The Love of My Life

Here it is: after countless [empty] promises of being delivered this account soon, a week and a half after my return, and mere hours before leaving my next jaunt, you have it.

Berlin.

To place this trip to Berlin in some sort of context, I'll have you know that I was a bit iffy about the prospect of heading this direction. Despite having German blood coursing through my veins, along with two German names to my name (Hahn and Oachs), I still was not feeling the draw towards this city. In addition to this, I had thought that my time spent in the Czech Republic would be a time where I would get to explore Eastern Europe, and was thus uncertain about going into Western territory.

How wrong I was. Berlin is the love of my life.

It's entirely possible that I would have felt differently about Berlin had I been coming from an equally Westernized city, say Minneapolis. Had I, coming from Minneapolis, come to Berlin after hearing myself rave about it, I would have felt let down. "What is so exciting about this city?" I would have asked my other self. "This city is okay. Maybe not the greatest." And that would just show how ignorant Minneapolis-Me would be.

After two months in Prague, a city renowned for its beauty, the beauty that is the result of the accumulation hundreds of years of various architectural styles. And after all that old, I was dying for some new.

And that is why I love Berlin. It is new. It is modern. It has buildings made of glass. The streets are wide, the buildings tall, and the cafes are coffee shops, not actual restaurants. Prague is a beautiful city, yes, but Berlin is the most comfortable city I have been in for at least two months.

I suppose some would look down on me for loving Berlin so much because it felt like home, because the public transportation was reliable, because the streets were clean, because so many people I ran into spoke English, and for finding the German language so much more attractive (and practical) than Czech. They'd say I wasn't appreciating an untouched culture.

I don't care though. Berlin was my first contact with modernity. For the past two months I have been living in a UNESCO world heritage site, and sometimes, SOMETIMES I really enjoy feeling like I'm in the States. I really enjoy the States and I really enjoy glass.

This is why I like Berlin.

Even before the train pulled into the station, I knew that Germany was coming home for me. I immediately felt my German blood boiling in my veins, happy to finally be home, as we travelled across the beautiful German countryside. It was immediately obvious to us when we were in Germany. Everything looked a lot nicer. And, I would like to add, like Minnesota.

In our train car, it was just Eric, me, and some German guy who slept the entire way. Towards the end of the trip, he started helping us out, offering us his services in figuring out which Berlin station it was that we were supposed to get off at. When we got into Berlin Hauptbanhoff train station, we knew that it was going to be a good trip. Eric and I looked at each other and started laughing in glee.

We kept repeating over and over between our laughs, "Oh my god. This is amazing."

The man in our car laughed at how excited we were. My excitement was further heightened when I discovered at dinner that night that you can order tap water (read: free water) at restaurants. This never happens in Prague. Plus, all the waiters spoke English and understood us when we spoke English.

So, this is a brief synopsis of why I liked Germany. I'm sorry it's not more entertaining--it is what it is, and it's all I could do while also packing for Switzerland. To see what I did while in Berlin, please refer to the earlier post that lists all the sights I saw.

Berlin Guide Book Breakdown

No points or details here, just a quick synopsis of what the Berlin weekend entailed. More info to follow, but right now you get the guidebook version.

Friday:
-Checkpoint Charlie
-Berlin Wall
-Museum of Terror
-Film Museum
-Jewish Museum

Saturday:
-Modern Art Museum
-Pergamon Museum
-Reichstag
-Brandenburg Gate
-Inglorious Basterds (amazing and in English)

Sunday:
-German History Museum
-New Gallery
-Holocaust Memorial
-Bookburning Memorial

In Review:
Museums: 7
Memorials: 2
Free Things: 6 (including the 2 free memorials listed above)
Quentin Tarantino Movies: 1


I would also just like to point out that my blog now has (approximately) 200 views. How many of them are from me, I do not know. But this is still a monumental occasion. Three cheers all around.

Just a Couple Comments

1) I enabled the commenting thing so that anyone can comment. I did this a while ago, but people haven't figured it out yet. So if you want, you can comment. As long as they are worthwhile comments. Otherwise, save your time and mine. Actually, that's a lie. I don't care if they're worthwhile or not.

2) I am going to Berlin tomorrow. Yay.

3) In case you didn't read the Transitive Property post, it is Fall here. It is Fall and it is cold. I am a big fan of the Fall. Last year I set up Fall appreciation events to ensure that I would be able to fully appreciate Fall. And now, here it is again, and the thing that I most want to do is curl up in my St. Scholastica Sweatshirt, Carleton sweatpants, brown sneakers and think about my birthday. But I can't. Biggest packing mistakes:
-No pullover sweatshirts. I didn't bring any. Instead I brought cardigans. Fashionable, but unpractical when it's cold. I thought I was being smart--cardigans take up less space. Instead I was being stupid. More space=more warmth. I'm from Minnesota. I should know this. Obviously I don't. I think that my St. Scholastica sweatshirt is my favorite.
-No sweatpants. I brought a pair of "lounge pants" I bought at H & M to use as "travel pants" (lounging and traveling are two very different things, though, oddly enough, they work well for both). The only problem is that...they're not sweatpants. And they're not warm. Once again, as with the cardigans, I went for the more fashionable and smaller (therefore, seeingly more practical) route, rather than the bulky and warm route. My Carleton sweatpants are the best for intense lounging.
-No extra sneakers. This one I completely blame myself. I brought a fair number of shoes (I think seven) and I thought that that would be enough. But I seem to keep finding myself wishing I had brought another pair of sneakers, in addition to the two I'd already brought. If I had thought about the shoes I packed, I would have realized that a pair of Pumas with the bottoms falling off and a pair of Chucks that are also falling apart at the seams and that are a bit too small so that if I wear them too long they draw blood are not the most long-lasting shoes to be wearing while travelling around Europe. Instead I should have brought my brown and blue Tigers that are very much not falling apart, offer more support on the bottoms of my feet than the other two combined, and served me well in Ireland.

Just so you all know where I'm at.