Day TWENTY

Some very typical touristy places today, but all amazing nevertheless...

We went to quite a few different places, but I only took photos in a couple, including the Holocaust Memorial, Brandenburg Gate and - later that night after much beer and pool - Alexanderplatz.

The official name for this famous site is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. It consists of 2,711 square concrete pillars placed in a grid pattern over a sloping piece of paved ground, located within walking distance of the Brandenburg Gate. The architect Peter Eisenman wanted to create a feeling of a uniformity and controlling systematic oppression that was also confusing and deprived of all human feeling. He is quoted to say that the memorial unexpectedly expressed how the Jewish people involved felt trapped in their situation, neither dead or alive:  "I watched people walk into it for the first time and it is amazing how these heads disappear -- like going under water. Primo Levi talks about a similar idea in his book about Auschwitz. He writes that the prisoners were no longer alive but they weren't dead either. Rather, they seemed to descend into a personal hell. I was suddenly reminded of that passage while watching these heads disappear into the monument. You don't often see people disappear into something that appears to be flat." (Eisenman 2005)In typical Gamel and Tyler fashion, we didn't find the underground part with the names of all known victims and information centre. Yet another reason to return to Berlin. As if I needed more excuses!

There was some sort of protest on while we were there, we think it was for some trade deal? lots of people holding banners and chanting, which was an interesting added dynamic on top of the hoards of confused tourists. 

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Night Time in Berlin; the other city that never sleeps

^ forever regretting the ones that got away 

Getting arty with an iphone camera, at night, while drinking... not idea conditions! Thanks Tyler, Curt and Maddy for being such good sports. None of us have promising modelling careers hahaha

We did make it out to a bar or two, a Mexican restaurant were Tyler's friend Sarah (a Berlin local) introduced us to some sort of scary fruity cocktail thing, and a pingpong bar where the music was a lot better than the typical Berlin repetitive techno, and you could drink and play table tennis at the same time. Curtis Maddy and Myself got back to our respective hostels about 5am, Tyler the Trooper Manley returned about 8.30am. Chur! All got home safe, London needs to take note and start a 24 hour weekend tube service at the earliest convenience!

next: Berlin | Day 21

Berlin | Berliner Dom | Day 19

Day NINETEEN

Right, three days in Berlin. No stress, but we have to see everything we possibly can in this short space of time. Also avoiding tourists earns you extra points. Lets go...

On arriving in Berlin we decided to walk to our hostel. This was sort of a Paris repeat as we had to walk across half the city to get there. This was totally fine though, because the route went past some iconic sites including the Brandenburg Gate and Potsdamer Platz. It was quite surreal coming out of the train station, deciding which way to walk, arriving at an intersection, looking left for traffic (still hadn't quite got the hang of them being on the other side of the road), seeing a monument in the distance up the road, thinking 'that looks interesting' and then realising that I'm looking at the Brandenburg Gate. We stayed in the 'Grand Hostel Berlin' that was really good value for money on Tempelhofer Ufer next to the river Landwehrkanal, within walking distance to the Möckernbrücke U-bahn station. Having a comfortable bed in a big room can really help you like the city more! Although a pool table, like the one at the 'Heart of Gold' Hostel (further North in the city from our southern one) is always a plus! Shout out to Curtis and Maddy for hooking Tyler, Sebastian, some random girls from the middle-east, and myself up!

I wished I'd taken the time to get my real camera out of my bag instead of using my iphone, I liked the proportions of this man in a field of flowers taking a photo of the statue. The ratio and colour quality of my photo really doesn't do this justice. I had one job.

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Museum Island, Alter Museum and Berliner Dom

There is an island in the middle of Berlin, and on this island is a garden, and surrounding this garden are buildings; a museum with some amazing statues of a warrior and warrioress battling wild animals form horseback, and also one of the most impressive churches I've seen. 

After thriving on some serious girl power imagery, I left Tyler sitting in the sun and climbed to the top of the Berliner Dom, and 115 metres and 270 steps later I was rewarded with a close up view of the beautiful statues playing musical instruments around the top of the dome, and an impressive view of the city. We were in Berlin at the right time for the festival of lights, but unfortunately when we adventured there at night to check them out we were too late :(

In May 1944 an allied forces bomb hit the top of the dome and caused a fire that could not be reached and therefore there was no choice but to let the roof lantern burn out and crash to the ground, consequently creating a hole in the domed ceiling. Photos from the time show the ruined dome and the beautiful organ sitting in rubble. A temporary roof was made, but it wasn't until 1975 that the real reconstruction started.

next: Berlin | Day 20

Dresden | Days 17 & 18

Days SEVENTEEN & EIGHTEEN

Dresden was a favourite of mine, even though we weren't there for very long. Our hostel was located in the Neustadt (new town) and the Altstadt (Old Town) was a few blocks away through a pedestrian area of town and over a bridge. I thought that it had the feeling of a place that would get better the longer you stayed. Reminded slightly of Oamaru, the city centre is the most historic part of town, having been harshly bombed by the British and Americans in World War II, and rebuilt thereafter, it feels like a place frozen in time. Because of the war and reconstruction, Dresden  (like many parts of post war Germany) became quite industrial and run down. However there has for the most part always been a large cultural movement here, with lots of people returning to Dresden for its architecture, music and food - giving the city a feeling of grungy-cool rather than grungy-depressive. The night-club district is a good example of this, as most of the historic buildings in this area are covered in graffiti, music posters, and are home to small interesting fast food or street food cafes -  this time reminding me of a Studentville Dunedin on steroids.

^ King/Elector Augustus the Strong

Dresden has had many floods because it is located in a valley on the river Elbe, this metal wave monument represents the high waters.

The workman in the doorway was both unimpressed and amused by our posing...

This is the Zwinger Palace, located in the Altstadt. The distinctive Rococo Style makes these buildings, now housing three of the cities museums, memorably beautiful - even in the rain. I prefer to see this style of architecture on the facade of the buildings, rather than inside, where the flamboyance can be a bit too over the top for me.

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Moving on to Brühl's Terrace, these buildings overlook the river.

I especially loved the way the gold from the statues contrasted so brightly with the black from the carved sculptures on the buildings. The blackness of the stone comes mainly from the elements, and the long term affect the air has on different building materials. When on a tour in Prague, an American goth transgender woman called Sybil (a character I will describe in more depth when we come to Prague) was very confused as to why the stones were black - where they painted? Did they use black ones for some corners of buildings? How did they get so dirty? No water-blasting around here Sybil, my dear, that's just plain old dirt.

Dresden Cathedral, or Hofkirche, in the background there. Apparently the heart of Augustus the Strong is buried in the crypt. I wonder where the rest of him went...

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Lastly we went exploring on the other side of the river (the same side as our hostel) and found a yummy burger place called Dampfschwein that specialised in pulled pork, making for a very salty but delicious lunch.

The hostel we stayed in was a pretty good one if you're looking for one in Dresden. It was called hte Kangaroo Stop and was rather alarmingly Australian themed, but it was in a good location, pretty inexpensive, good but basic communal kitchen, and we met some cool people here too! I don't seem to have any photographs of the hostel, so you'll just have to use your imagination. Or Google.

with love from Dresden