The tour started at the gate and talked about the area around it. Many of the buildings in Berlin are post-1990, with some major architects. Turns out Frank Gehry designed the building next to the arch. And next to that is the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled Blanket out the window. Awesome.
We then went to the Reichstag, and I found out it was designed by the same guy that did the Gherkin in London (the big egg shaped building). We also talked about the significance of the place. Even though I’d already been inside and knew most of the history, it just made it better to hear it in person.
Next we went to the Jewish memorial, still cool the second time. It’s probably really inappropriate, but it would be an awesome place for tag.
The first new site we went to (and there wouldn’t be many for me) was the site of Hitler’s Bunker where he killed himself. Like the future of Yankee Stadium and Tiger Stadium, it is a parking lot. They demolished the bunker in the late 80s, although apparently there might be some left below ground it sounded, beyond all the rubble. There are nice apartments by it as well and after wandering tourists asking people in the apartments where the bunker was, they finally put up a little sign. Where Hitler was hastily buried there is now a fence. At least this is sort of justifiable as to why it’s not marked.
We then went to the Luftwaffe building, which was untouched during the war. After the Nazi left, the Soviets turned it into their headquarters and painted a mural on the side (I thought it was a Diego Rivera when I first saw it) about the ideals of Communism. The best part was the painting of the people in a pro-government march, carrying signs that said “Socialism!” and looking very happy. I love the idea that a bunch of people with nothing else to do would get together and march about how much they love their government.
Next we went by the long segment of the Berlin Wall, looked the same as yesterday.
We walked by Checkpoint Charlie (named so because of the Army’s phonetic alphabet, makes sense) and went into the Aroma Café on the corner for lunch. Ma would have been so proud of me. Not only did I have real food, I had the ‘Health sandwich,’ basically tomatoes, cheese, and some assorted vegetables.
The tour went on to the Paris Square, with it’s very decorative buildings surrounding it. After that we went to the ‘book burning square,’ where students from Hanover University took books out of the library next door and burned them for their un-Nazi principles. They had a quote from some famous German dude from the late 1800s about how once you start burning books, burning people will follow. They had a piece of glass overlooking big empty bookshelves in the ground as a memorial site.
We then went over to the Museum Island, where I’d hung out a little bit, and we went over how the Berlin Wall wasn’t really supposed to be torn down on November 9, but because the guy giving the press conference had no idea, he said it was effective immediately, so people ran out to the streets and tried crossing and began to tear down the wall on their own. Seems like it was an amazing event, I wonder if I saw any of it on TV when it happened, I feel like this is something I could almost remember, but I don’t.
That said, the whole Communism thing had always seemed like kind of a joke to me. I couldn’t believe we had the whole Cold War over ideology. I still think it was silly, but it means a lot more to me know. It was a serious thing, and being here made me sort of see that.
The tour took longer than I expected, about four hours, so I didn’t have time to do a whole lot, maybe one other thing. And since it was a little after three, I didn’t know if I should go down to the Olympic Stadium liked I wanted to or not, it was way on the other side of the train system. I decided to go for it. The building closed at four and I got there about three minutes before that.
I was going to be okay with just taking some pictures from the outside of it, the Nazi architecture was still very much present, but then this German dude in a fancy suit kind of motioned me in through an open gate. I think he was just a tourist because he wanted me to take a picture of him when we got in there, but he seemed to know what he was doing.
The stadium has undergone a number of renovations, most noticeably, they put a roof over the seating area for the 2006 World Cup (where Zidane headbutted that guy). But the Nazi interior was all there. I’d seen some clips of Hitler sitting there while Jesse Owens won his medals, and it has very much the same feel to it.
Since it was technically closed, I had the whole 70,000 seat stadium to myself for a good amount of the time I was there. The seats were strange, no arm rests, and built out of metal as opposed to plastic like in the States. I think this was my first overseas stadium I’d been in. But otherwise it was a lot like any other venue. It was almost chilling to be there, especially with it so empty. You hear about the Berlin Olympics, and they happened right there.
I took the train back to the hostel and got my stuff together and figured out how to go to the airport. Turns out it was easier than I expected, although I was still nervous about it.
I went to get a falafel to eat, which was good. I haven’t ever had a falafel from a restaurant I think. Ma’s are better, but this was interesting. It was in a wrap with lettuce and other vegetables, as well as some garlic sauce. I liked it. That’s two real things I ate in one day.
Well my good eating came to an end from there. I went to a chocolate store and got a circular chocolate thing with dried fruit in it. Weird, but good. It reminded me of going to the chocolate store up at that outdoor mall, except this was halfway around the world. The true distance away from home that I am doesn’t really hit me at all. Life in Europe is like life in America, except some people speak differently (although English is everywhere and I hate it). Germany had a lot less English than in other countries, but I never was worried about not being able to speak English with someone. More people asked me things in German than I usually get asked in other languages, I must look Germanish.
Since I was still hungry, and still wanting more chocolate, I went into Sheckler and grabbed a chocolate bar for the airport. I didn’t make it quite that long before I ate it waiting for the train to the airport. It was alright, not as good as the other chocolate I had here, and it might have been because it was all in German again and I wasn’t really sure what kind I was getting.
The train ride was fine and I got to the airport about he right time. Once again I had a window seat in the second row and no one sat next to me. I’ve been super lucky with that so far.
I’m going to be home for something like 36 hours before I’m in Sweden. What a crazy life I live.
I have a column coming up next week and I’m not sure what to write about. Baseball won’t have started and it’s March Madness time, something I’ve never cared all that much about. Maybe I could write about that, but I don’t want to turn it into a ‘things I hate about sports’ column. Plus a lot of people love March Madness, so I don’t want to be the guy that says things to be hated. Maybe something huge will happen between now and then. I’d like to do something a little random, sort of fun as well, not necessarily all about sports, but involving pop culture somehow. I just thought of the idea to write about at-bat music, I’ll have to do that during the baseball season. But if anyone has any suggestions for next week let me know. Right now, I’m thinking it’ll be about how it was one of the worst years for basketball in Chicago ever, but that’s sort of a Bag Boy column too. I need to find a niche, hopefully as the smart, well-paid, funny guy, not as the complaining kid.
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