Planes, Trains and S-Bahns
I'll normally try to have my journal around so I can quote from my initial reaction to things, but for the moment, I just wanted to let everybody I've arrived safely in Europe. A long day of planes got to me to Frankfurt early in the morning on Thursday. It was then almost painfully obvious to me that I had brought too much luggage (I feel a metaphor coming on). My bravado about becoming buff soon took a humbling turn that involved soreness in nearly every part of my body, even those parts I didn't realize had anything to with carrying bags.
Even more shocking, however, was the re-immersion into a different culture, one whose language you don't know that well and the customs and niceties are ones that you have to quickly have to re-acquaint yourself with just to survive. It was stressful. I finally got settled in on the train and couldn't wait to get to Berlin just to get started on this adventure.
The first day, I got the keys to my apartment, tried to shop for a few things I'd forgotten and collapsed at the end of the night. I'm sure it was much more than that but to be honest that's all I can remember right now. One thing I knew for sure was that I felt isolated, alone, disrupted...and then I journaled and realized that this is all the "shaking-off" process one must expect to go through. My cushy, predictable life didn't normally allow for this level of adaptation, and writing about it only made it that more clear just how deep I wanted to bite into that apple.
The next day, my first full day in Europe, was much more eventful. Since I went to bed early, I rose with the sun to greet the day. I know, I know...don't laugh. I got ready and left the apartment to go explore on foot, the best way, I had discovered long ago, to really get nicely acquainted with a place. The adapter I'd gotten for my laptop and other electronic devices didn't work in the plugs here so that was one of my orders of business. Contacting friends in Berlin was another. By the time I'd made my way into the city, it was time, after an internet and coffee stop, do head back to one of the main train stations, Zoo, to meet up with the tour I intended to take: The Third Reich Tour of Berlin.
Our guide, Tom, was an American from Ohio who was exceptionally knowledgeable and a pleasure to have as our guide -- not too hard on the eyes, either. We saw the bombed out church in the middle of old West Berlin, the Reichstag (Parliament, more or less), where the plans for Final Solution got their start, the army block where the men who plotted to assassinate Hitler were killed, the old SS/Gestapo building, the still-standing Luftwaffe HQ, the location of the old chancellory and finally to the dirt parking lot that sits about the bunker where Adolph, Eva and others took their lives as the Russians pushed through to take Berlin. Fascinating tour! Amazing. I wanted to do some chronological history by first taking on the Reich and then heading to Auschwitz really knowing how it all lead to that point. I'm quite silly about the self-portraits...most of my friends know this. This trip is no different. In fact, I think I'm getting worse. Every time I take pictures of myself I get a good laugh and a good laugh is, well, a good laugh. After leaving the Third Reich Tour, I went to the Jewish Holocast Memorial (again, following the chronology of all this), which was excellent. It was a little more personal, about families and individuals and more specific than just the horror of what the Nazis were doing.
I left there and walked around the corner to the Brandenburg Gate just as the rain started coming down. People were huddled under the gates and I joined them. Soon after, I clicked this picture of the top of the gate there. On this trip, I'm making it a point to play with my camera more than usual and it's been a lot of fun. It just looked to me like the chariot was going to go flying into the dark Berlin sky. The last time I was in Berlin, the wall, although very chipped away at, was still the backdrop to the gate. This time, it is gorgeous and more than just about anything else (other than the new train station, the largest in Europe, and right in the middle of the city) it represents the re-unification.
Throughout the whole day, I seriously walked over twelve hours. I was gone for 14 and rarely sat down for a break. I thought I might try to see what the nightlife was all about but there was no nightlife for me to have. Just some journal writing and some sleeping. I had another busy day ahead of me.
Even more shocking, however, was the re-immersion into a different culture, one whose language you don't know that well and the customs and niceties are ones that you have to quickly have to re-acquaint yourself with just to survive. It was stressful. I finally got settled in on the train and couldn't wait to get to Berlin just to get started on this adventure.
The first day, I got the keys to my apartment, tried to shop for a few things I'd forgotten and collapsed at the end of the night. I'm sure it was much more than that but to be honest that's all I can remember right now. One thing I knew for sure was that I felt isolated, alone, disrupted...and then I journaled and realized that this is all the "shaking-off" process one must expect to go through. My cushy, predictable life didn't normally allow for this level of adaptation, and writing about it only made it that more clear just how deep I wanted to bite into that apple.
The next day, my first full day in Europe, was much more eventful. Since I went to bed early, I rose with the sun to greet the day. I know, I know...don't laugh. I got ready and left the apartment to go explore on foot, the best way, I had discovered long ago, to really get nicely acquainted with a place. The adapter I'd gotten for my laptop and other electronic devices didn't work in the plugs here so that was one of my orders of business. Contacting friends in Berlin was another. By the time I'd made my way into the city, it was time, after an internet and coffee stop, do head back to one of the main train stations, Zoo, to meet up with the tour I intended to take: The Third Reich Tour of Berlin.
Our guide, Tom, was an American from Ohio who was exceptionally knowledgeable and a pleasure to have as our guide -- not too hard on the eyes, either. We saw the bombed out church in the middle of old West Berlin, the Reichstag (Parliament, more or less), where the plans for Final Solution got their start, the army block where the men who plotted to assassinate Hitler were killed, the old SS/Gestapo building, the still-standing Luftwaffe HQ, the location of the old chancellory and finally to the dirt parking lot that sits about the bunker where Adolph, Eva and others took their lives as the Russians pushed through to take Berlin. Fascinating tour! Amazing. I wanted to do some chronological history by first taking on the Reich and then heading to Auschwitz really knowing how it all lead to that point. I'm quite silly about the self-portraits...most of my friends know this. This trip is no different. In fact, I think I'm getting worse. Every time I take pictures of myself I get a good laugh and a good laugh is, well, a good laugh. After leaving the Third Reich Tour, I went to the Jewish Holocast Memorial (again, following the chronology of all this), which was excellent. It was a little more personal, about families and individuals and more specific than just the horror of what the Nazis were doing.
I left there and walked around the corner to the Brandenburg Gate just as the rain started coming down. People were huddled under the gates and I joined them. Soon after, I clicked this picture of the top of the gate there. On this trip, I'm making it a point to play with my camera more than usual and it's been a lot of fun. It just looked to me like the chariot was going to go flying into the dark Berlin sky. The last time I was in Berlin, the wall, although very chipped away at, was still the backdrop to the gate. This time, it is gorgeous and more than just about anything else (other than the new train station, the largest in Europe, and right in the middle of the city) it represents the re-unification.
Throughout the whole day, I seriously walked over twelve hours. I was gone for 14 and rarely sat down for a break. I thought I might try to see what the nightlife was all about but there was no nightlife for me to have. Just some journal writing and some sleeping. I had another busy day ahead of me.
posted by The Laughing Penguin at 10:48 AM
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