First week in Berlin

This first post is going to cover the whole first week, but I hope that later posts will cover just one day. We have run into internet issues and so three people are sharing one computer. That has made it difficult to post, and we did not get internet until the latter part of the week.

Monday we got to Berlin and went to the apartments where we started settled in then went straight into walking around Berlin and learning about the city.  The apartments are by the Brandenburg Gate and near the governmental section of Berlin. The first thing we did was go to the Hauptbahnhof, the main train station for Berlin. At the station, we learn about the transit system of Berlin and got on a couple of trains to get an understanding of how they worked and a feel for the system. We then went for a walk around the Spree where we some buildings that were interesting and cool to look at. One was The Federal Snake. The Snake is used as federal housing and is called the snake because its design looks like a snake. We then saw the fire/police station by Sauerbruch + Hutton. The building has red for fire and green for police. The green slowly gives way to red as it changes to the side that is the fire station. The station also uses the tiles to help with air circulation and light. Next came my two favorite buildings of the day, the Paul Lobe Haus that was built in 2000 and Marie E. Luders Building that was built in 2003. Marie E. Luder used primal shapes in the architecture of her building. Both buildings are simple but complex.  This is where that the group split and I chose to go to the grocery store with Mr. Caldwell.

The grocery store is not far from our apartments so it is easy to get to.  At the grocery, you put one euro in the handlebar of a shopping cart to unlock and use that cart; you get the euro back once you return and lock the cart back at the end of your shopping. The grocery is two stories with mainly drinks, produce and supplies on the main level. On the lower floor, which you can get to by conveyer belt so that people can bring their carts up and down with ease, has all the food and candy. Germany is also big into recycling, so this is also where you can recycle and get a refund that you can use on your shopping.  After a long day, I rested a little before meeting up to go to the Dome, but unfortunately we were unable to go into the Dome. It has been rescheduled for another time. Afterwards I returned to the apartments and went to bed.

Tuesday we went to PariserPlatz that is right by our apartments. Our first stop saw the British Embassy by Wilford. It could not be built facing the PariserPlatz because of its design. The regulations for building on PariserPlatz would not have allowed it.  The Academy of Art by Behnisch was next. The Academy has a very muted outside compared to the design of the inside. That was probably done so that it would be allowed to be built on PariserPlatz. The inside was not regulated so there was no restriction on what could be done with the space. It was interesting to see how muted the outside was compared to the inside, it allows you to see how the restrictions changed how the building would probably have looked if they could have done the building without the restrictions. Then there is DZ bank by Gehry, which has one of the most unique insides I have seen. It is beautiful but odd at the same time. Then we went to Brandenburg Gate that was closed off because they were putting up screens for the Euro Cup.  The Gate was one of the gates in the Berlin Wall. A line of bricks now marks where the Wall stood in the city. The United States Embassy is also on PariserPlatz. The Platz is definitely dominated by the Gate because of its size and the muted buildings that surround it. We then walked toward PostdamerPlatz.

On the way to PostdamerPlatz, we stopped and saw the Science Center for Medical Technology.  Then we had lunch at the Sony Center in PotsdamerPlatz, the entertainment hub of the city. This area was a wasteland when the wall was up and had very few buildings. It was rebuilt after the wall fell.

The Philharmonie was our next stop. The Philharmonie was designed by Scharoun. The lobby was built around the stage. The stage was in the center to give a more intimate experience between the orchestra and the audience. The Philharmonie has two stages both built around the same idea. There is a tax on every building that has to go to the arts. The Philharmonie is run by the musicians themselves and they elect the people who will run the orchestra and its music. This was done so that the musicians could control what they wanted to do instead of being told by someone else. At the Philharmonie we got the chance to listen to some music because in both stages people were playing. I have to say that was a wonderful experience to sit and hear the music they played. We then walked around some more and saw the Debis Building. After we finished, a small group walked back to go to Lego Land, but it was too expensive. So I decide to go back to the apartment to relax and get off my feet.

 

Wednesday we started with the history of Berlin from 1200 to 1640. We had the lecture by Nicholaikirche, the area where the city’s first structures were. The Berlin area was a long hold out to the Christian religion, for it was on the edge of the Roman Empire and was never conquered by the Romans. This area is on the edge of Western civilization but did have contact to it through trade. Berlin was founded along a river, which is common for most cities of the time. Also, Berlin was found along with another city, but that city no longer exists. The first major person to write about this area is a first century historian named Tacitus. He writes about the history of the region in a writing titled Germania. He never went to Germania; instead he got his information from soldier and trades who had visited the region. A lot of the information is right and has been confirmed by archeology. The idea that Germans do not mix with other nationalities also shows up, which is not accurate. The same idea of purity will later be used again as propaganda in World War II. Germania was considered to a barbaric area. The area becomes part of the Hun Confederacy, but that falls after Attila the Huns death.

 Some say “Berlin” comes from a Slavic term that takes over after the Hun. Poland becomes Christian before the Berlin area, so it is one of the last areas to convert. The symbol of Berlin is the bear.  Some say that the bear comes from people calling Berlin Bearlin where other says it comes from the ruler Albert “The Bear.”

Berlin was latecomer to Christianity and its foundation for a capital city. Most buildings built at first were churches and castles. At this time, the Gothic movement was going on farther to the west, so they were behind not just in size but also in many other ways.

Nicholaikirche has been added on to and built up higher since it was originally constructed. It was common for churches to be added on to on top of their existing structures. You can see where they add to the structure by variations in the stonework. The inside had a lot of old sculptures and pictures that were very interesting to see.

Next, we went to a Franciscan Cloister Church that was a ruin. The Franciscans were one of the mendicant orders. The Franciscan order stayed in urban areas and was about service to the people around them. They did not think that they should separate themselves like other orders. Next was St. Mary’s Church, but first we had lunch. My roommates, Aaliyah, and Will and I had lunch at Fish and Chips. Yes, we were being a little bit British in Berlin.

St. Mary’s Church was beautiful. It had sculptures and pictures along the walls that were very interesting to look at. On our way to St. Hedwig’s Cathedral was a monument to the May 10, 1933 book burning. It was a room with empty shelves that you can only see from a window in the platz above.  I think it was an interesting monument because it made you think of what was lost in the platz when the books were burned and what the shelves looked like once it was done.  We ended at the concert hall that has a German Church on one side and French Church on the other. It was cool to see all the different churches and how the design changed through time. It was also cool to see Gothic and Roman design elements together in some of the churches. This happened because the churches took so long to be build, so they had a little bit of both.

Thursday we went to memorials and monuments that show the diverse history of Berlin. The first one was the Memorial to Homosexuals persecuted under Nazism. We then went to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe designed by Eisenman. The memorial is interesting because no one block is the same size and the blocks are at slightly different angles. The memorial is a public space, and under the memorial is the Holocaust Museum. The memorial was controversial because it was only for one group that was persecuted during the Holocaust and not to the any of the other groups that were also persecuted. The monument was started as a grass roots idea for a monument to the Jews, and, when the memorial was finally able to be built, they decided to start with that idea. The place of the monument is also controversial because it is not in a location that the crimes were committed and do they want it in such a central location in the city. It is thought that the design of the Memorial to Homosexuals persecuted under Nazism was to complement the design of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe’s design allows each person to come to their own understanding about what the memorial is and what it means. It was very interesting to see how the people of Berlin interacted with the memorial. The Holocaust Museum was also very interesting to me because it showed how the holocaust changed not just individuals but families. It showed letters of people who were living and going through the Holocaust. I could have stayed at the museum and memorial for many more hours, but we needed to get going to the next location.

 We were going to see the Soviet War Memorial but it was blocked off. So we went to the House of Cultures of the World. It looks like a futuristic building you would see in a movie. We saw an interesting video of two people dancing. I liked the architecture of the building because it looks futuristic. After that, we went to the Victory Column. As we walked, we ran into some rabbits and a fox. The Victory Column was moved from its original location to its current location in the Tiergarten. The base of the column was added to the original column when it was moved. The base was added by Albert Speer. The angel at the top faced west toward France. You can climb to the top to get a view of Berlin. I did not climb the Column. After the group that climb the Victory Column had come back down, the class day ended. I walked back with Lauren to go to the Hauptbahnhof to have lunch and to look around the station more.  We got lost on the way, but we had fun looking around. To our surprise, we found that they have souvenirs associated with their crosswalk system. I have a feeling I will buy some of them later.  Lauren and I got food and then returned to the apartments. A little while later my roommate returned and I went back to Hauptbahnhof with her, so she could get some food. It was fun; we got to sit on an empty train on the way there.  I went to bed when we got back to the apartments because we had an early morning train to catch the next day.

Friday we went on a day trip to Potsdam. We had to run to get to the train, but we made it in time with a little time to spare.  We saw the Einstein Tower first. Einstein Tower is an observatory that was used by Einstein and designed for him by Mendelsohn. I did not like this building too much. I liked the newer observatories that were around it much better.  A bus took us there from the station and back.  That was the reason we had to leave early, because the bus only runs at certain times.

Then we went to the Potsdam Nicholaikirche by Shinkel. Potsdam’s Nicholaikirche was a protestant church. It had pictures of prominent reformers painted on the ceiling. I liked the church because the paintings and embellishments were extravagant and beautiful but not over the top. Next was another church, but this one was Catholic, and it was beautiful too. Afterwards, we went to the Dutch Quarter where we found an open market. This is where we broke for lunch.

After lunch we walked over to the Sanssouci Gardens from the Brandenburg Gate Potsdam.  The gardens were majestic and gigantic with many fountains and statues. We had a history lecture in the garden of the Sanssouci palace. Berlin gained independence in the 1300s like many cities did. It got involved in trading, and this trade caused growth. They lost their independence when the Hohenzollern came to power. The Protestant reformation also starts in Germany in the 16^th century by Martian Luther. The 30 years war also happens and includes all the European countries that were around and most battles were fought in Germany. Absolutism government is made popular by Louie XIV of France.  Sanssouci Palace is modeled after Versailles in Paris. French becomes the language of the court, and court culture became popular. The gardens are public today but they were not when they were built. This was the house of the King and was to show off his power and wealth and was not the place for anyone but the elites of society.

Before the tour, most of us went to The Orangerie since we had time before the tour of Sanssouci Palace. I liked the outside of Orangerie much more than Sanssouci Palace; it is more muted and elegant to me. Sometimes less is more, and, for me, that is true of Orangerie. The Tour of the Sanssouci Palace was shorter than I thought it was going to be, but it was very interesting. Sanssouci Palace has fake ruins behind it. The Sanssouci Palace was way to elaborate and flashy for my taste, but I did like all the gardens. The group then split and I went with the group that went to the New Palace, which was far away from Orangerie; I believe it was two miles away. It was beautiful and well worth the walk. It was interesting to see how different the three Palaces were from each other. We then made the longer journey back to Berlin then back to the apartments for a good night’s sleep.

 Saturday was spent exploring the city and trying to plane a day trip. We found Victoria Park, and it had a waterfall. We watched some dogs play in the water. We ate lunch at Rubens. Later that night my roommates, Aaliyah and I went to the Brandenburg Gate to watch Germany vs. Portugal in the Euro Cup. We got their just before Germany got the only goal of the game and left when the game was over. Sunday, I just relaxed in the apartment.