#but she was uh on the wrong political side of german in ww2 | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mjjjj07 · 7 years ago

Text

Vergangenheitsbewältigung

Yes, that is in fact a real German word. We learned the meaning of it on our trip to Berlin. My German flatmate Max describes it as: facing the past and taking responsibility of it.

We had a wonderful time in Berlin, Germany! Since our flight departed at 6:45am from the East Midlands airport + about 1.5-2 hours of travel time, I set my alarm for 2:30am so I could shower/get ready. Excitedly I woke up around 2am and figured there was no use going back to sleep. Around 3am I ensured my 2 flatmates Max and Tom were awake via WhatsApp and got my things together to head down to the kitchen to meet them and try to leave our flat by 4am to walk to the city center to catch the airport bus. When I came into the kitchen I found Tom cooking a full English breakfast at 3:30am! I couldn’t help but laugh – he said he was craving it although I couldn’t imagine eating such a heavy meal so early in the morning. I made a piece of toast and rushed the boys along to make it out the door by 4am. We caught the Sky bus to the airport and I was surprised to see about 20 early risers come and go from the bus presumably on their way to work. When we arrived about an hour later at the airport we met our 4th travel companion, Hannah, my coursemate. We all walked through the airport toward security repacking our liquids and chugging our water bottles on the way. Once at security we almost got through without a hiccup until Tom realized one of his shoes was missing! I asked a gentleman putting on brown leather dress shoes if the black shoe in his conveyor belt bin was his and he said no but it was his son’s. Where had Tom’s shoe gone?! We asked TSA and they took a broom beneath the machines and brushed out Tom’s shoe – what a terrible start to the trip that would’ve been to lose a shoe! We meandered through the airport and made our way to the gate. East Midlands is a small airport and on our way I noticed some converters for sale and then realized I had brought my converter but didn’t change the plug from UK to Germany….DAMNIT. At the shops in the airport the American to European converters were around £10 so I didn’t buy one. Luckily, I had a portable charger for my phone and my friends had the converters that accepted USBs. We waited in line at the gate and when it was time to board the plane the gate agent checked my boarding pass and said “Uh oh, you don’t have a stamp”…She looked to the other gate agent and said “She’s an American and didn’t get her visa checked” My heart sunk for a second but thankfully she let me through without the stamp. WHEW! Another close call! I would have been so upset if they hadn’t let me board the plane. I mentioned it to my friends and made a mental note to check with the RyanAir desk on the way back home.

Because it was a RyanAir flight it was super cheap! Only $67 roundtrip! Also, because it was cheap none of us paid extra to select our seats so we were scattered throughout the plane. I love European flights because in just a couple hours you’re in a completely different country! The flight was about 2 hours (plus a 1 hour time difference). I read my book - The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls - and took about an hour nap which was much needed. When we landed it was about 9:40am local time. We made our way to the train which would be a 30 min ride into Berlin. We got off the train at Alexanderplatz which is a large public transport hub – one we’d grow to learn and love quickly. Hannah and I were staying at Wombat’s Hostel near the Rosa-Luxemburg Platz (platform) and since when we booked only girls’ rooms were available – so the boys booked a hostel called EastSeven just a 10 minute walk away from ours. Since check-in time wasn’t until the afternoon Hannah and I dropped our bags off – happy to rid ourselves of their weight and then walked with the boys to drop their bags off.

We had only one real order of business at that point and that was to EAT. We started by walking toward the city center while looking for ATMs along the way so I could pull out Euros. After a little sight-seeing I’ll admit I was getting a bit hangry and just wanted us to find any place to eat so we settled on an Italian restaurant that was nicely decorated with wicker chairs and red blankets. I asked if we could sit outside which everyone kindly obliged even though it was chilly! We ate pizza and pasta and drank beer cheersing ‘PROST’ to our first meal in Berlin!

After eating, Max had arranged a free walking tour for us starting at Brandenburg Gate in the city center. Since we were running short on time we hopped on the metro to get there. Standing in the city center was beautiful. A lot had changed since WW2. We were given a numbered ticket from our tour guide and broken up into groups – our tour was in English of course – and our tour guide was from Spain! His English was flawless and he said he originally came to Berlin to study but had ended up loving it so much he stayed. He started by discussing the Brandenburg Gate; he told us that right where we were standing in what was formerly known as the “Death Strip”….uh what? Well, because of where the Berlin Wall was erected there was space between East and West Berlin where people trying to escape East Berlin were often shot and killed because they were trying to get to ‘freedom’ on the West side. The wall was built by the GDR and stood for 28 years. Something interesting about the GDR lasting 28 years is that we were in Berlin exactly 28 years after the wall had been torn down – which was easy math for me since it’s my age. The wall was torn down the year I was born (1989).

The Brandenburg Gate reminded me of the Arc de Triumph in Paris and has a lot of historical significance because it is located right between East and West Berlin. We then passed through the gate toward our next destination: Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This was one of the most interesting parts of the tour, as you will be able to see in the photos I upload – this memorial consists of concrete slabs, varying in height, laid out in a grid-like pattern. Our tour guide challenged us to think about the meaning behind this memorial and allowed us to walk through it to the other side. What I realized when we were walking through is that the ground sloped inward and the further we walked toward the center – the higher the concrete slabs rose above our heads. Soon enough we were completely dwarfed within the memorial. When we came out at the other side our tour guide wanted us to understand the beginnings of the Holocaust. He pointed to a concrete slab near the edge of the monument that was flat, flush with the sidewalk, and said “This is how the Holocaust started – hate speech, people turning a blind eye, small things that eventually led to the murder of millions of Jews and others”. I got chills…because it feels like this is happening again. But this time it’s starting in America.. under the rule of Trump. I for one, won’t stand for it which is why I’m trying to continuously show by supporting women, people of color, intersectionality, LGBTQ+, the disabled, etc. by attending the women’s march and (for lack of a better term) staying woke in America’s current political shit storm.

Next our tour guide led us to a muddy parking lot, wet from recent rainfall. We laughed when he said “I bet you’re wondering why a boring parking lot is on our tour today” but what he said next was astonishing…where we were standing was right atop Hitler’s bunker! Our tour guide described how Hitler and his wife Eva committed suicide in the bunker after they learned the war was lost and then their bodies were identified later with dental records and the bunker was blown up and sealed. It was then decided to make Hitler’s bunker an unremarkable spot. No monument or memorial was placed there because Hitler was, of course, on the wrong side of history. So it seemed fitting that a parking lot was placed there.

Next we stopped at a café about halfway through the tour to give our feet a break and have a cold beer. My German roomie Max found his favorite beer in the cooler and said I had to try it (which of course I did!) so we sipped our beers and then were told we had to keep moving a few minutes later. I wasn’t finished with my beer and Max said that was okay I could take the glass bottle of beer with me…WHAT? Amazing! In Germany you can drink alcohol in the street. He said you leave glass bottles underneath or next to the trash so the homeless people can return them to stores for money. For example when you buy a plastic bottle of water from a grocery store in Germany – it costs 19 cents + 25 cents. 19 cents for the water and 25 cents refunded once the bottle is returned to the store. America has similar practices but not as good of a system as Germany!

Next stop on our walking tour: the Berlin Wall! We came out of the café to a busted up, decrepit concrete wall. Our tour guide described a daring escape made by a family who hid in a tall building near the wall until the middle of the night where they threw a makeshift grappling hook and ziplined over the wall! He said once they were over the wall in the West they were safe – no one could send them back to the East Side.

After that we walked to an area called ‘Checkpoint Charlie’ named after the letter “C” in the NATO alphabet. It was very interesting to see a large photo of an American soldier mounted in the middle of the intersection, formerly a crossing point in the Berlin Wall for allied forces. Our tour guide explained this crossing point almost became the starting point of WW3 due to a U.S. and Soviet tank standoff due to a misunderstanding in 1961. The dispute was because of an American diplomat trying to enter East Berlin when German guards stopped him. Luckily, our president at the time – JFK peacefully negotiated us out of the standoff before a single shot was fired.

At this point it was starting to get dark and our feet were starting to hurt so we went on to the last 2 stops on the walking tour. Second to last was the “Square of Tolerance”, where 2 beautiful churches were erected next to each other with differing religions. The point Berlin was trying to make after tearing down the wall was that it welcomed the coexistence of different religions and people in the city. Finally, our last stop on the tour was a large plaza with beautiful views of Humboldt University of Berlin.

After the walking tour we went back to officially check into our hostels and get freshened up before dinner. Hannah and I met at the rooftop terrace, aptly named “Wombar” to use our free drink coupons given by our hostel before dinner. Then we met up with the boys and took the train to town. Max took us to get burgers and fries which were delicious and we were very hungry. I was so exhausted from being up since 2am that morning that I didn’t feel like going out so we called it a night around 11pm.

The next morning we were up at a decent hour and met the boys for breakfast. I ate fresh fruit, muesli, and yogurt as well as a cheesy breadstick which were delicious! Then Max said we would explore town – Tom said he wanted to buy a new hat since it was a bit chilly in Berlin and us girls wanted to look around to shop. Near Alexanderplatz we dinked around, poked our heads into a few stores, and enjoyed the view of the Alex TV Tower (an iconic symbol of Berlin). Then Max wanted us to head to another neighborhood via bus to walk around and see local shops. Hannah had been dying to try currywurst so we figured we could find some for lunch. We stumbled upon a little indoor market and had a look inside. We sampled some organic-vegan “treats” that tasted a bit like dog food BLEH and had to pay 50 cents to use the restroom inside but then decided to treat ourselves to a beer because why not? We were on vacation! We took our beers to the street and walked around the plaza and then over to the food trucks where we finally got to try currywurst! I got a vegetarian one and it was delicious! I let everyone taste mine and we all agreed it tasted just like meat! Currywurst is basically just sausage drenched in curry flavored ketchup (and fries if you desire). After we ate it was late afternoon and we decided to head back to the hostel for a quick rest and to get ready for the pub crawl! Back in my room I met a nice girl named Sonne from the Netherlands. I invited her to come with us for dinner because she was in Berlin alone and only for one night. She agreed and we met up with the boys to walk to a local German restaurant. After we walked there Max reported the restaurant had a sign up saying they were closed for a formal party so we trekked to another spot nearby and got a table.

We talked and laughed a bit over beer and delicious food. I ordered the gorgonzola penne pasta which was delicious and filling. Then we were off to our pub crawl starting at a bar right next to our hostel called CCCP (I have no idea what that stands for). We got our wrists stamped and ordered drinks at the bar. Included in our pub crawl was 6 shots along the way – little did we know they’d be Jägerbombs and straight vodka (gross). The 2nd bar was a ping pong bar! None of us played but we watched as all the people surrounded the table rotating in a circle so each one had a chance to hit the ball across – if you missed a shot then you were out until there were only 4 people left to play at the end. It was fun to watch and apparently a hidden spot in Berlin. The 3rd bar was an “absinthe” bar. The boys wanted to try absinthe and I was annoyed the pub crawl would take us there because real absinthe is illegal and it’s just a scam for tourists to buy overpriced shots. My friends and I had tried to find the real thing in Paris when we were there in 2014 but to no avail. The boys ended up getting “absinthe” and I have a video of them trying it - Tom’s face says it all: he took one sip and scrunched up his face “Yuck!”. The next stop on our pub crawl was a club with many different rooms and each had a different variety of music. We stayed and danced to Despacito (which was then subsequently stuck in my head the entire next day) and then wanted to go to the final club. Hannah and I enjoyed the last club the most. It was an eccentric looking African bar and club with great music and we got a friendly welcoming vibe from. We danced for a while but then the boys wanted to go back and get their coats because they left them at the previous club. Hannah and I were tired anyway and seeing as it was 3:30am we figured it was time for bed. The boys got off the metro and Hannah and I changed trains to head home. Little did we know we had gotten on going the wrong direction – whoops. When we reached the end we got off and rode the metro the other way back to our hostel.

The next morning we all slept in a little and while waiting to meet the boys for breakfast, Hannah and I decided to go get coffee across the street. This was our final full day in Berlin and we didn’t want to waste any time! When the boys met up with us we walked to a cute café to try their signature bagel sandwiches. I ordered an avocado/veggie bagel that was delicious. Then Max said he was taking us to the Wall Museum/East Side Gallery. The East Side Gallery is a stretch of the Berlin Wall that has been beautifully painted in murals. Max kindly read me the poems and quotes that were in German and it was a truly moving experience. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. After viewing the entire East Side Gallery we walked across the street for a bite to eat at a large train station. Hannah and Tom got currywurst and I finally got a pretzel with butter + chives, it was sooo yummy! Then I bought a tiramisu ice cream cone, my favorite.

After that Max wanted to take us to a main plaza to see the Berlin Cathedral. The cathedral was beautiful and right across the Spree River was a cute little outdoor art market on “Museum Island” (which isn’t really an island). The art market was one of my favorite parts of the day because it’s nice to see local artsy goods being sold. They had beautiful prints of Berlin, crocheted hats and gloves, and other touristy knickknacks. After the art market we had tickets to the DDR Museum (which was confusing because the DDR Museum is about the GDR – German Democratic Republic and I don’t know what DDR stands for even after Googling it). This museum was really cool because it was set up to interact with. We learned a lot about socialist society which was both interesting and a little scary (it made me dislike Bernie Sanders a bit more). Since everyone was “equal” it took somewhere between 10-20 years just to be given the one and only car available to the public - the Trabant. Everyone was encouraged to participate in sports (said to increase German pride), educated about socialism, and lived in identical apartments. In some ways socialism was good for the general population but what struck me as unfair is that the authorities were given special treatment, perks, bigger apartments, luxury-type food and goods made in Germany but primarily exported and not buyable by the public. It really made me appreciate some of the freedoms America offers.

After our long day we again went back to our hostels to freshen up before dinner. FINALLY we were going out for a traditional German meal. Max’s mom and brother recommended a restaurant about 30 minutes away by train and it was well worth the journey. The restaurant seated us right away, their specialty was spätzle which is basically potato-pasta. I ordered 2 glasses of wine, a side salad, and mushroom spätzle with cream sauce. IT WAS SOOOOOOO DELICIOUS! We all shut up the moment the food arrived and stuffed our faces. After we had our fill, Hannah had the nice idea of going around and saying our favorite and least favorite parts of the trip. I said my least favorite part was forgetting my outlet converter for Germany (which was really no big deal) and my favorite part of the trip was probably the 2nd day where we walked around the city, tried currywurst, took photos, and just had a chill day with good company. After dinner we headed back to our hostels, Hannah and I snuck the guys up to the Wombar for a couple drinks and we ended up playing pool with Sonne and another guy until it was time for bed, it was a really nice way to end the night.

The next morning when I got up I was feeling a little sad it was our last day. I got showered and dressed and was up in my bunk doing my makeup when my adorable bunkmate who was an older Japanese woman gave me 2 coupons for free breakfast at Wombar (which doubled as an all you can eat breakfast buffet in the morning). She said she would love to join Hannah and I but she hadn’t slept well and was going to stay in bed. I was up pretty early so I figured I’d go upstairs to the bar and read my book and have some coffee while I waited for everyone to meet me for breakfast. Hannah came up first and a little later the boys came over. The buffet was really good! They had hardboiled eggs, all kinds of bread, fruit, cheese, veggies, cereal, yogurt, juice, and coffee. I made a veggie and cheese panini sandwich with the hot press, then took a piece of fruit for later. Since our flight home wasn’t until the afternoon we had the morning to see a little bit more of the city. Max wanted to take us to see the Parliament building and a picturesque view of the Berlin Cathedral and the Spree River. We took some really great pictures in front of Parliament building which has a clear domed roof. The clear dome meant to symbolize government ‘transparency’ (take notes America). Shortly after that it was time to grab our bags and head to the airport. We hopped on the train for the 30 minute ride to the airport and when we arrived we discovered our flight was delayed by 20 minutes. We figured that was enough time to squeeze in one last beer and Hannah got one last currywurst! The flight home was quick, Max and I somehow got seated next to each other and he slept the whole time and I read my book. I was exhausted when we arrived back to East Midlands and we had a group hug before we parted ways with Hannah and then the boys and I found the bus back to Notts city center. We figured out we had walked 70,000 steps over the previous 3.5 days which equates to just under 30 miles! No wonder our feet were sore.

All in all it was a successful trip, Hannah got to eat currywurst and practice her German, this was Tom’s first hostel experience, and Max enjoyed being back in his home country in one of his favorite German cities. As for me, I can check Germany off my bucket list! I truly enjoyed the weekend and look forward to my next adventure which will be……NYE IN LONDON! I’m going on this adventure solo but my roommate Lauren lives in London so I may see her while I’m there. Stay tuned for photos from Berlin!

P.s. I got the job at Revs de Cuba! I’m excited to start working there as a host! I had orientation, training, and a team meeting turned rager this week! My coworkers and bosses sure can drink! I am just waiting on my application for a National Insurance Number which will enable me to work. Yay!

1 note · View note