Berlin and The 4th of July

Before getting started, I must first say that life is awesome! It's been way to long since I wrote a blog post, and my last post was raw, honest, emotional, and hopeful. I hope that the long wait didn't leave anyone wondering if I'd dropped off the face of the earth. Quite the contrary, we were simply living life up, to the fullest extent, which robbed me of the motivation to take the time to write. So yes...all is well! So well, in fact, that I am going to gift you with this photo of Berkley and I in Rome, being photo bombed by probably one of the slowest moving people on earth: 

HOW DOES THAT EVEN HAPPEN?

More on that soon, I promise.

But yes. This post is about BERLIN. 

Oh, Berlin. 

Berlin is an incredible place. Can I tell you about it? Can I write about my experience there the first time we visited and my impressions?

My first visit to Berlin came over the summer. Berkley had a big ol' conference there, where families were welcome, so we decided to go a few days early and check out the city together while we had the chance. 

The way the trip worked out, our first day turned out to be the good old 4th of July! 
And let me just tell you something:
I love the 4th of July. It's a holiday that I have always associated with a lot of fun, summer sunshine, an abundance of friends, good food and, of course, fireworks. Having spent other 4th of July's abroad in the past, I wasn't feeling particularly homesick, nor did I have any expectations for what this 4th would be like, but it ended up being one of the most powerful, memorable 4th of July experiences I've ever had. 

We arrived in Berlin, checked into our hotel, then hopped on a train to go to the main part of the city for a free, 1 1/2 hour walking tour we'd registered for. It was perfect - just as we got started, both kids fell asleep in the stroller, and we walked amongst the sites of Berlin almost like we were on a date, learning about the history of the city as we went. We started by walking past the Fernseher Turm, and past this cool church and some fountains, but then we started getting to the stuff I was really interested in - places I'd seen in historic photographs, or learned about in my history classes in junior high - but that I'd never imagined I'd be walking in. 

But there I was...and the whole time, walking, learning, thinking, I could not escape the fact that it was the 4th of July, and what a powerful 4th of July for me. No fireworks,  no parade, but instead I got to see and ponder upon real evidences of people whose civil liberties were taken from them, and the tragic, tragic results. I stood next to some skeletal remains of the Berlin Wall, the square where 20,000 books were burned in one night, I stood where Hitler stood and spoke to thousands of his troops, and the amazing, thought-provoking Holocaust Memorial.  I got emotional several times,  just thinking about the contrast of what I was seeing, what happened there, the meaning behind it,  and the traditional 4th of July.  How truly blessed freedom makes a person.

 Me, standing in awe the first time I ever set eyes on the Berlin Wall. 

Babelplatz, which lies in front of the library at Humboldt University in Berlin. It is here where, in May of 1933, 20,000 books were burned.  The memorial that is there today (photo on the right of Bridger peering down into the ground) is a window set into the cobblestones, allowing one who looks through it to see empty bookcases big enough to hold 20,000 books. Nearby is this quote:

"Das war ein Vorspiel nur, dort wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen." (in English: "That was only a prelude; where they burn books, they will in the end also burn people").
Very sobering place. 

 The Altes Museum, or "Old Museum", which sits at the head of what used to be the Prussian Royal family's garden. Hitler used this large, open area as a parade grounds for his troops. He stood at the top of those stairs, just like little me (with my arms up, so you can see me) and addressed thousands of his troops. 

  The beautiful Berliner Dom, right next to the Altes Museum, also overlooking the large, open square. It was heavily damaged during WWII (like most everything in Berlin) but rebuilt and beautiful once more. 

The incredible Holocaust Memorial. 
It's impossible to describe this place and it's impact. It's composed of hundreds of stone blocks with identical footprints, but varying in height. They lie on an undulating topography. We were told that when the artist was asked for an interpretation of the memorial's meaning, he didn't give one; that he wanted everyone to draw the meaning they needed from it. He did say, however, that he was trying to portray, as our guide said, "chaos amongst a system of order". It was a powerful spot. 

Not pictured, but just as poignant to visit were other spots such as Germany's memorial for the unknown soldier, Checkpoint Charlie, a square where 60 East German civilians were killed simply for protesting basic human rights, and we even stood above the location of the bunker where Hitler ended his life. 

As we ended our tour at the Brandenburg Tor (above), I was so impressed with how Berlin seems to have found this perfect balance in moving forward in the present, while also remembering, in a stunning way, it's difficult history.  Sometimes the past is hard to look at, especially when it is ugly. But it seems to me that the people of Berlin want to remember, and they want others to remember, honoring those who suffered so, so much, and making sure that we do all we can to make sure that such mistakes never happen again.

Bravo, Berlin. Bravo. What an amazing city.

Other Berlin Adventures

Little monkeys, watching little monkeys.

Now - as impactful as this experience was, it wasn't the only thing we did while in Berlin. We went to the awesome Berlin Zoo (and LOVED every second of it, including the enormous playground). 

Epic zoo playground. This wasn't even a fraction of it. 

We also went to the Museum of Natural History, where Bridger was mesmerized by the many dinosaur fossils, and I was thrilled to find the real, original Archeopterx. I was twitter-petted, to say the least.  

Painting a little house! The lady running this booth, bless her
heart, was SO stressed out. Kids. Paint. Indoors. Ya know.
But the kids couldn't get enough. 

 And then, of course there was Berkley's conference! It was put together for all current Humboldt Fellows (AND their families) and was nothing short of a lot of fun. It lasted several days and allowed us ample time to talk with other researchers about why they were there, from all over the world, doing research in Germany. Research fields ranged from psychology to theology to (of course) photosynthesis. It was so cool. Berkley got to go to some interesting talks, but while that was going on they had full days of entertainment for the kids, complete with bounce houses, sports equipment, games and activities.

Juniper on the back lawn of the Presidential Palace. It was
huge and covered with fun things to do that kept us occupied
for much longer than we intended. We were the last to leave!

One of the days we even got to go to the resident of the President of Germany (basically, like the White House) and play in the back yard with a TON of toys and games and drink delicious juices.  I didn't realize how hoity-toity of an event it was going to be, so I felt a little under-dressed, but mixed in with hundreds of other people, I kind of just convinced myself that we blended in okay.

Our family during the German President's speech. We decided
that, although we were totally capable, moshing our way to the
front would be ill-advised.

When the president came out and gave his speech, it was so packed we decided to just stand back and enjoy the fact that we were there. Super fun, super cool.

Berlin Wall Memorial Park

On our last morning in Berlin we decided to take the time to go to the actual Berlin Wall Memorial Park. While we'd stood next to a chunk of the Berlin Wall in a different part of the city, we'd spent very little time there, and wanted to make sure that we soaked up as much info about this historic place as we could. 

It was a hot, hot day, so naturally, as we passed an ice cream truck on our walk to the park, we snagged some frozen deliciousness.  

The park was fascinating. Again, like the other historical sites we'd seen in Berlin, it was both visually interesting and informative. I learned a lot there. 

I learned that part of the area where the wall was built happened to be right next to a cemetery, and that when they tore down the wall and built the park the found graves that the wall had been built over as well as a mass grave (from WWII) that 

hadn't been marked. They put up a grave marker to honor those people, although the bodies had been removed. I also learned that the actual number of people who were killed in Berlin near the Berlin Wall were not as many as I'd originally thought: only 139. Of course, that is a controversial number, as there's a lot we don't know. But what's amazing is what we do know about those that died.

These people varied in age, but were tied together in their desire for freedom. They were as old as 80, and as young as just 1 year old. Some died while trying to cross from East to West, but others were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some were trying to get to their families. Others just wanted more freedom. All of them didn't need to lose their lives. It was just a sobering reminder of how privileged I am to live life with the freedoms I enjoy without even really thinking about it.  

The Road Trip Part

Before ending this post, I just have to say that road tripping in Germany is totally awesome. Anyplace you stop has something cool to see - maybe not for the locals, but for geeky Americans like us, we're in 7th heaven. For posterity's (and my own) sake, I just wanted to record things we saw on the way to and from Berlin

Pit Stop #1:
On the way there we made a stop at a little town that I unfortunately didn't record the name of. It was small, rural, but cool. Although nothing was open, it was fun to just walk around and look at stuff. Here's some things we found:

An old church, dating back to the middle ages.

A glimpse at what the inner walls in historic German buildings actually look like.

Stolperstein, or "stumbling blocks", laid as a memorials to Jews who had once called these sidewalks home until they were ripped from their communities or forced to flee for their lives. These stones are all over Germany, and are sobering to come across. There's a great article on them here.

After visiting this small town, we were off on our Berlin adventure. 

Hamelin

On our drive home we were, yet again, in desperate need of a place to burn off some steam. We stopped in Hameln, or "Hamelin" as the English would say it. It is the home of the traditional story of the Pied Piper!

Can I just take a second to say that this Brother's Grimm tale is totally more creepy than you'd ever realized? In their story, basically Hameln had a huge rat problem. A dude showed up, promised to get rid of the rats for a certain (high) price, played his little flute, and lured all of the rats in the city to the river where they drowned. Yay! Problem solved! People rejoice! Buuuut then refuse to pay him. 
So, what does he do? He leaves in a huff, only to return months later wearing weird, multicolored stretchy-pants, and begins to again play his magical little flute-pipe. But this time the CHILDREN OF THE TOWN are lured away into the mountains, never to be seen again. 

So - yay! Let's celebrate! 
But regardless of the creepy nature of the tale, the town has had fun with it, and there were signs of Hameln's claim to fame all around:

Pied Piper Statue

Little rats on the cobblestones

 But don't get me wrong - Hameln was a GREAT city to stop at. Gorgeous, preserved from much of the WWII destruction that really hit Germany hard. Old, historic city center. Lots of cool stuff to look at and many, many cool stores. I wish I had better photos, but you can just look on Google if you want. But here's a little video:

In the end, it was a great stop - just what we needed to knock the kids out for the remaining 2 1/2 hours of our drive.