thereandhereandbackagain-blog

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15 Oct-17 Oct 2018

𝓑𝓔𝓡𝓛𝓘𝓝 (part 2/3)

So, yes. World famous concert hall. It was built in the 1800s, but was severely damaged during WW2 and rebuilt in the DDR during the 70s, very close in style to Schinkel’s (who had redisigned it after it burned down in 1817. He also designed a good number of the historical buildings and monuments I saw that day) original designs. It’s amazing inside. 

BEAUTIFUL interior decor. 

It has a PIPE ORGAN BUILT INTO THE WALL.

I mean just look and the details.

And i was there dressed like this:

Not because I don’t have clothes appropriate for a classy night at a world famous concert hall. No, I do. The problem was that I...forgot we were leaving for Berlin at 12:30pm on Friday and not Saturday like I’d originally thought. So after finding this out at 11:15am after getting out of an exam, I’d had to race home on my bike, through some clothes in my backpack, and get back to the university so I could get on the bus with everyone. Which was fine, in theory. I made it there. However, I’d forgotten to pack some things. For instance, my

phone charger

enough shirts for the weekend

another pair of pants

and of course

concert hall appropriate attire

I literally wore the same pair of joggers through Friday and Saturday (I had remembered to pack basketball shorts to sleep in so those were Sunday’s look) and cycled between the NASA shirt also pictured and another NASA shirt Friday-Sunday. I remembered almost all the important things, but was missing a few key items. Which resulted in what you see above. The actual distinguished regular concert attendees were unimpressed at the sight of a 19-year-old hooligan looking like this walking among them. 

However, the orchestra was angelic, and a world renowned opera singer accompanied them for a few pieces, and it was brilliant. 

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15 Oct.-17 Oct. 2018

A𝓑𝓔𝓡𝓛𝓘𝓝 (part 1/3)

So I spent a weekend in Berlin! (Pictured behind, Schloss Charlottenburg) 

Most of Friday was spent on a bus, so it was fairly uneventful, but Saturday we went on a walking tour of the all of the historic sights of the city, starting near Museeninsel and ending all the way at Brandenburg Tor. 

Since it was Saturday, there were all sorts of flea markets opened in the main squares (fun fact: if you need to get a phone charger, most of the booths will sell just about every kind of cord manufactured in the last twenty years).

There were also races and marathons all weekend long, so it was incredibly common to see people on bikes, rollerblades, scooters, or just on foot racing through the streets, which was incredibly entertaining. Museeninsel itself has beautiful landscaping and architecture aside from the museums themselves, with Grecian-style pillars and statuettes scattered throughout.

Fun fact about the pillars, if you look closely you can see the bullet holes from when the Soviet army marched through the city at the tail end of WW2. Work was also being done on the cathedral, so I didn’t get to visit that, but it was still beautiful (note the copper roofing) 

I also saw a pink palace:

Which is right across from this monument, die Neue Wache, which was once the guardhouse of Friedrich III of Prussia and later turned into a memorial, which has this statue with the caption “SPERREN VON KRIEG UND GEWALTHERRSCHAFT” (to the victims of war and tyranny). There’s a hole in the roof which is just over the statue so when it rains, it appears as if the Mother is crying. If you ever are in Berlin, go to Unter den Linden and just spend a few moments there.

Afterwards, we visited Humboldt University (known from its conception in 1823-1945 when it was closed as Friedrich Wilhelm University since it was built by FW3. It was reopened in ‘49 by the DDR and renamed), and viewed the square in where, during the Nazi regime, they burned thousands of books from the university’s library. There stands today a monument, an underground “library” where huge bookshelves stand empty in an inaccessible room. It always remains lit, and right before it is this plaque:

A quote from Heinrich Heine (whose books were burned in the square) from 1820, referring to another book in Germany history, but whose words held haunting prophecy. “Das war ein Vorspiel nur. Dort wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen.” ("This was but a prelude; where they burn books, they ultimately burn people.”)

“In der mitte dieses Platzes verbrannten am 10 Mai 1933 Nationalsozialistche Studenten die Werke hunderter freier Schriftsteller, Publizisten, Philosophen und Wissenschaftler.” 

 From there we wandered over to the Konzerthaus Berlin, which was surrounded on either side by “cathedrals,” one French

and one German

there was also a man with a big bubble pit letting kids blow massive bubbles which was really fun to watch and provided a whimsical atmosphere to the entire square.

I’ll come back to the concert hall.

We, of course, stopped by Checkpoint Charlie, which isn’t actually standing anymore, and actually...left me with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.

Although I didn’t take a picture of it, there was a mock set up of CPC where it once stood and it was manned by “US Soldiers” with a massive American flag which was...disrespectful, I felt. To the history and solemnity of the area. CPC represented the ultimate separation of families, a city, a country, an entire continent. And to see it cheapened to a tourist attraction with people playing dress up felt wrong. I spoke with my program’s director, who had accompanied on this trip and is herself German, and she shared my feelings, which was nice to know if only so that it confirmed that I wasn’t just making up a reason to be upset. From Charlie, it was a short walk to the massive still standing portion of the Wall. It was striking to see it in person and to read all the personal messages the people of West Berlin had once sprayed onto it. 

There’s more pieces of the Wall scattered throughout the city still standing, ofc, but that one unbroken stretch was awe-inspiring. 

And also a Rocket Bear (don’t ask why I don’t know).

After that we went to the Memorial of the Murdered Jews of Europe and walked through it, and the was its own moment of solemnity. I can’t describe the feeling of walking through the towering blocks of concrete, the feeling that I could wander through it forever. 

The Brandenburg Tor was the last stop of the Brandenburg Tour *ba dum tis* which was cool to see, albeit a bit crowded because the roller blade race was about to begin.

Also I saw the hotel Michael Jackson hung his son out of the window from which was dope.

After that the group split up for the remainder of the afternoon and I meandered my way through the city back to our hostel and then the neighborhood around it, which was fun. I saw a wedding down the street from my hotel, and a Lot of people had their cars parked so it blocked through traffic of the street and the entire wedding party was just dancing in the street it was amazing to watch for a few moments, although I felt it would be strange to take pictures without permission, so I don’t have any of that particular scene.

The neighborhood of my hostel was picturesque, though, so I have many pictures of the area

see? rollerbladers.

Before I knew it, it was time to regroup at the Konzerthaus Berlin, because we were going to actually see an orchestral performance there!

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8 Sept. 2018

Hamburg!

So I got a 3 hour walking tour of Hamburg and learned a lot about city history and some old cultural significances of certain things as well! That’s the Rathaus, it’s got a copper roof and that’s why it’s green. Fun fact, copper used to be used for roofing because it was a show of wealth and the more oxidized it was, the better a business man you were perceived to be. It got to a point where people used to pay homeless men to pee on their roofs to speed along the process. Designing the Rathaus took 44 years. Also if you go inside you can see a little sign that claims the Rathaus has more rooms than the Buckingham Palace, which isn’t actually true, an old mayor of Hamburg just had beef with the Queen.

Also check it, one of the oldest shopping malls in Europe, in Italian architectural style because his parents were Italian but the designer was Hamburg born.

Oh and here’s a fountain in the courtyard behind the Rathaus dedicated to the victims of the cholera epidemic that wiped out a massive portion of the city’s population. Because of that, Hamburg filters their water about four times before it comes out the tap, and all public water from fountains and whatnot is drinkable...except from this statue. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This door knocker on St. Peter’s Cathedral is also the oldest artifact from Hamburg, isn’t that dope. That’s really all I have to say about that.

This is St. Michael’s cathedral, which is Amazingly tall (I had to stand across the street well away from it to even get this picture). You can take an elevator to the top and you have an amazing view of the entire city. I didn’t do that because there was a massive line, but maybe the next time I go back. There’s a memorial in the bombed out now-courtyard in front of it which I would highly recommend seeing if you’re ever in town. 

Here’s some street art I enjoyed. We were also in town in time for a local festival, which means there was tons of live music and booths out in parts of the city, and one guy did this: 

(i also got this AMAZING pannfisch at this tiny [and i mean tiny] spot on the way to the Dungeon. It’s by the Belgian waffle place and if you can find it i Highly recommend stopping there.)

Canals and more bridge locks!

I also found this cool rug made of the leather patches of all these different brands of jeans (how many can you spot?)

After about four thousand miles of wandering (an exaggeration, but it felt like it) I circled back around the the Rathaus to meet back up with my group and headed back to the train station. 

I was glad the sky had cleared up a little bit, because then I got this amazing final shot.

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31 Aug-3 Sep 2018

so, unless you’re new here (in which case welcome!) y’all know that i’m studying abroad in lüneburg, germany (which is in niedersachsen for those who care). this is me.

it took 3 planes and 4 buses to get to where i needed to be (and boy was that a trip and a half)

lüneburg itself is a beautiful town. it’s 1000 years old (just celebrated its anniversary actually!) and has tons of history. fun fact, parts of the city are sinking because the whole thing sits on an old salt mine!

i love my walk from the bus stop to the university because it’s so pretty

this is the view from the main building of leuphana university (fun fact it looks like a spaceship)

and who needs to visit paris when we’ve got our very own lock bridge spanning the ilmenau river? (that’s a joke, paris was Gorgeous, but thats another story for another time)

there’s a statue of mark twain here for some reason as well. why? couldn’t tell you. nobody i’ve asked so far knows why, and while i could google it i’m sure, i feel like that would take away from the mystery a bit.

it is absolutely gorgeous here though. i wish i could tell you a bit more about the history, but, as my friends know, i have a tendency to get lost. Very. lost. which means that i unfortunately missed the first guided tour we got, so i’ll have to wait until january to share those fun facts. but, because i got lost, i ended up on the opposite side of town, which means i got to take the two pictures directly above, as well as these!

there’s so many amazing pieces of street art around the city, the architecture is beautiful, and the town is rich with history and culture. i love living here, and i can’t wait to share more of it with everyone