Giselle's time in Germany is coming to an end, meaning her last performances are right around the corner. So my mom came out to see Giselle after a stopoff in Stockholm. Since my mom was already flying into Berlin we decided to meet her there for a weekend.
Courtney and I got in late after a day of work on Friday, and actually ran into Mom who overcame her jetlag to join us for a glass of wine. The next morning we slept in a bit before heading out to the Brandenburg Gate to take a free walking tour (I took the same tour last year when I was passing through town). Here's me and my mom in front of Berlin's most famous landmark.
Pariser Platz held slightly more significance than usual that day, as it was the Adlon Hotel, on this square, that was the site where Michael Jackson hung his infant child out the window. He had died just two days earlier. (Note: as an aside ... everyone in Sweden was shocked and impacted by his death as well)
Right next to the gate is a museum commemorating Kennedy, a hero in Berlin thanks to his famous speech in which he said "Ich bin ein Berliner." A perhaps more eloquent quote would be "Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in." Apparently 5/6ths of the population was on the streets during the speech. Now in the museum they have a large photo commemorating Obama ... seriously, what a badass.
The tour was again excellent, and I certainly have plenty of photos from last year's post, but it was a great history refresher. Here for example, our guide made sure to point out that Berlin was still showing some WWII battle scars.
Speaking of scars: here's Courtney in front of the biggest scar in Berlin's history:
This year I had a better opportunity to see the Gendermarkt (which had been closed off for a Christmas market), where the Französischer Dom (built for the French Hugenots, who were wooed to Berlin to replace their plague ravaged population during their more religiously tolerant years) and Deutscher Dom (built after the Berliners collectively said "... uhhh, what about us?"
We then swung over to Bebelplatz which was covered in big tents for Berlin Fashion Week. While there I was informed that my invitation must have been lost in the mail, regardless we stormed in to see the Nazi Book Burning Memorial that was in the square.
Nearby there was a quote on a plaque from 1821: “Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings.” -Heinrich HeineHere's another buzz-kill monument of a mother holding her dead son, dedicated to the "Victims of War and Tyranny." The artist allowed her son to go to WWI at the age of 16 and apparently ... it didn't go so well.
Our walking tour ended at Berliner Dom. In the background you can see the Berlin TV tower, which was a huge phallic monument built by the east (apparently designed by Swedes! Woo!). Apparently when it's sunny it reflects a huge cross which was a huge embarassment for those damn Godless Communists! Jebus 4 Eva!
After the tour was over we headed back towards the Brandenburg gate. Courtney stopped for some grub:
We then headed over to the Holocaust Memorial:
After a long day we headed back to the hotel to recharge. I had had plans to meet up with my ex-roomie Ralf but Courtney was beat and decided to stay in. Instead, my mom and I went out and met up with Ralf and Christina for beers and some tasty German food in an awesome beer garden.
Dinner ran a little long but eventually I hopped on a train and headed east of the wall to meet up with Courtney, who met up with Kelly. K-to-the-C was visiting Berlin with her Couch Surfing friends Oliver and Sara. The kids ate Kinder Surprises without me, depriving me of both chocolate and cheap plastic Dinosaurs.
The group of us hung out at the sketchy bar in a sketchy East Berlin neighborhood for a bit before heading back to call it a night. It was a great night and we had a great time catching up with Kelly and her buddies.Post #2: Berlin Day 2
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