Ich bin heute ins Starbucks gegangen

Now, if you know me, you know I that when I travel, I don't do chains, or McDonalds, or anything like that. I like to do what the locals do. To that effect, there's still magic marker on my shoulder from last night to prove it. The story of it isn't for general consumption, but if you see me, you'll have to sing for me the first verse of "99 Luftbalons" auf Deutsch in order for me to tell it to you. Trust me, it's part of the story. If Homer Simpson can do it, so can you. But I digress. So when I did go to a Starbucks in Berlin, you know there's a good reason for it.

I finally got to do some sightseeing today. And man, meine Füsse schmerzen! I started off at Potzdammerplatz. Formerly a huge section quartered off by the Berlin Wall, now the freed area has become a major hub of commerce, where many international headquarters are based. But, they did have a memorial to the wall was, including large sections of the wall, and stone was set into the streets and sidewalks to show where the wall once stood. There was a memorial near by of the people who had died attempting to cross it. The story of it was quite depressing. And so for a little pick me up, I went and got myself a Vanilla Latte. Not just from any Starbucks, but one that stood in the former "Death Zone" of the Berlin Wall. I considered it my little "Fuck you, Commies. Yay, Capitalism!" I felt a lot better after that!

So I ended up walking all over the place. I checked out the new Memorial for the Murdered European Jews. I don't know that it's having the effect to most people that the creator intended. However, one is encouraged for walk through it. It reminds me a lot of a field of train cars, like those that carried the Jews away in the first place. When you come to the center, you have this feeling of being trapped, that you cannot see the sites around you, just only the sky above, the blocks too high to traverse. It carried its weight on me.

I went to the Brandenberg Gate, even waited a half an hour to go to the top of the Bundestag, the German legislature (more akin to our House of Representatives). The new German government took the Bundestag and put this huge glass dome on the top, and you can see right down into the chamber. It's build on the idea that government should be open, and thus, there are windows everywhere. Plus you can see much of Berlin from the top. No sign of Angie though. (Merkel) Still I'm very glad I did it.

I walked down to Alexander Platz into what was the former East Berlin. There are cranes everywhere in Berlin, especially in the former East. The road to Alexander Platz (formerly the main train station for East Berlin) is now covered in new hotels and embassies. In fact, the new American embassy is on it (you might thing appropriately enough where the Wall once stood). But it doesn't take long to see signs of the old. The Russian Embassy is shortly into it, and Aeroflot right door, still in their original buildings.

But East Berlin has been changing at a furious rate. I found it incredibly ironic that there was Galleria right in the shadow of the Alexander Platz tower, and a McDonalds and Burger King right in the Alexander Platz station.

Photos are now available, ohne Kaptionen for now. I'll enter those later, especially as several are needed. For example, the thing on my bed pillow is a thing of gummibears, not a condom, as Paul asked. In either way, they knew I was coming. :-) You might have to look at the detailed picture for many of them, and I highly recommend you do!

Blogdatum: Montag, 04.09.2006