Well, it's the fourth day since our departure and I'm finally now finding the time to write a few things down. Hitting the ground running - to us, at least - is the only real way to travel, especially when we have about seven cities and towns on our two week agenda. At last, though, while silently jetting through the Northern German countryside in a high-speed train, I've found a few minutes to catch up.
The first official day of our vacation would be of little interest to anyone - two planes, three airports, a crink in my neck and a couple hours of airborne sleep is about all I have to report. The important part, namely touching down in Berlin on Saturday morning, went according to plan.
Berlin, in a word or two, is totally awesome. Steeped in history and full of scars from its troubled past, it seems like every turn we took we discovered another monument of some sort. At the same time, some of the most amazing architecture we have ever seen fills the enormous city - from ancient 300 foot tall pillars to massive glass and metal esplanades as futuristic as Tokyo. It seems as if every generation for the past 300 years has left its mark in one way or another in Berlin, and the result is really pretty amazing.
Our first day in Berlin, Skick's family connection Connie met us at the central train station after we spent a few hours stumbling around in coffee and sleep deprived confusion looking for the central tourist office (as Skick noticed, this last part has become a tradition on the first day of our trips.) Connie, a north German resident and great person all around, offered us a perfect introduction to the city and the country as a whole. She took us literally all over town, providing a wealth of historical and cultural information that we never would have siphoned from a tour book. It was a great experience all around.
Near the center of town we spent some time in a memorial to the Jews killed in WWII. It is a large expanse of concrete slabs, evenly spread about three feet apart, forming a sort of grid. At the edges, where you enter, they are short, maybe one foot high, but as you near the center (where the ground dips down) they stand nearly fifteen feet tall. The resulting impression you get while walking deeper into the grid is one of isolation and estrangement - a pretty amazing and powerful effect for such a simple design. We also took some time in an attached museum reminiscent of Hiroshima's A-bomb memorial museum.
That evening Connie took us around part of the "new" East Berlin - still with plenty of grim reminders of the Cold War, but also full of evidence that it has become the hip part of town. Tons of storefronts, car showrooms, trendy restaurants and stylish bars line the narrow streets, and the crowd is generally pretty young.
Day two as equally awesome. We trekked off on our own (Connie was only out for the day) with a vague plan and a whopping 5.5 hours of sleep behind us.
Our first big stop was Checkpoint Charlie, which despite being a bit touristy, did have a ton of historical information freely available. We then tromped through the central park Tiergarten. By park, I mean enormous expanse of trees, monument sand boulevards probably almost as big as a small city in itself. Lots of historic statues and arches lined the walkway, enough to keep us busy for half the day.
After an amazing lunch of meatballs and potatoes at a great local spot, we headed off to Potsdam, an older historic site nearby Berlin. This place is, bz no stretch of the word, ridiculous. Palaces that were meant to rival Versailles spring up from massive gardens filled with fountains, small vineyards, Greek statues and beautiful forested landscapes in every direction. We saw four palaces in all, each larger than the last, until by the end we could do little more than shake our heads and say "You've got to be kidding me." Definitely an experience in amazing - if garish and gaudy - displays of power.
Like I said earlier, we're on to the next day now, which as of now has comprised mainly of train rides so far. Our next stop is Wurzburg, a spot along the historic Romantic Road.
Until next time!
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