Last Days of Berlin

These were a bittersweet couple of days. We're all ready to get home, but at the same time trying to soak up all the last moments and sites of Berlin life. Monday, we visited an I. M. Pei project and went through the museum inside. The museum covered all of German history. I. M. Pei designed the addition to the old museum. The two buildings were connected underground and appeared to be two separate buildings from the street. There was a lot of information to cover in the museum in a short amount of time, so we kind of breezed through. Then we went to St. Canisius Kirche. This building is a modern church that dealt with bringing in light in different ways, contrast in materiality, and visual connections of symbolic forms. The detailing of this church was not flawless, but the overall feeling of the church was calming. Later this day, we went to a James Stirling Post Modern project. It was a social science research center. I think that since post modernism is seen as so out of style and dated, it is hard to get past aesthetic displeasure and appreciate the conceptual strides for the time.

Tuesday, we went to Museum Island which we had to reschedule from another day. We didn't have enough time to go through all of them, but we hit the most pertinent ones. The first museum contained a ton of ancient artifacts. The building was very neat in that it had survived the war, but still showed its scars (bullet holes). I really enjoyed looking at and photographing the statues. The next museum we went to was the Pergammon Museum. The Germans had stolen a TON of ancient Greek and Roman ruins. This museum reminded me of the British Museum of all the stolen ruins of theirs. The cool thing about it though, was the actual Pergammon Temple. They stole an entire third of the structure!!!! You walk into this room and "holy cow" or phrases of the like is the only thing that comes to mind. The sheer size of these columns, statues, pediments, stairs, etc. are just incredible. To think that they had to transport these pieces all the way to Germany! This was a fun museum. Each room had remnant - huge remnants- of different buildings, one being the gates of Babylon. Its so neat to see actual pieces of Biblical history! After this museum we went back to the Reichstag one last time and got a tour of the inside. The neatest thing about this tour was to see the remnants of some Russian graffiti from when they had occupied the Reichstag. I like the fact that the German government can acknowledge the fact that this point in history did happen and that they've overcome it and moved on. The building itself was able to tell its own story w/o words.

We were able to have our last doners for lunch both days. Doners will definitely be missed. Monday night we caught up on school stuff and just had a quick dinner down the street. Tuesday night we wanted to find a fun place to watch the game. (Netherlands vs Uraguay) We went to a street that Segrin had suggested - Oderberger Strasse if I remember correctly. We ended up finding a good game watching seat at a Thai restaurant. I was a little hesitant of not eating German food for my last meal but one of the things Berlin is known for is its variety of food, so I felt ok about experiencing more of this variety. After dinner we went to another area of town that we'd been hearing about but hadn't been to yet. We went there to check things out and then headed home to just hang out and pack. It was a fun last night in Berlin.

We had a journey to the airport w/ all of our luggage, finally made it, got on the plane, made it to london, had TGIFridays in the airport - with tap water!, got on another plane, watched the plane tracker go right over Hot Springs, and FINALLY landed in Dallas! My first meal was a big green salad - something I was definitely craving! I also got my Dr. Pepper w/ ice fix taken care of at Sonic, and it was wonderful.

This was an awesome month, and I learned alot! Its been great to see so much interesting architecture and historic sites with fun people that are just as interested as I am. What a way to end my education! Now its back to the real world!

Memorial Assignment

With the amount of tragic history the city of Berlin has endured, it is appropriate to memorialize some of these events, people, and days. When such disastrous things take place, it is hard to decide whether to pay tribute to such a thing or not, and if so, how? The Nazi period and era of the Berlin Wall are two points in history in which the city of Berlin has had to struggle with these decisions.

The Nazi period was a dark time in Germany’s history. I think that the German’s have appropriately memorialized the things and people of that time. The Holocaust Memorial by Peter Eisenman pays tribute to those who lost their life during the Holocaust. I think this memorial is important in the fact that it doesn’t just remember the Jewish people that died but everyone including the gypsies, homosexuals, and a-socials. As Americans, for some reason, we focus on the Holocaust in terms of how the Jewish population was affected. It is important to realize and remember that the Holocaust included much more. The Jewish Museum memorializes in a way the entire history of the Jewish people. One particular exhibit focuses on the Jews killed during the Nazi period. This exhibit succeeded in stirring up strong emotions for these people. I didn’t necessarily agree in the way in which the artist evoked these emotions (walking on “faces” of the ones suffering). I don’t believe we as outside parties should have to feel responsible for what happened. The Nazi’s have been recognized and portrayed in an important way in various museums in Berlin. I think by recognizing this past allows people to learn from history and prevent these mistakes from happening in the future. I feel that recognizing the party in museums and not in open public memorials was a smart and appropriate decision. It is evident through the way they have dealt with Nazi memorialization that the German people have learned from this era and are aware of the possibility of Neo-Nazi’s trying to create an uprising.

In more recent history, the era of the Berlin Wall is still affecting the people of Berlin. This period of time is one that people would understandably want to forget. Again, I think it’s important to remember these points in history because it was an important part of what defined Berlin. It also allows people to remember how much progress they have made as a city and a people. The Wall Memorial, I feel, is small enough that residents and tourists can recognize the severity of the time, yet it has been removed enough so that it is not the intrusive object that it once was. I really appreciated how they marked where the entire wall used to be with the two rows of stones through the streets all around the city. It is a subtle thing acting as a scar on the face of the city. It tells a story, and adds to the palimpsestic qualities of the city. Checkpoint Charlie, however, was not much more than a tourist attraction, most tourists being American. I don’t feel like having the checkpoint still up with fake soldiers standing in front adds anything of importance to the Berliners’ dally lives. The Checkpoint Charlie Museum is very informative and allows people to understand how life was for Berliners during this difficult and divided time. This is still a touchy subject for the people of Berlin in many ways, and from an outsiders perspective they are able to work through some of their issues as a city through these memorials.

Reflections of The Wall Jumper

The book The Wall Jumper raises several issues about life in Berlin during the era of the Berlin Wall. The author really begins to shed light on how people went about their daily lives during this time. There were definitely strong attitudes amongst the people of the East and West that were described throughout the different stories. Surprisingly, it seemed that the attitudes of Easterners towards the Westerners and vice versa were very similar in nature. For example, the author accompanied his girlfriend to her family’s house in the East. They would talk about how bad life was on their side of the wall, and the girlfriend would reply with comments about how bad life was in the West. It seems that everyone thought that they were worse off than the others were. As the author jumps around from story to story, one thing that is fairly consistent is the depression among the people. Trying to imagine the people he describes in the airport, train stations, bars, etc., they all seem full of despair. I think the attitudes that the people had and the depression they were experiencing were major parts of why people began to jump the Wall – thinking life must be greener on the other side.

Another interesting point the author touches on is the idea of state versus fatherland and people as a nation versus political boundaries. He basically says that the state in which the Germans belong has not been old enough to call their fatherland, but their fatherland is no longer a state. Stating that you are German is a more of a statement of your people group and language rather than the political boundaries in which you live. I feel like at that time the Germans were at a loss for a national identity. One day you live in the same city and down the street from your family, and the next you live in two different countries. This separation wasn’t a choice for the people - they couldn’t choose whether to be an East German or West German based on their own political view points. In America, if we don’t like the way a city or state is run politically, we have the freedom to pick up and move somewhere else that is better suited (although that is not quite as extreme of a situation as Communism versus Capitalism). I feel that being an American has different connotations that the notion of what language you speak. The US is such a melting pot that you can speak any language and call yourself American. I feel that our nationality has more to do with boundaries and paper work than a people group. This has its advantages and disadvantages. I think this ideal may be the stem of our lack of national unity whereas Germans seem to be more unified as a nation because of their language, people group, and history that they have endured and overcome together.

czechy czechy czechy

PRAGUE

We had a three day weekend this weekend, and we (me, Lindsay, Leah, Trey, and Kyle) headed down to Prague in the Czech Republic. We have all heard so many great things about Prague and how you have to go while you're over here, so we're able

to now check that off the list! Prague is a beautiful city. Its made up of three main districts that we visited - Old Town, New Town, and Lesser Town. Old Town is by far the most touristy part with obviously old buildings, windy narrow streets and lots of shops. The Vtalva River runs through the middle of the town separating old town from lesser town. I think I read somewhere that there are 15 bridges along the river.

That is what they're known for. The oldest one, St. Charles Bridge, was filled with souvenir vendors, street artists, and tons of tourists. Going South from old town was new town. There you'll find the main drag if you will. It was in interesting street. Almost Times Square meets Bourbon Street. Not nearly as lit up or dense as Times Square, but just as marketable, and not nearly as wild as Bourbon Street, but if you were looking, you could probably have some of the same experiences. As pretty as Prague was with its river, bridges, old buildings, etc, we found it to be a very dirty city. We also experienced many different smells as we walked around. That and the amount of tourism was what we didn't expect. We found that people were surprised that we were from America - I think Prague must be a place that more European tourists go than American.

So, this time we booked our hotel ahead of time so that we wouldn't have to walk around aimlessly for hours trying to find one. What we didn't realize was how far out the hotel that we did reserve actually was. We had to walk a good ways to get there and soon realized that this is not the part of Prague people come to see. haha. But the hotel was relatively cheap and was really nice. It even had air conditioning!!!! We finally found a place to eat that would take euro's (the Czech currency is the crown) until we could find an atm to get some crowns out. I had goulash for the first time there. Goulash is a beef dish - chunks of beef sitting in a thick stew like gravy with dumplings. Their dumplings are different than I've seen yet. They are more of a bread-like consistency than a dough-like consistency. This was tasty and very filling. We were pretty exhausted from our travels (5 hr train ride at 6:30 am), so we just walked around town and familiarized ourself with where things were and how the town was set up. We went down to old town, crossed the bridge, and ended up on paddle boats on the river. When it came time for dinner we found a restaurant on the river. I ended up getting a chicken kabob (on a skewer in the traditional sense of kabob unlike the doner kebap of Berlin). It came with some good grilled peppers and vegetables. We spent the rest of the night wandering around old town - it was quite lively. In fact, we wondered upon another World Cup game being shown in the main plaza. Hundreds of people were gathered around the big screen. This was interesting b/c the Czech team wasn't even playing, but the crowd was just as spirited. Uruguay beat Ghana in a shoot out at the end. Any Americans there were cheering for Uruguay b/c Ghana beat out the US, and I was standing by a woman who was a die hard Uruguay fan, but a lot of the crowd was cheering for Ghana.

We set out early to see all the sites on Saturday. Our hotel included free breakfast buffet and kept loaves of bread and meat and cheese out for sandwiches, so we were able to save a little money eat four free meals this weekend! The first thing we did was go to the Prague Castle. Apparently you can't go to Prague w/o seeing the Castle. The most impressive thing was the cathedral within the "castle" - we still aren't sure which part was actually the castle. My favorite thing though was, of course, the stained glass. This was just slightly different in style and craft than other traditional stained glass. This place too was packed full of people so we were getting a little claustrophobic. Everything else besides the church required tickets, so we just moved on. The castle was up on a hill so we were able to see the "best view of Prague" and lots of other good views too. Trey and I gave up the navigating roles to Lindsay this weekend. We ended up on top of another hill in a vineyard not quite sure where we were. haha We were thankful that it was pretty b/c it was really hot this weekend. We stopped several times during the day to just sit for a minute and rehydrate. We went around Lesser Town and stopped by a few of the embassies. They were nothing like the ones we've visited in Berlin. These were very much about blending in instead of standing out. We made it from Lesser Town over to New Town to catch the Germany game on tv. THEY WON 4-0!!!!! It was a great game, but it made us sad that we weren't with the Berliners on the Unter den Linden jumping on buses and what not. The Czech did not get quite as excited about that game as they do here in Berlin (naturally). After the game we found a park to sit in until dinner time. We ended up eating at a place in New Town that was a traditional Czech restaurant. I had such a good meal! It was pork over potatoes and covered w/ mozzarella. Definitely one of the best meals of the trip. We spent the rest of the night wandering around New Town and ended up at a nearby park until we needed to catch the tram back to the hotel.

Sunday we tried to see a little bit more of Old Town including the Astronomical Clock that they are famous for. Really the best parts of Prague are the streets - they just have pretty street scapes there. So, we did a lot of walking around going from one park to another just soaking up the city before we had to leave. It was so hot that we were all craving Icees or some kind of slushy drink. We asked some people on the street and they had no idea what that meant, but we finally spotted a girl with something icy from starbucks. We made a mad dash to starbucks and all enjoyed a fruity drink. We ran into a basketball shoot out in the middle of the plaza in New town. Some of us went into a couple shops in old town - my favorite being the art glass store. These shops were everywhere. The souvenir items that were most popular were bohemian crystal, puppet dolls, and paintings.

Our train ride back was not too exciting. It was an old train and was just plain hot. We had trouble getting seats b/c we didn't have any reserved, but they never marked which seats were reserved. We ended up getting up about 6 times before we found seats that weren't someone else's. The funniest thing from the ride was a class of German high school students dancing and stomping to "cotton eyed Joe" complete with a ripping "yeeehaw". We just found this pretty funny! We were sitting in a room with their teacher who was gracious enough to let some of us sit in their extra seats.

Generally speaking, Czech culture has several differences and plenty of similarities to German culture. The people were always nice and helpful. Prague being a major tourist town that is kind of expected. The currency was kind of fun to deal with. 25 crowns equaled 1 euro and 20 crown equaled a dollar. So, everything seemed really cheap. We could pay some places with euros and get czech crowns back. If you paid 50 euro you would get several hundred crowns back. Their food was pretty similar in the fact that it was a lot of meat and potatoes. They had more dumplings with things though. The language was extremely difficult to be around. We were glad we were in a big city that most people knew English. We didn't even know how to say hello. This made for some good laughs. We had a lot of fun, and I'm glad we went although we are starting to get a little worn out on site-seeing. I like being able to say I've been to the Czech Republic, and I think Prague is definitely one of those places that I might not have gone on my own later.

Thursday

Today was mostly a historic day. We went to Checkpoint Charlie and the museum there and then later went to the Berlin Wall Memorial. In between we passed by several housing developments done famous architects for the IBA.

CHECKPOINT CHARLIE

Most of you probably know that this was the American checkpoint barrier between East and West Berlin during the time that the Wall was up. Interestingly enough "Charlie" comes from the phonetic alphabet and means that this was the third of the checkpoints (meaning there was a Checkpoint Alpha and Checkpoint Bravo too). That was a new fun fact for the day. Going to this museum was weird in a way for me and I think for others of our group as well. The whole area was just crawling w/ American tourists. Even though we are technically American tourists as well, we have been here long enough to feel like we're apart of the city - albeit a very small part of the city. We really haven't run into too many Americans, so just being around that many at once in the middle of Berlin was just a strange thing today. (maybe its a "you just had to be there" kind of thing) Anyway, the museum was very informative with tons of pictures. When I look at historic pictures especially of big events like these, I try to picture myself behind the camera or in the scene to try to understand what it was really like to be there. The explanations that supplemented all of these images made it easier to do that, so that was really interesting. I guess since the happenings of the Berlin Wall are relatively recent, its not old enough to learn about in great detail in our general history classes. I just never realized how horrible all of this really was. People risking their lives to get to the other side; people risking their lives to help other people get across to the other side. People would hide in car engine spaces, the passenger seat of a car, suitcases, tunnels, etc to get across to West Berlin. There were several videos of people escaping - successfully and unsuccessfully. This all not only made me understand the horror and hardship of life in Berlin during this time, but also the courage these people had to escape past the Soviet regime. It makes you wonder how hard life must have been for these people to go to such extreme measures in order to escape. I believe it even took a certain amount of courage to not escape and to just keep living the way they were being forced to in the East.

BERLIN WALL

As you walk through Berlin, you notice every once in a while two rows of cobblestone running through the street. If you see this, you are looking at where the Wall once stood. We've run into this several times throughout the trip, however, today we got to see a segment of the actual wall standing in its original place. They have created a memorial park almost around this part where some of the wall has been replaced w/ rusted conduits the same height of the wall. We were able to climb a tower of sorts across the street to look over into "No Man's Land". This was the area between the actual wall and another barrier. The only thing in between these two walls were vicious dogs and maybe soldiers .... to kill anyone who tried to escape. We also went into a church right next door - "Church of Reconciliation". The original church actually survived the war, but was torn down because it got in the way of No Man's Land. Now it stands as a nice little chapel constructed of wood and concrete. We went in and stumbled upon a group gathered around singing. The tune sounded familiar but I obviously couldn't make out the German lyrics.

CULTURE

After class we went to an area of town that we were told was "cutting edge". We just walked around and looked in a few shops. There were lots of little trendy clothing shops and just random other stores. This was also a part of town where we were probably the only tourists around, so that was nice. Its always fun to walk around and watch the locals going about their daily lives.

This week a few cravings for America have hit. I think you can tell a lot about where you are by what you miss from home. I'll just list a few.

- green vegetables and salad (its all meat and potatoes here), Dr. Pepper, Sonic size drinks with sonic amounts of ice, English tv and restaurant chatter.

As I come to realize that I'm starting to miss those things, I also realize things that I've done/do here that I don't do back home. Some of these things I think have to do w/ the language barrier and the need for simplification. For instance, eating tomatoes, cabbage, cucumbers, and the like are things I never eat at home, but here I have not found so terrible. I've also been drinking coke when at home I would drink sprite over coke when dr. pepper isn't available. There are more things that I won't bore you with, but I just think its funny the things you'll let yourself do in a situation like this when in the comforts of home, you would do completely differently.

Our weekend crew is headed to Prague this weekend! We leave at 6:30 tomorrow morning.... hopefully not having to sprint across town to the hauptbahnhof. We went ahead and booked a hotel, so now we won't have to search once we get there. This will be a change of pace as far as our weekends go because we're headed to another big city instead of quaint rural town Europa. We're all really excited to see what this city has in store.

Sorry again for not posting tons of pictures... this doesn't mean I'm not taking tons though! I haven't had time to actually go through all my pictures yet, and I'd like to filter through and just make an album of nice edited photos. This is becoming a hobby of mine,and the more I get into it the pickier about it I get... imagine that. Well, I'll be updating after the weekend! After that just two more days! How time flies...

Monday through Wednesday

ARCHITECTURE

Monday morning we set out to go see Le Corbusier's Unite de Habitation. We've studied the one he did in France, and this one was very similar. We were able to go inside and see a few of the different apartment styles, including a woman's apartment who had lived there since the building was built. Most people renovate their space, but she had everything left for the most part from how it was in the 50's. I love getting to meet these local people and hear their stories.

We also got to stop by a Nicolas Grimshaw buildi

ng. This space had lots of really nice details. I really enjoy being places that are rich in details. Grimshaw was able to create interesting forms but still have it make sense tectonically - the best of both worlds. There were some images at one spot in the building that showed pictures of some of his models and then an inspiration image of something in nature. It was interesting to see how these structures in natural things were manifested throughout the building.

My favorite thing we did Monday - and now in my top favorite of the trip (I'll have to compile a numbered list for that later) - was the Kaiser Wilheim Kirche. This is an old church that was hit from bombing. They left the remains of the old church and built a new one next to it. This is one of the icons of Berlin, and a testament to the struggles the city has had in wrestling between what to repair, what to tear down, what to mem

orialize, etc. It is probably the prime example of contrasting between new and old. The exterior of the new church on its own is not that attractive, but when sitting next to the old cathedral, it somehow is very fitting. We've been by this church a couple times on the trip so I wasn't just super energized about the building, but then we got to go inside. As I stepped in the door, I caught a glimpse of the alter through the foyer are

a - I think my exact words were "No way" with jaw drop immediately following. The entire inside of this church was stained glass. And not just any stained glass - BLUE stained glass. And not just any blue - MY blue. If you've been around m

e much in the past couple years, you understand my excitement! Not only do I love stained glass, but this blue glass is one of my favorite things in the world. You can't capture this color and luminescence in paint. It was beautiful! This was three days ago, and I still get excited thinking about it. This was definitely an unexpected treasure of Berlin - for me anyway - I don't know if many other people get so excited by seeing the color blue haha. This is just a quick image from the internet to give you an idea.

Tuesday we hopped on the train to Dresden for the day. This town was interesting in that all of its big historic buildings were all together in one area. A sort of Acropolis of Baroque and Neo-Classical architecture. We took a tour of the Opera house to find out none of it was original. Everything has been rebuilt in the past 20-30 years. It was very interesting to find how much trouble the people went to in order to make these buildings look old and authentic. Instead of using real wood paneling, an artist painted wood grain onto clay; instead of using marble for columns and wall panels, they used a material that took way longer to make and was extremely more expensive but still looked like marble. It was hard for us to understand why they would have spent more money for fake materials.

We had a little bit of free time in this area so I went to an art museum that contained a lot of the "old masters" work. This was the first time since my art history class to go see old art. I enjoyed understanding more about this style and being able to appreciate it rather than passing through to more modern work. We saw Raphael's Sistine Madonna in which everyone recognizes the two cupids. We also saw several Rembrandt's, Rubens, Titians, and a couple from Durer (German), among several others. But, this was alot of fun for me, and a nice break from architecture.

We went by the Volks Wagen Factory. One could watch a car being made from start to finish and even have the chance to screw in a couple of bolts on your own new car. The factory is referred to as the Transparent factory. We didn't get a tour, but we've now completed our circle of German made car factories. We were able to get an impromptu tour of a middle/high school by Behnisch, and we stopped by a movie theater done by Coop Himmelbau.

The major building we saw on Wednesday was the Dutch Embassy by Rem Koolhaas. This was a really interesting building that of course has some pro's and con's. Berlin has strict building codes, as I think I've mentioned before, and it was interesting to see how Koolhaas worked with and around these restrictions. Buildings have to be built on all four corners of a lot, but Koolhaas and the clients from the Embassy wanted the Embassy to stand apart from surrounding buildings and be its own entity. So, the end result was to pull the actual Embassy building apart from the rest leaving an interstitial space through the middle of the site - leaving an L shaped building with an offset cube. The disappointing thing to me was that there wasn't much done to this interstitial space. The actual Embassy was pretty interesting. The circulation sort of spiraled up throughout the building with a series of ramps, corridors, and staircases. Each room had some sort of view to the next. Going through the spaces, you could tell the building had an interesting section by how spaces intersected one another.

After the Embassy, the rest of the day was more history based. We got a taste of some Socialist urban planning by going down Karl-Marx-Allee. It was very evident the idea of power that they were trying to achieve through their architecture. Everything was very stark, monolithic, symmetrical, and cold in a way. Our teachers tell us how our work makes (and should make) political statements in a way. Without going into detail, seeing this area made me realize more of what they mean by that.

The last thing we did was go to a Soviet memorial in Treptower Park. This was an impressive and powerful place. It was interesting to see something from their point of view. The monuments here were giant and telling of how much pain the Soviets felt at the time. There are over 5000 buried here. The main statue of the square was a soldier holding a child while crushing a swastika with his feet. This was to symbolize the Soviets coming into Germany to try to save Humanity. Although my knowledge of these issues is limited in comparison to others, as Americans we focus on the Jewish aspects of WWII and learn to feel great sympathy towards the things that happened to them. But, we are not really exposed to this point of view - feeling sympathy for communists. They've always been the "bad guys" in our stories. This memorial just made me realize that at the end of the day we're all people, and when that many people (red, yellow, black, or white) have endured such devastation, its ok to feel sympathy for them even though political agendas throughout history do not line up.

CULTURE

Food: We've had some intersesting food in the last couple days. Monday, we searched for a while to find a doner kebap. This is going to be the thing I miss about Berlin. Its just an amazing mix of greatness all wrapped up in one tortilla. We've decided that if architecture doesn't work out, we could come back to America and open up a Doner stand and make a killing. I'm really surprised that the doner hasn't made it over there yet. If you haven't had one, add it to your bucket list. mmmm so good! For dinner we went to an African restaurant. I was a little nervous, but actually thoroughly enjoyed my meal. The food had different textures, so that was the hard part, but the flavors made up for it. I had some sort of beef dish w/ spinach mixture. It came w/ plantains which were really good.

Tuesday for lunch we stopped at a schnitzle place. Mine came with a pineapple curry sauce... very good.

Wednesday we had some more currywurst for lunch, and then went to a local pizza place for dinner. Our German contact suggested the place, and it was amazing. Everything was so authentic, and we could tell it was a favorite place for the locals. We got there and the place was packed. After we got our pizzas we understood why. It was fun to be in a part of town that wasn't crawling with tourists.

I finally found a watch! I like it because it will always remind me of Berlin. One cultural thing I picked up on while in the watch store was the fact that people are allowed to bring their dogs into stores and restaurants a lot more freely than in America. I've noticed a few times when we're in a retail/food vending space that dogs just randomly pop in. They are with their owners of course, but a lot of the Berliner dogs are not on leashes. This is the kind of thing that when it happens you don't think much about it, but then you realize you just ordered your food w/ a dog running at your feet - that would never fly in America.

"The Hills are Alive" - Weekend in Austria

This weekend we went to Salzburg and Hallstatt, Austria. We left Thursday night from Berlin and arrived early Friday morning, having to spend the night in the Munich train station during our 5 hour layover. We couldn't sleep very well, so we found ourselves riding the escalators up and down for entertainment. Leah and Trey got woken up by police and asked to move b/c they were not allowed to take up hobo tendencies (aka sleeping on newspapers and pillows handed over by strangers - funny story). So, needless to say, that was a long night. We got to Salzburg and searched for a hotel (which took longer than we would have liked). Upon entering the hotel room, the door hit something on the way in. One might think "Oh no I hit the bed". Well, no. What we found behind the door was the shower.... in the middle of the room..... with a glass door.... across from a mirror. Talk about awkward. Luckily there was another shower down the hall along with the communal toilets. Like I said in an earlier post - its always a surprise what kind of bathroom you will have when traveling. So soon after we set out to see the sights of Salzburg. We saw a few churches, Mozart's home and birthplace, a palace with gardens, and a fortress that overlooked the entire town. After seeing all of these great things, I think the whole group would agree, our favorite thing was a nap on the bank of the beautiful river that ran through town. We've noticed in Berlin that people do this, so we decided to join in on the experience, and it was wonderful. We voted it the best napping spot in the world.

We woke up, walked around some more, found a spot to watch the end of a world cup game, and then found dinner. During dinner we heard music going on in the streets so we went to check it out. It ended up being an annual festival of basically just celebrating Salzburg. There was a band and lots of vendors in the streets. We ended up talking w/ an American man who had lived there for 20 years playing and coaching hockey. While talking to him, a British man came in on our conversation and we talked for quite a while with him too about his travels. He actually goes to Salzburg and Hallstatt every year. He was about 75 and had a lot of fun stories. And, did I mention he's received an award from the Queen?! Such an interesting person to run into.

So, the next morning we hop on the train to get to Hallstatt. This i

s a beautiful little town right on a lake in the valley of some mountains (I'm pretty sure part of the Alps). This was a quaint and charming town full of character. This town we found out later is 5500 years old and the hotel/ b&b we stayed in was 500 years old! pretty incredible. We foun

d some lunch at a nearby cafe - i had an assortment of dumplin

gs with salad. I've never had dumplings like this (filled with different meats). I was surprised at how well I liked them! We were dying to get out on the water as soon as we arrived. (we had to hop a ferry to actually get to the town) So, after lunch we quickly found paddle boats and kayaks. We paddled around for a couple hours soaking in the atmosphere.

Looking back on my pictures now, as beautiful as it looks, still doesn't do the town justice. It is just absolutely breathtaking. For dinner we went to The White Lamb, as suggested by the British man in Salzburg. I had a pork dish with veggies and potatoes and an apple strudel for dessert. Delicious. We ended the night watching the US lose to Ghana in the World Cup. Better luck next time. The next day, we set out trying to go to church but re

alized that we did not have time to go to the church and see what we wanted to see before the train left. A couple people set out to see

one of the oldest salt mines - besides the view, what Hallstatt is known for. The others of us decided to go to the top of the mountain to see what they have been calling "The 5 Fingers". It is basically a lookout point where you walk out on these structures that hang off the mountain.

To get there we had to take a bus to the next village over, two gon

dolas to the top of the mountain, and hike a 20 minute trail. But it was completely worth it. This was the best view I think I've ever seen. God's good isn't He?

CULTURE

We found out that Austrians are a little more laid back than Germans - as is evident through their train system. Our train from Hallstatt to Salzburg was l

ate and very slow on the way, making us miss our connecting train back to Munich and Berlin. We got it fixed, but ended up having to go through Hannover stretching the return trip from 11 hours to 17 hours. Luckily the extra time was spent on the train and not sleeping on benches in a train station or even riding the escalators all night. Monday was a very long day after traveling all night and getting back 1 hour before class.

Another thing we found entertaining was the traditional dress

of the Austrian locals. Some of the people you will find wearing lederhosen (leather shorts) and Dirndl dresses. From little kids to old couples, we found lots of examples - here are just a few. I tried to be somewhat inconspicuous haha.

Wednesday/Thursday - return to Berlin

ARCHITECTURE

Wednesday we spent most of the day driving. We stopped to see a Zaha Hadid project called the Pheano Museum. For all of you from Arkansas think a bigger version of the Discovery Museum, and for all of you in Louisiana think SciPort apparently. Hadid was doing some interesting things from an urban planning standpoint - connecting certain axes within the town, but the building as a whole I did not love. Granted, this project was a huge experiment with self-compacting concrete, but the experiment failed in many ways. The details and craftsmanship of the building were not up to par in my opinion. Formally it resembled a space ship, which I suppose is ok for a science museum, but the form seemed to get in the way of other spatial and tectonic issues. I felt bad for not liking this project, but I realized that it is also important to see things that you don't like and that are not necessarily successful, so that you can learn from others' mistakes.

We also had a chance to see two buildings by Alvaro Alto - a cultural center and church. My favorite thing that I discovered in these buildings was the way he deals with natural light. It seems to flood the spaces he creates. I specifically liked how he let light pour in over entry ways. Thursday we saw the famous Jewish Museum by Daniel Libeskind. This was different than I expected. The point of the design once you entered the building was to disorient you. - it worked. Being so disoriented within the building made me realize the importance of letting the people who experience your buildings be aware of their surroundings and where they are with in the building. One exhibit within the building ruined the rest of the experience for me. When we got to it, I thought that we were passing through on our way to another part, so I thought that you had to go through it in order to get to the next part. Come to find out it we didn't have to go through, but it was too late. The piece was tucked around a corner in its own room. The floor was covered with pieces of steel cut out in the shape of faces. The emotion on these faces were of despair and deep pain. It was supposed to resemble the Jewish people killed during the war. So, the point was to have people walk on these steel faces. Well, the sound of steel clanking together echoed through the room as you're stepping on these sad faces being reminded of these people who were killed for no reason. It made you feel like you were the one responsible for this. I did not like having to feel that, and was honestly mad afterwards. Mad that I walked through it without knowing I didn't have to; and mad that the "artist" made me feel like I had something to do with all of the death. After dealing w/ the emotions from that exhibit I was ready to leave that building.

CULTURE

We arrived back in Berlin Wednesday to crowds of people heading in one direction. We soon figured out Germany was playing a game in the World Cup, so we decided to follow the crowd. We caught the last bit of the game down from the Brandenburg Gate w/ thousands of crazy German fans! This was SO fun! Everyone chanting, cheering, singing in unison. People dressed in wigs (fro or mohawk), flags, face paint, etc. all red, yellow, and black. We didn't want the fun to end (and neither did the Germans) so we just kept following the crowd. We ended up walking all the way from the Brandenburg Gate to Alexanderplatz (really far away) just watching the fans be crazy. I wasn't in New Orleans when the Saints won the Super Bowl, but I imagine a similar atmosphere. At one point people were jumping on top of buses and rocking them back and forth until they had to speed off - same with taxis. I have several entertaining videos from this night! It was just fun to watch so many people come together for one thing, knowing that the rest of the country was just as excited. We really don't see this type of pride for our country as a whole in the US. We have more pride in our individual teams than for the whole country. I think that has been the neat thing about being here during the world cup and getting to experience this pride for one's country. We all have decided we will probably always hold a special place in our hearts for German soccer.

Tuesday - Stuttgart

Stuttgart is famous for the Porsche. We started off our day drooling over the Porsche Museum. I didn’t personally care for the aesthetic of the building, but I did find it impressive. Basically the whole museum was lifted off the ground and supported by three “legs”. The cantilevering proved to be a structural feat. I think we all enjoyed getting to look at porsches all morning. They took you through the history of Porsche starting with the first models and ending with the latest and most impressive. I really enjoyed looking at the old ones. It was here, mom and dad, that I picked out your newest toys! Ha!

If seeing all the BMW’s and Porsche’s this trip hasn’t been enough car shopping, we went on over to the Mercedes Benz Museum next. This was definitely my favorite building of the day, and maybe in my top favorites for the trip. It was designed by UN Studio. They focused a lot on circulation. They set up the circulation in a double helix ramping system. Without seeing any diagrams, I was kind of confused about how it all worked, but it was definitely a unique museum experience. I hate going in museums that you have to back track through things to get to something else. They were able to prevent this from happening. They too started with the old(horse and buggy) and ended w/ the new. We didn’t hear as much about the cars on this tour as we did about the architecture. So, there are lots of things about the building I could comment on and that I liked, but I’ll keep it short. As you wound down throughout the helix, they allowed you to preview the next room you would enter. You kept winding down the ramp around the cars on show and then you were able to mingle amongst the cars once you hit the floor. This building has a unique smoke removal system that won them a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. Basically the entire museum circles around a central atrium and has doors that open up to the space in the event of a fire. There is a vent at the top center of the atrium that along with other mechanisms sucks all of the smoke out of the exhibition spaces into the center and creates a “tornado” in order to get the smoke out of the building. Pretty ingenious if you ask me.

The last thing we saw was a double house by Le Corbusier – the Father of Modernism. I’ve seen one of his houses while in France (Villa Savoye for those of you that are architecturally savvy), so I was able to compare this house to that. It is so apparent in his designs and how one would live in these spaces his ideal of a house being a “machine for living”. From the way you open the doors, to the way you sleep, everything makes you feel as if you are operating a machine in order to do daily things. Its not about waking up in your bedroom and moving from one programmed room to the next to do what you need to do in a day. Its about changing the one room to perform each different function. One of the major comparisons I noticed, was that this house was much more compact than Villa Savoye. I don’t know if this has to do with the area in which it is built (this house being in a denser area) or what. Another aspect I thought was interesting were the colors he used. A brown color was on the main wall with a deep red door, and a recessed part of the wall was painted a sky-ish blue. After taking art history and knowing Corbu was an artist himself, this color pallete makes a lot of sense. When painting, warm colors are supposed to be in the foreground while cool colors are to be in the background and fade away. He allows the walls to become not just pretty colors, but a livable piece of art.

CULTURE

Just a couple random things:

During the excursion this week, I’ve realized that not only does our apartment in Berlin do this, but so does every other hotel in Germany. I don’t remember it being like this in Paris/France, so I’m wondering if its just a German thing. Anyway, German linens are different. Instead of sleeping with a fitted sheet, a normal sheet, and then a comforter, they sleep on top of a normal sheet that is tucked in to function as a fitted sheet and then just cover up with a down feather duvet. So, its really like sleeping w/ no sheets. Their pillows aren’t as firm. They are a little bigger but the foam is much looser. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing … just different. And I’m definitely a fan of down feathers!

Also, Europeans, I think by necessity, are much more efficient with their use of space. Its always a surprise how the bathroom is going to be laid out. The weirdest one was in Stuttgart. They had a square shower with a tub that you had to step up and over into. The problem was that the toilet was on one free side of the square and the sink on the other (the other two being in the wall). So their solution was to have two small doors open from the corner. Sometimes the efficiency of space works out better than others. One thing I’ve noticed on the drive is that all these little villages that we pass are still very dense. In America we would have probably taken up 4 times as much land for the same amount of buildings. We just use our space and land differently. I could go into issues of suburban sprawl, but I’ll spare you that.

Monday - from Munich to Stuttgart

We set out early and headed towards Stuttgart (pronounced stootgart not like Stuttgart, Arkansas). We stopped on the way at the Vitra Campus. Vitra is a furniture company that has set up a campus of different buildings done by super star architects. Its kind of like a Disney World Epcot Center for architects. There was a chair museum done by Frank Gehrey - a turning point project for him going from angular to curvy. Tadao Ando did a conference center that contrasted with the complexity of Gehrey’s project. I loved the craftsmanship of the concrete - so smooth and clean. His site placement was really nice – allowing you to feel like the building was by itself. Herzog and de Meuron just finished the VitraHaus – their new products store/showrooms. The outside of their building looked simple in form, but the inside was rather complex. The outside contrasted again with Gehrey’s white museum with a dark charcoal color. The inside was all white allowing the furniture to be the focal point. They framed views of the surrounding vineyards and buildings. The difference b/w the interior and exterior really allows the interior to glow at night. They are one of my favorite firms b/c they have a reason behind everything that they do. I wish I had had more time to explore the complexities of this project. We were able to see other projects on the campus by Nicholas Grimshaw, Alvaro Siza, and Buckminster Fuller. We also saw the Vitra Fire Station by Zaha Hadid – one of her first realized projects. There were some pros and cons about this building. The coolest thing probably being the staircase…. Each step was cantilevered from the wall. This campus was a really dense experience seeing so many key architects at once all the while trying to admire the awesome furniture!

We hit the road again the next stop being the Hohenzollern Castle. This is the family that held the monarch crowns for so many years throughout German history. (Fredrick the Great, Wilhelm II who was responsible for WWI, etc) This was really fun to see. It was so picturesque with amazing views over the “kingdom”. The castle is actually still private property of the current head of the Holhenzollern family. He lives in Berlin in a rented flat…. Quite a different scene from the mideival/gothic castle! The girls decided we could just fake some papers of aristocracy and go marry into the royal family. J haha. We got to climb to the top of the tower at the top of this mountain. The sun was getting ready to set w/ rays peeking through the clouds – the word majestic was all I could think of.

The drive was also gorgeous. We’d pass by lots of lovely little German villages set into the hills. We also went through the infamous black forest. The trees were pretty dark, so I’m guessing that’s where the name comes from, but not really sure. We finally arrived in Stuttgart. We decided very quickly that this is the Detroit of Germany. Its very industrial and our hotel is in a really random area of town. We had to find food around 10 pm which was a hard task in this area. We ended up at a Chinese restaurant where no one spoke a word of English. We had trouble deciphering the German described Chinese food. That was an interesting task. We’ve learned that pointing and hoping for the best is sometimes the best way to go about the language barrier.

Sunday - Munich

Dachau concentration camp- We started our day by going to one of the first concentration camps. This was, as expected, incredibly moving and sobering. Just to be in the presence of where all of these awful things took place made my heart ache for these people. Since Dachau was one of the first concentration camps, it was referenced in everyday conversation…. “Shut up or you’ll go to Dachau” was a common phrase of the day among Jewish people or a-social groups. I don’t really want to go into detail about everything they did there, but I’ll share some things I didn’t realize beforehand. I didn’t realize that this particular camp was for mostly men. I guess I hadn’t thought about people being separated by groups for any particular camp from another. We learned how incredibly hard life was for the prisoners at the camp. They had to make their straw beds every morning. They were in bunk beds that were all connected, and if one bed was so much as a millimeter taller than another they would be punished. If a speck of dirt was found on the floor – punished. Their punishment was often to have their arms tied behind their back and then hung from their wrists for an hour. I also didn’t know that there was a difference b/w a concentration camp and extermination camp. Dachau did have a gas chamber and crematorium but it was said to not have been used for mass murder like you think of. We were able to go in the gas chamber. This was a pretty chilling experience that just brought tears to my eyes, but its something that is good for people to see. Like one of our professors was saying, we learn so much about this and see so many pictures in history books, museums, movies, etc. that we are almost desensitized to it, but once you are there seeing images taken from where you are standing, it really hits home.

We also were able to see a Coop Himmelblau project - the BMW Welt. This is a well known project in the architectural world mainly known for a “whirlwind” cone in the front of the building. Inside was basically a really fancy dealership. There was a restaurant and snack bar, and a parts and souvenir shop. It also contained a interactive museum of sorts that let people understand the different technologies that bmw uses. It was a fun little area, and kids were climbing all over the place. We got to go behind scenes for a bit and see the storage area for the cars. The was an interesting space. You don’t think about how places like this store hundreds of cars. This was basically a huge scale technological version of cubby holes. There were mechanical pieces that lifted cars and turned them to get them in and out of the right hole.

Across from BMW Welt was the 1972 Olympic Park. Being built in the 70’s, it is a little dated now, as far as wear and tear, but still very modern and really quite timeless stylistically. You’ve all seen tent/canvas like structures that are held up by tension. This was a glass/plastic version of one of those tents. The structure of these buildings was pretty incredible and very complicated. It was neat to see a different material used as a fabric connecting these different areas together. The structure that was brought to the ground was massive and acted as a play area for kids (and adults for that matter) to climb or sit on. This enabled the building to become very interactive, and that is something we all strive for as architects (or we should in my opinion). Another thing I was impressed with was how many people were still using the space. It was drizzling and honestly yucky outside, yet there were still lots of people riding bikes, running, swimming in the pool, and just hanging out. I think that is a really important thing to think about not only in terms of Olympic parks for later use, but what our projects can do In the future and how they can be adapted to serve another function. I think the fact that there are so many people still using the space speaks a lot about the successfulness of this project.

Later a group of us went to a architecturally significant church for a Bach concert – Herz-Jesu Kirche by ASW Architects. I don’t care if you like modern architecture or not, this church is beautiful. The exterior is a glass cube. Once you enter the space there is a wooden cube within the glass cube offset enough for circulation in between. The wooden cube is made of louvers. Inside the chapel light gets filtered through the translucent glass and then through the louvers. It was so nice. I was also excited about the Bach concert. Hearing classical music in the heart of its birthplace was one of my goals for this trip…. Check! The concert was on the organ and quite impressive. I was glad I got to experience that.

MUNICH CULTURE: We got to eat at a local Bavarian restaurant. I had a dish that had potatoes with chicken on top sprinkled with cheese, bacon, mushrooms, and lots of really good and tasty spices. That has been my favorite dish so far! Yummmm Munich strangely reminded me of Dallas. We didn’t get to experience a lot of the town life, but just driving around it looked like a nice place to live. It’s a decent size city, but with the city feel of Dallas instead of the hustle and bustle of New York.

Saturday - Nurnburg

We got up early Saturday morning and drove to Nurnberg. We went specifically to see the oldest biggest cookoo clock on a church and the Nazi Rally parade grounds, but when we got there we discovered even more. We got into town early so we got to do a little exploring before noon when the clock had its big “show”. This church was built in a plaza where the town had set up a market of fresh foods. We turned the corner and found a really old castle. So, we went up to it and stumbled across a panoramic view of the town. It was really pretty. Nurnberg was such a quaint little town (at least the historic part). When you think of German cottages and towns, this is what you think of. (Mom and Dad – I’m adding this town to your “must see” list!) There were tons of tourists. Everyone was just walking through the streets and when a car came through they just stopped and waited till people were out of their way. We made sure we made it back to the plaza to watch the clock, and while you’re watching it, it seems rather anti-climatic. But, you have to realize that it was a rather big feat for the 1500’s. We ate lunch at a little place next to the plaza and another big old church. I had some sausages w/ sauerkraut…which actually was not too bad I might add. Trey beat me for the most adventurous eater award… he ate cow tongue for lunch. We couldn’t decide if that or the head cheese that I ate last week was worse, but the fact that I didn’t know what I was ordering when I ate the head cheese kicked me out of the running. After lunch we went inside the church and admired the honest gothic architecture.

Next, we went to the Nazi Parade Grounds. This was a strange experience. Hitler had huge plans for this place but they lost the war before much of it was realized. So, it was kind of like seeing Roman ruins in a way only the “ruins” parts were because they hadn’t finished constructing not because they had been around so long. The chilling part was to think that every brick that was laid was done so by Jewish prisoners. The first building was an arena like structure that wasn’t completed. Everything about it was massive and brutal – provoking the idea of power. We also walked down the stone road that the Nazi’s marched down and then stood where Hitler stood to make his speeches. That was kind of a numbing experience. Seeing all of this let me realize what the Nazis were thinking and how they got more people to join along in their thought. Our guide talked about how people reacted to Hitler in his rise of power. He said people including Hitler himself treated him like a god – pictures hanging in the living room of people’s homes, his face being in the wrapper of chocolate candy, when kids acted up parents would tell them that the Furher was watching them. We went through a museum that explained kind of the rise and fall of the Nazi party. They had lots of pictures and videos of rallies happening in the plaza of Nurnberg where we stood earlier that day.

After touring the grounds, we headed to Munich in time walk around town before dark. We’re spending a lot of time on the bus, but everything we’re seeing this week is fairly significant and worth the drive. We have a pretty awesome bus driver too. We’ve got a big charter bus that she just weaves in and out of these tiny European roads like driving a mini-cooper or something. We’ve all been amazed at her turning capabilities. We have been within centimeters of bikes, cars, light poles, street signs, buildings, and not had a single scratch. Now, there’s a cultural thing for you! I guess if you grow up driving over here you learn how to maneuver cars really well.

South Germany Excursion - Friday - Leipzig

So we just got back from our excursion to South Germany! Berlin, now more than ever, feels a little like home. Although I didn't get to post due to expensive internet fees, I've kept up w/ my blogging and will just post all at once. Sorry that this will be alot to take in at one time, but we got to see a lot of good things this week, and I hope you'll take the time to read about it! Here it goes....

Bauhaus

This building is in Dessau. It was originally a design school started and designed by Walter Gropius. This building is THE seminal building to launch the International style and thought. This school was unique in many ways for its time: they allowed women to learn in the same environment as men; a dormitory was attached to the school - the first where students could work and live in the same structure; and an entire façade of glass with no columns. One of my favorite parts of this building was the window details with how they opened.

BMW Plant

The central part of the plant was designed by Zaha Hadid. The factory is set up in a way that production is optimized w/ a central space (offices, cafeteria, business, etc) with the factories and production shops stemming from it. Throughout the central space, conveyer belts are running overhead with shells of partially made cars passing by. We got to go into the factory and watch cars go down the assembly lines. At some points robots are the only things putting pieces together. That was really fun to watch. They were huge machines but had human-like motions. We weren’t allowed to take pictures back there, but I probably could have watched those things work for hours. The tour guide said they complete 740 cars a day each car taking a total of 37 hours each. It was interesting to see how the design of the building helped make the production and function of the business run more efficiently.

Leipzig

This town we found not to be as inviting as Berlin and “Sassy Town”. We were too far away from the town center to experience any nightlife. There were lots of boarded up windows, graffiti, etc. that made us feel like we didn’t need to go exploring at night. We ended up watching a soccer game in the lobby. Germany lost their game that day, and we think that put a damper on the people’s attitudes. Even though we didn’t understand a word that was said, you could tell everyone that was interviewed on tv was really sad and upset about the loss.

Today may have been one of my favorite days! We went to see some more of the embassies, a design museum, and the Berlin Dome. We've been here for a week now, and a lot of the traveling we did today made me realize we've covered alot of ground in that week! I didn't know much about Berlin at all a week ago, but now I feel like I can get around fairly well, and know way more about what things are where in relation to others. We got some good advice today from Sigrun, the woman that has been our Berlin contact, for some local restaurants and places where people our age hang out. Our apartments are in a touristy area, and we've been eating close by just for convenience and b/c we didn't know anywhere else to go. So, now that we know our way around a little better and know a little more, we can start branching out of our circle.

ARCHITECTURE

I really enjoyed the Bauhaus museum today. The first room you could enter was full of lamps. They were so fun! I tried to take some mental notes on how they were made so i could come up w/ my own renditions. There was one that used gold leaf on plexi, but as the light shines through, it gives an iridescent look. One of my favorite artists - yves klein - that i like purely for color usage, uses this gold color with his invention of blue. i'm hoping i can combine his colors w/ the lamp idea using my blue glass (if you know me, you know how exciting this sounds to me). So, anyway, the rest of the museum showcased the work and theories of the people of the Bauhaus - a school of design established in the 1920's. The tour was really interesting in that the guide was able to explain the thoughts and reasonings behind their designs. My favorite part was looking at the chairs. What we see today as simple clean lines, industrial design, etc was designed for ultimate comfort. The designer understood that its not a fluffy cushion that makes things comfortable but the lines that your body must form to. We also got to see original models of really famous buildings that these guys did - including the actual Bauhaus school in Dessau that we'll be seeing tomorrow, and the Barcelona pavilion by Meis van de Rohe.

Another favorite today was the Berliner Dom. This dome sat atop the biggest church in Berlin. The church was built to be viewed as the Protestant version of the Vatican. It is very extravagant for that reason. Its almost entertaining b/c the king has his initials all over the church as if bringing attention to himself rather than God. It was designed in a Roman Baroque style. I think I liked this tour so much because of the grandiose scale of the whole thing. Every surface of this building was decorated with gold designs, expensive materials, or detailed paintings/mosaics. When looking up at the dome from the floor you see two rows of windows, some columns, and at the oculus a stained glass dove. When standing there, these pieces obviously look big, but not as big as they really are. The columns/windows were 10meters tall (over 30 ft) the mural mosaics were over 40 square meters, and one dove wing was around 3 meters (over 9 ft.) Hearing those numbers in that space made you feel so small. After the tour of the main space, we got a tour of the crypts. One sarcophagus in particular was interesting: The dome was destroyed and fell in and through the floors of the church during the war. This tomb was placed directing under the dome in the crypt and was damaged from the fallen debris. It was further damaged from soldiers trying to break into it for treasure of some sort. After the crypts we were able to climb to the top of the dome and see out over Berlin. This was a better view (in my opinion) than on top of the Reichstag. I got some fun pictures up there. The climb to the top was tiresome, but not quite as tall as Notre Dame or Sacre Coeur in Paris, and the view was definitely worth it.

Tonight a group of us went to an graduate exhibit for architecture students at the Academy of Art in Berlin. I wanted to compare our class' work to theirs. And, Dad, you didn't waste your money.... our work was just as good if not better ... (I think better). It was most interesting to see the differences in how they make models. Some of their material choices were some that we hadn't seen before. They had some nice projects. Most were fairly simple with a lot of emphasis on diagrammatic stages. Our class at Tech got into the details and function of the building/project alot more. - which I think is important. Its good to see other schools' work and see where you as an individual stand in comparison as well as your school as a whole.

CULTURE

Food: Yesterday, i ate some currywurst. this is basically a hot dog w/ crispy exterior covered in ketchup and sprinkled w/ curry. But don't think hillshire farm or oscar meyer. ... its better than that. they serve these at little street stands all over the city and serve them w/ fries. pretty good. today, we ate at the Nordic Embassy. I had a stuffed bell pepper. ... nothing too exciting German wise.

I've just used the washer for the first time in our apartment. Luckily I wasn't the first one to have to figure it out, but its still an entertaining venture. We're currently sitting in the living room hearing it roar. it sounds like a space ship is landing in the bathroom ... quite strange. Everyone has been comparing the barrel size to our deep fryers back in the states. Its kind of a funny comparison if you think about it - we dunk our meat in a barrel full of grease the same size that they wash their clothes in.

Another cultural thing I've heard discussed this week is German education. Apparently children must take a test by the 8th grade. If they score high enough, they are sent to more school, college, etc. but if not, they are sent to technical school and learn a trade ... whatever they happen to be good at. So, basically your career is determined for you by the age of 14! I heard too that once you are in something it is hard to get out of it or switch professions later on. I don't know what college kids would do in America if they couldn't change majors! ha! It made me realize how nice it is to be able to have the freedom to choose what you want to do and what makes you happy. Maybe they don't focus on "doing what makes you happy" like we do in America. Maybe that's why we've become "work-aholics" b/c that's what we enjoy doing (supposedly). Maybe they work to work and find what makes them happy in other venues. is one way better than the other? Not entirely sure - just something to think about.

tomorrow we leave for our South Germany excursion. We'll hit dessau, munich, stuttgart, leipzig, and some others. We may not have full access to internet in some places, so i'll update when i can! And sorry for lack of pictures right now.... it is rather tedious to upload them. i'm thinking about putting them on a flickr account or something of the sorts so you can just click on a link. i'll let you know! goodbye for now....

Potsdam

We spent today in Potsdam. This is the capitol of the German state Brandenburg. It is a short train ride away from Berlin, which also lies within Brandenburg (hence Brandenburg Gate).

ARCHITECTURE

Today was filled with more historic buildings of Potsdam. We saw a church (Nicholaikirche by Schinkel) first. It was another building that was destroyed somewhat in the war and restored. So, its hard to say whether we're really looking at Schinkel's work or not. So the building that we see is virtually new, but made to look authentic. Ontop of these anachronisms, if you will, Schinkel being an architect of the 1800's (this

building particularly 1837), designs in a neoclassical style - meaning bringing back classical column styles, proportions, etc. So, studying his buildings in person can become a little confusing to fit into a time/style. I think tourists that aren't necessarily architecturally trained might not see this confusion at face value.

We also got to walk through the gardens of the Sanssouci Palace (above). We didn't go inside of the Palace, but we walked around the exterior and absorbed the Baroque style through the exterior ornamentation. This Palace was a get away

home for the royal family, and has been used as a meeting place for significant dignitary engagements. I enjoyed seeing the Baroque details. They make an old building a little more playful and light hearted.

Later after walking through Potsdam a little ways, we headed towards an old castle - Babelsburg Palace (above). The organization that keeps up the palace has had a hard time raising money for restoration work, so the interior was not quite as interesting as the outside. They had huge canvas prints of old pictures to reference what the rooms looked like originally, so we were able to get some idea of how life was living in this castle.

CULTURE

Food: Today I tried schnitzle for the first time w/ a schnitzle sandwich. It was really good. Its basically like chicken fried steak only with pork or veal - I think I had the pork. And then on the sandwich came tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, and a little mustard-ish sauce. For dinner I tried to stay cheap and just had a salami sandwich. We've learned that when the sign says salami it really means salami. I'm still learning my other meats. One in particular in german is schicken.... which you would think would be chicken, but its not. I think from the looks of it is ham.

I think I'll devote some blogging time today to German fashion. The more I have observed and thought about it, this too brings about cultural divides. I think the Germans can pinpoint us as Americans simply from the way we dress and present ourselves. I'll just point out some key differences: German men wear capris; American men wear shorts. Germans wear taller socks and socks with sandals; Americans will go w/o socks alot of times and wear more flip-flop options. Germans will combine several prints together (stripes with plaid, plaid on plaid, floral on floral etc); Americans generally don't mix too many prints (or else they get sent on "what not to wear"). Germans dye their hair many different colors sometimes having one color in one big spot and a brightly contrasting color in another spot. Their haircuts are a little wilder than mainstream Americans also. Different lengths in different directions with different colors. Their eyeglasses are more modernly designed. Also, I've seen that older does not necessarily mean more conservative like it does in the US - esp. in the south. I realize that in bigger cities around the world you get a wider variety of fashion styles, but being in Berlin after having been New York, Paris, and LA - some of the biggest fashion cities in the world - Berliners are very much more casual and not concerned with super high fashion. (at least by our American standards) It actually has been kinda nice to not have to compete w/ the high fashion or feel like you have to be glitzed up in gucci, prada, or chanel to fit in.

Berlin from the Beginning

Today was our first day with our history teacher on board. We got to listen to his abbreviated version of German and Berlin beginnings in the actual spot that it all began. To summarize his abbreviation in terms of what we saw today and what we're dealing w/ as a class - Berlin and Germany as a whole has always struggled to find their identity as a country/city. They don't necessarily have roots from the Roman Empire like say places in England and other countries do. The word "german" in those formative years meant barbaric, or land of barbarians. Throughout this land's history, the people have been taken over/controlled by different nations, the Slavs in particular. In WWII Berlin, as everyone knows, was split and controlled by 4 different nations. During that time, much of their country destroyed forcing the people to start over and rebuild. Alot of their history was erased and built on top of. So, the questions we have started to raise today deal with: when do you preserve the past, when do you tear it down? When you look at buildings that have been rebuilt to "look authentic" is it really then authentic? Are we experiencing things how they once were, or should we try to experience things the way they were after they've been erased or face it and move on?

ARCHITECTURE

So, today those questions sort of framed our views of the buildings we saw. We started out in Alexanderplatz and the surroundings seeing several churches (kirche in german). While each church was different in certain ways expressing different period characteristics in various ways, they all had a layered quality in common. You could see where the original building stopped and the additions/renovations began ... some of these churches dated back to the 1200's! These churches were really neat examples of old vs. new and how Berliners/Germans deal with these changes over time. Its also interesting to see this condition move from a macro to micro scale - in the way a church from 1270 sits adjacent to a 1970's modern building in the same plaza, and then how the building is detailed throughout these changes within itself.

CULTURE

Food: I've grown quite fond of the Doner Kebap. I'm quite surprised that I enjoy something w/ cabbage in it! For all of you who know my love of fruit flavored things - I found peach ice tea today! haha they were actually out today, but I atleast know it exists over here! (now its just a question of whether its sweet tea or not...) Another funny thing we've seen are strawberry stands. I thought it was just an art installation the first time i saw it, but later realized they open it up and sell strawberries out of it! .... think snow cone stand for strawberries but painted to look like a giant strawberry. These are in the subway stations and sometimes on the streets. Very random.

Tonight we went to a pizza place... kind of like a jasons deli for pizza, pasta, and salad. very good. But during dinner conversation, someone knew what I ate the other night that I didn't like. I almost died when they told me. The pork dish i had that was cold was described as "pork head cheese", and apparently this is prepared by boiling down a pig head for hours and then making a "cheese" out of it. Its not really cheese it just has some fat in it. And apparently they don't even make this in America. So, I ate cold fatty pig head the other night and did not have a clue! I definitely won't be having that again! Its kind of like finding out what goes in boudin.... you just don't want to know.

I think we've decided that they don't bury their utilities underground (like water lines). So at random streets around town you see these fairly big blue or pink pipes snaking around above ground. It makes you realize why we bury them in America, but then again its kind of cool how they've not tried to hide stuff like that ... they make it an art almost.

A couple of us have had conversations about the greatness of the train system. We find it pretty amazing that we can't survive in Ruston (or home) w/o a car, but we can get anywhere we want over here w/o one. We may actually walk the distance of Ruston in a day, but they way they organize their cities makes that possible w/o being run over.

Germany won their first world cup game last night! We got back into town to cheering in the streets, horns honking, fireworks going off, and just a good atmosphere. We're crossing our fingers Germany continues to do well, so everyone will be in good spirits! We've been talking about how we wish Americans had a national pride and unification like you see here. Its a really cool feeling - much like all of Louisiana was after the Saints won the superbowl ... but on a grander scale.

Tomorrow we're off to Potsdam. Until then...

Adventures of Sassnitz.... AKA "Sassytown"

What a weekend! A small group of us decided to take a weekend trip up to the Baltic Sea knowing just of the town's name and that there was a sea close by. We started off having to sprint to the train station half-way across Berlin (so it felt like) b/c our ubahn station was closed. I think every train we had to catch throughout the whole weekend we either had to run to make it or we just happened to look up and realize we needed to switch trains. We had a lot of close calls, but managed to make it every time! Nothing like playing it by ear! So, we got to our original destination -

Bergen auf Rugen (Rugen being the island) - walked around and could not find anything that looked promising for two days worth of sightseeing. So, we just hopped back on the train and went to the next town where we read was a national park on the coast. Once we got off the train, we went to find a place for lunch and ended up at a restaurant in the harbor right on the Baltic. We quickly learned our way around town, for it was a small quaint little German town organized around the harbor, a platz, and the main street.It was really neat to experience this part of Germany. Sassnitz we figured out is a small tourist town, but more so for German tourists. It reminded me of places like Hot Springs - lots of older people and nearby visitors but with lots of character. So, Saturday we ate, found a hotel, walked around town, ran into a festival going on in the plaza, and ended up watching part of a world cup game in a local bar. Upon exploring the town we came upon a really nice bridge that was Calatrava-esque. So we felt like we got our architecture jollies fit into the weekend. As we interacted w/ the locals, we realized (as expected) that they did not speak as much English as Berliners do, but they were much friendlier! Even though it was hard to verbally communicate at some points, the universal language of smiling became very valuable.... the people there smiled back, and that was comforting. Sunday, we got up ate breakfast at a bakery and went to the German "Super 1" - Netto - to get some lunch food for our hike. We went up to the national park (just at the end of "main street") and hiked the trails. We had seen pictures of limestone cliffs on postcards starting back in Bergen, so we were determined to find them on this hike. We never could figure how many km's we hiked, but it was alot! The forest, though, was incredible. The picture speaks for itself. The weather was perfect - cool but not freezing. Very peaceful. Along the way, we started getting little peaks through some trees of the iconic cliffs, and finally got to a lookout w/ some "money shot" views, and ate our lunch on the top of the cliff. There were apparently stairs that led down to the beach, but we never made found them before it was time to head back. Everyone wanted to make it down to the beach so bad that, some of the group started getting creative in the paths to get down there. It was decided that we could slide down this "gentle" slope, land in some trees, and hopefully make the 8-10 ft. drop from there down to the beach. So, Trey, Lindsay, and David went down first. But to get to the slope we had to climb down a tree. So, as I'm being guided backwards down the tree, the ones on sliding down the slope decide this is all not possible. The ground was not solid and there was nothing to grab on to. After it was all said and done we made it back up the hill and tree with just a few scrapes and bruises, but just happy we were alive and on solid ground. Now, we look back and laugh. Later down the trail we ran into a town on the beach and found stairs to go down there. The beach was different. There wasn't much sand, but instead the ground was covered in really neat black/white rocks. These however were difficult to walk on. But we were successful in being able to say we've "swam" in the Baltic Sea! After all the hiking, climbing, running for trains, and hanging from trees, we were exhausted, but we all had an awesome weekend. Its definitely a trip I'll always remember. I feel like I haven't even captured how much fun we had w/ the words I've written, but alot of our laughs were "you just had to be there" moments. We're all looking forward to our next weekend trips! ... and of course more of Berlin!