Home

After spending all day flying to Dallas then sleeping at the Hyatt in terminal C for the night so that I could fly home to Shreveport the next morning. I was exhausted but I made my flight and got home around noon. Thankfully all the souvenirs made it home safely too. I was glad to see my family and friends. I hope I will be able to travel back to Berlin again at some point. The trip was very fun and the weather was great. I learned a lot about Germany and about myself. It was fun to come home on July 4th and see the firework shows. I hope everyone has a great summer and had as much fun as I did.

I got this from my friend and her brother when I got home. 

Last day in Berlin

Monday

We final got to go see the Soviet Memorial in the Tiergarten. We were unable to see it until now because of the Euro Cup and other events in the Tiergarten. It was built from the stone from Hitler chancellery. It was not on the Soviet side of the wall when the wall went up. The memorial was beautiful. On one side, it had the main inscription in English. On the other end, it had it in German. I liked the memorial more than I thought I would. After this, I went to mail a postcard then to the apartments to finish packing.  This trip was great and I learned a lot about architecture and German history. I hope this will not be my last trip to Germany!

Final weekend in Germany

Friday Lauren and I went to the other zoo. It had my favorite animal the red panda. We also saw some more giraffes. We got so lost in the zoo because of the lack of maps. It was the only thing we did that day but it was tons of fun.

Saturday we went to the Hard Rock Café and the Harley store. We had lunch at the Hard Rock. It took us a while to find both of them but is was a nice walk to both.  The people at both were very nice. I also tried bubble tea. I did not like it that much.

Sunday I washed clothes and got my stuff together. That night I watched Spain vs. Italy in the Euro Cup final. Spain won 4-0! I watched the firework show that was after the game. It was very loud because it was so close to my apartment. 

Thursday of the Final week

First we went to The Berlin Story Bookshop too see there museum exhibit on Berlin. The exhibit showed the history of Berlin from its start to where it is today.  I enjoyed seeing the old picture of the city next to newer pictures of the same location. I learned about rubble women. Rubble women would go through the rubble of buildings destroyed by bombs. There was a movie on the history of Berlin from its founding to today and then another shorter one on the Berlin Wall.  The museum was small but very well put together.

Then was the Bode – Museum. The museum had a lot of religious works. There were tons of Virgin Mary and Child sculptures. The part of the museum that I enjoyed most was the coin exhibit they had on the second floor. The exhibit has 4,000 coins spread out in four large cabinets. The coins are from the 7^th century BCE up to the present. I liked how varied the size and pictures were on each coin. I took some sheets on some coins I found interesting. The museum had a beautiful staircase that I reminded me more of a palace than a museum. The second floor had to be my favorite because it had the coins and a fireplace from the Husum Castle.

The last thing we did was the New Synagogue Berlin. The museum was smaller than I thought it was going to be. The synagogue had been damaged from a fire in 1938 and then heavily damaged in 1958 by allied bombs. Edward Knoblauch was the architect that designed the synagogue. We were able to climb the dome but we not allowed to take pictures. There was model of the synagogue that showed how big and majestic the whole building is.  They also hold part of the archives on some 400 Jewish communities. I found it very surprising that this single building had so many purposes and did them all very well. The exhibit shows the history of the building and the area but also the story of the Jewish population in the area.

After this, we broke for the day but all of us meet up to go watch the Germany vs. Italy game that was later that night.   Sadly, Germany lost the game so the final Euro Cup match will be Spain vs. Italy. I had a good time. I finally got to wear my Deutschland soccer shirt. I was very tired after the game so I went back to the apartments and went to sleep. 

Our Final week

Monday

The day started at Unite de Habitation by Corbusier. Unite de Habitation was built in 1958. There was a short lecture outside but I could not hear what our tour guide was saying because of the wind and how softly he spoke. The building itself was interesting because of the color of the balconies. There are 530 apartments in the building.  The one room apartment that we saw was quite small but I feel for one person it would be sufficient. There is only one five-room apartment, which I thought was odd. In the one room apartment, we were show the many different configurations that the apartments shape could take. I thought it was cool that on some floors there were bike rack for people to put there bike. After this, we went to our guide’s apartment. His apartment was nice. It was interesting to see what changes he had done to his apartment. He talked about how the community in the apartment managed the building and how to keep it up. I liked this building because it was simple but functional. 

Then we went to St. Laurentius Kirche. It was a beautiful church. I was not able to see too much of the church though. I was not able to because Lauren was not feeling well so I went with her back to the apartments. I thought I would be able to catch up with the group later but I was not able to do so. I did walk around Savignyplatz. I did find the bookstore and the Ludwig Erhard Haus by Grimshaw. I walked around for a couple of hours but was unable to find them so I returned to the apartment so that I could meet them at the Reichstag for our tour. I did find a Berlin bear that I took a picture of before I went back. 

Once I got back, it was time to go to the Reichstag. The Reichstag is the parliamentary building for the Germans. The tour was interesting and very informative. After the fire, the building was renovated. Norman Foster was the one who renovated it in 1999. I liked that he decided to keep what the Soviet soldiers had written on the wall. Only a couple of them have been removed from the walls of the Reichstag. We went into a room filled with book but they are not read. A person is fined if they do not attend their meetings. There are television screens with what is going on that day. Final we went to the parliamentary chamber. There you can watch a meeting of the parliament but you cannot add in or sleep if you do. Each party gets a certain amount of time, which is figured out by the percent that they hold in parliament. The chairs and desks can be moved to change as the number of each party changes. There are no assigned sites so you can sit anywhere in your parties area. This is where our tour ended and we went up to the dome. Shortly after this, I returned to the apartment and went to sleep. 

Tuesday

Tuesday started at the Dutch Embassy. The Dutch Embassy was designed by Koolhaas in 2003. They have a sight line to the TV tower and that line of sight cannot be obstructed. I really liked the Dutch Embassy.  We were not allowed to take pictures in the Embassy. The Embassy is by the Spree, which gave it a very Dutch view.

Then we went to Karl–Marx–Allee. This is area was part of the socialist urban planning. The design was simple and repeated to show that everyone was equal. We walked and looked at many along the street.    

Afterwards we went to Treptower Park to see the Soviet Memorial. Here we had a lecture on the history of the Cold War. Europe is divided by sphere of influence. East is dominated by Soviet Union and the West by the United States and England.  During this time, war was thought to happen at any moment. This idea caused the arms race and the reason schoolchildren had drills for a nuclear attack. Our generation is the first generation after the Cold War. The Soviet Union dissolved in the early 1990’s.  The wars were not direct Soviet against United State but both backed forces fought each other. Germany became the dividing line in Europe.  Berlin is split just as the country is. The Berlin Airlift happened in 1948-1949. Communist was popular in Eastern Europe so Communist were seen as liberators just as the other forces were. Many places in Europe are not at replacement level but immigration in some places is helping offset this. 

The Soviet Memorial is very big and has many images that show the Soviets as liberators. The big statue at the end of the memorial is a soldier holding a boy and a sword while standing over a broken swastika. This memorial is for all the fallen soldiers who had died in the war. The Soviet had the highest body count out of all the countries involved. The memorial is impressive even today. I enjoyed walking around and looking at the pictures carved into the sides of the blocks. There were also quotes on the sides of the blocks but I could not read what they said because they were in German. It was interesting to see how this memorial differed from the others. This is where we ended the day and after this, I went back to the apartments and went to bed.

Wednesday

We walked around and looked at the IBA housing. We had walked pass some of them while we walked around Berlin in the previous weeks.  Most were done by up and coming architects. Some of the architects that did an IBA block are Hejduk, Rossi, Hadid, Botta, Cook and, Dudler. Some of the IBA housing is no longer housing. For example, the Hadid building is now a hair salon. I likes the IBA housing more than the ones we had seen on Tuesday.

Then we went to Checkpoint Charlie. There we went to the Mauer Museum. I really liked this museum but you were not allowed to take pictures inside the museum. The Mauer Museum is in the Eisenman IBA housing is where the museum was. There were a lot of people in the museum so it was a hard to get around and to see the entire exhibit. It was interesting to be in an area that was a transition area between the Soviet and the American sector. 

Then we went to see the Berlin Wall Memorial and Documentation Center. We went into the Visitor Center and the Chapel of Reconciliation. In the Visitor Center, we got to see the wall from a distance. When you think of the Berlin Wall, you think of just a singular wall that divided a city but there were two walls with a no man’s land between the walls. The rest of the center was a disappointing. There was only a movie that explained the Berlin Wall, which would have been interesting if there were not so many slow pan shots. The Church of reconciliation was interesting because the original church was destroyed but you can see the outline of the church. The church was believed to have been destroyed because it blocked the view of the guards on the wall. Many people did not get over the wall but got through to the other side by tunnels. Where the tunnels were are marked by markers. Even with the rainy weather, the day was still very informative and fun. I was very hungry so after we were dismissed I went and got me some food across the street from the memorial. Once I got back to the apartment, I streamed the Euro Cup game.