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Brandenburger Tor. 10/23

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Brandenburger Tör'chen.

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Photo by Daniel Joseph Bour

May 2017

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Berlin, Germany- Part 1

After a brief journey of Bavaria, I made my way to Berlin on the bus company, Flixbus, which I had become a “frequent rider” for affordable transportation between European countries and within Germany. Going from Bavaria to Berlin, I could really sense the shift in accent and culture. Berlin was very chic and modern. It had a very industrial German feel, while Bavaria was steeped in traditional, and sometimes stereotypical German flair. Bavaria also felt as if it was in a different époque of German history, which I enjoyed indulging in.

Anyways, re-energized with a full night’s sleep, I hit the streets of Berlin bright in early! I order a pastry and a coffee to go for breakfast at the local Bäckerei and grabbed some fresh, dark rye bread to accompany the cheese and deli meat I bought for my lunch at one of the parks in Berlin.

I took the Bahnhof into the center of Berlin and enjoyed my little breakfast and some German tunes to get me in the mood. The Bahnhofs in Germany have always fascinated me. They are punctual and efficient. Two traits I value highly in any person or any form of transportation. After a quick stroll around the area around the Bahnhof, I made my to my first stop, the Brandenburger Tor, probably the most iconic symbol of Berlin. Unfortunately, there was some form of construction around the base so there were these ugly, metal gates that ruined an otherwise iconic photo.

When I was sitting on a park bench near the landmark, a reporter from NPR came up to me speaking German. She was asking me if she could interview me for her report and asked if I was German. Delighted with such a linguistic opportunity, I said yes to being interviewed. Unfortunately, she wanted a “German” opinion so she politely said that she couldn’t use me and I responded pleasantly with a reluctant “Kein Problem”. This wouldn’t be the last time that a person would stop me to be interviewed in ‘German. Not even an hour later this happened to me again. This time about Football. A subject I know virtually nothing about, in terms of keeping up with teams. She was asking me about the recent match, but this time, I was the one who rejected her. I told her sorry and that I wish I could help her, but I don’t know enough about Football.

After two, albeit brief encounters, I felt very proud of myself and my linguistic abilities in such spontaneous situations, which I view as a tremendous improvement in one’s foreign language ability.

A truly thought-provoking and somber landmark in Berlin is the memorial called, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. It has quite a simple design, but its sheer size and shifting path heights create an experience quite unique and comprehensive. There are many ways to interpret what this assembly of rectangular, cement blocks represent in terms of the history, but one perspective of it is that it represents a crowd of people( the millions of Jewish victims of the Death camps), marching from a crowd into a single-filed line heading to death. Each person leaves the memorials route one-by-one. Similarly, to the murdered Jewish victims being removed from the gas chambers one-by-one.

The seriousness and dedication the German people put towards remembering, respecting, and not reluctantly taking responsibility for what their country had done are quite remarkable.