German capital city. It will be like a blog version of two truths and a lie...so here we go!

1. One of the students from our group missed our connecting train in Kassel.
2. We almost got arrested for being in a restricted area of Berlin of which we were not aware.
3. The city bus company went on strike the morning of our arrival.

But in order to know which one is the lie, you will have to read the rest of the blog...that´s the catch. :) so make your guess now before you read on.

Ready? Here we go. . .

So we left Tuesday morning from the train station in Marburg, even though it was a holiday for everyone else in town. ( The Germans celebrate May 1 as there Labor Day so no one works or goes to school. In Marburg, they actually had a big celebration the night before in the city Marktplatz (marketplace) with live music and tents with food and drinks. A few of us students went to check it out and it was a lot of fun! But they played so much American music!) Anyway, we all made it on the train to Kassel. Once we were there we had to wait 20 or so minutes for our connecting train to Berlin. They announced ,however, that our train would be 20 min. late, so several students went to go grab some breakfast at the food joints around the station. Not too long after they left, our train arrived! The annoucement was wrong! So one the students from our group went to go find them (we had 4min. before it would leave!). Unfortunately, they all made it back except the girl that went to find them! She made it back to the train stop just as the train was pulling away! Not to worry, though, she caught the next train and we only had to wait an hour for her in Berlin. Alles gute!

Once we arrived in Berlin our troubles were not over for we found out that the bus company had gone on strike at midnight the night before! So no buses were running the entire weekend we were in Berlin! Thus, we had to walk. . .alot. . . Thankfully the S-Bahn and U-Bahn were still running and we could get around with them pretty well. (So, no we were not almost arrested; that was the one lie.)

Anyway, we did so much this weekend, I do not know where to begin! We made it to our hostel by taxi late Thursday afternoon and found it to be very nice and accomodating! I had never stayed in a hostel before and was a little anxious to see what we were getting ourselves into, but it was very clean and well maintained. That evening we went to see the musical "Elisabeth" about a famous kaiserin of Germany from the 1800s and her strange life. It was fantastic! Naturally, it was all in German, but Frau Losch had given us synopses of the story so those who do not know German that well (and those of us who do) could follow along easier. It helped alot! But the singing and acting were all very good. I was impressed!

Friday morning we had the great opportunity to meet Herr Breidbach, a former representative to the Bundestag in Berlin. (the equivalent of a U.S. congressman) Frau Losch met him during a visit to Waverly and made plans to meet with him during our stay in Germany! We went with him on a boat tour down the Spree River through Berlin and could see all of the architectural wonders and points of interest. The weather was wonderful that day--sunny with a little breeze that actually turned into a much colder breeze on our way back to the dock, but nevertheless lovely. We were then treated with the classic Berlin food of currywurst from a food stand. It is sort of like a cut up hotdog/sausage with ketchup and curry on top. Mine was very tasty! Because Herr Breidbach was with us, he got us into the Reichtstag (German Parliament building) through a side door and so we did not have to wait in a HUGE line that was formed outside. This was good because it had started to rain. . . The Reichstag was very cool and at the top, one could see all over Berlin. After our visit there, we went to the Brandenberg Tor (Gate) for a quick photo opportunity and continued walking down the main streets of Berlin and seeing embassy buildings and little museums along the way. Herr Breidbach had interesting "insider" stories for us for almost everything we saw and did, so it was a privilege to have him as our personal tour guide. We were treated to a traditional German meal that evening and afterwards went through a quaint part of town with little ice cream shops, clothing stores, and biergartens. Sehr schön! It was a long day and all of us were exhausted from the walking so we slept well that night!

Saturday we had the morning free to see or do whatever we wanted before we met to go to the Pergamon Museum. Most of us students went to KaDeWe (Kaufhaus des Westens) for an hour or two while others decided to sleep in a little from all of our walking the day before. KaDeWe is a HUGE departments store with 7 floors of. . .stuff! It is one of, if not the largest store in Western Europe. The top floor is entirely dedicated to food and one could buy almost anything there! From a 1000 Euro bottle of wine to octopus sandwhiches! Granted, their prices were pretty high, so we did not buy much there. Then we went to the Pergamon Museum and got the opportunity to see ancient Greek and Roman scultures as well as Islamic Art and other various ancient artifacts. Late in the afternoon we went to a Revue show that highlighted acts from Berlin, New York, and Paris that would have been shown during WWII in those cities. The performers sang songs, danced, and did incredible acrobatics! It was very neat! We then did a little souvenir shopping and ate supper at a nearby Italian restaurant with delicious ice cream concoctions. Several of us went to Potsdamer Platz to look around at the large buildings that were built in that eastern part of Berlin that was built up after the wall came down, while others went back to the hostel a little earlier. Some of the buildings were very tall and we noted that one of the buidlings was a semi-circle in shape with offices around the round perimeter so everyone had a window to look out of while they worked. Too bad not all Americans get a window in their office. :)

And yesterday (Sunday) was our last day in Berlin. We checked out of our hostel and went to the main train station ( Hauptbahnhof ) to store our luggage while we saw some last minute sites. We went as a group to Checkpoint Charlie which is the place along the Berlin Wall from which most East Germans tried to escape. It is also the place of many deaths. . .There is a museum there that shows the history of the checkpoint with many pictures and personal stories of triumph and defeat. It was a very sobering experience and made the East-West Germany conflict very real. At the checkpoint sight, several students were able to get their passports stamped by German, American, or Russian "soldiers" that meant they were clear to cross the border. Apparently, these stamps are either the same ones or replicas of the actual stamps they used during the Berlin Wall period. After Checkpoint Charlie, we split up into groups to see some last minute things. I visited the Alte Nationalgalerie which was a museum of 19th Century paintings and sculptures as well as the Berliner Dom (Cathedral). Both were amazing places to visit and to simply stare at the beautiful craftmanship! One could spend days in both of them! I only had a few hours, but it was worth it. I even got to climb the 267 ish steps to the cuppola of the Dom, where I saw an amazing view of the city! The Dom was refurbished after WWII, because it was partially destroyed by bombers, but one would not even be able to tell that it was, they did such an excellent job in restoring it. Other students visited the Jewish Museum, the Museum of German History, and a culture market that was being held in the area. It seemed like everyone had a good time at their respective sites.

We then said "Tschüs!" to Berlin and hopped on the train back to Marburg. However, our train problems were not over yet. At Kassel we found out our connection to Marburg was delayed 2 hours so we took an earlier train an hour later, but it was a regional line, which meant that everyone and their brother were on this train trying to get back to Marburg after the weekend on a Sunday night. Most of us ended up having to stand the hour or so back to Marburg, because there simply was not enough seats for everyone. This surprised me, because I figured they would not allow everyone on the train, since their were people standing in the aisles, sitting on the floor, sitting on the stairs, and luggage everywhere! I know this would not fly in America with lawsuits and safety codes, so it was rather interesting.

I think we are all glad to be back in comparatively quiet Marburg so we can rest for a few days and get some coursework done before next weekend when we visit Munich! Oh, and in case you are wondering, we found out yesterday that the Berlin buses were scheduled to start running again Monday morning. So they did not run for exactly the time period we were in the city. Go figure. ;)

I hope all is well in Waverly and that everyone back in Iowa is enjoying their May Term thus far!

Tschüs!

In my next post: Cultural differences between Germany and America that I did not get to this time and a little more about Marburg!