Another scorcher of a day here in Berlin. I swear its like the sun is out to get us. Whenever we are awake and want to do something its all like “I’m gonna be a jerk and shine on those clearly-already-hot tourists, muahahaha!” And then when we are finally exhausted and pass out in bed, the sun is mysteriously missing… Its akin to the barbaric nature of a cheetah, the fastest animal on the planet, taking down an injured antelope, who is inherently incapacitated, not that it could keep up with a cheetah anyway. Its like “C’mon sunny, I know we’re hella entertaining and all but, save the spotlight for when we really start performing.” Its like God’s cruel but fitting punishment for all those damned reality television series’.
Right, so other things happened today than just senseless cookery. We started off by going to Checkpoint Charlie and its corresponding museum containing lots of interesting things about the Berlin Wall and some clever-but-absurd (funny how those two run together) methods for surreptitiously crossing the border.
After a purposely quick walk through the souvenir shop and a quick bite, we made our way over to a public exhibit titled “The Topography of Terror.” This memorial to World War II is both next to a portion of the Berlin wall that has been preserved and in the place where the bastions of Nazi propaganda used to stand. It was all very interesting and informative but due to the outdoor nature of the exhibit, we were glad to find some refuge from the ever-hot sun.
Next up we stopped at a bookstore and caroused the English materials before stopping to watch a video about the history of Berlin. Afterwards, we checked the time and discovered it was siesta time and thusly hurried back to the hostel to catch a few Z’s and relax for a wee bit.
We ventured out to a riverside brewery-type place (Recommended by Rick, of course) for dinner and we were not disappointed. Lots of wurst and schnitzel to be had, and of course apple strudel for dessert. And some pretty good German pilsner, whatever it was.
From there, we walked over to the Holocaust Memorial, which was quite powerful in its own way. The rectangular columns vary in height from one to ten or so feet and really weigh down on you as you walk through. The precise symbolism is open for interpretation, our theories ranged from coffins to the organized extermination methods of the Nazis.
