Berlin part 2

 

 

Here are some remaining or refurbished buildings we liked.

We do not know why these people were protesting, but they were, they peaceful and surrounded by police. Must have been more police than protesters. But no problems occurred.

Here is the Victory statue that commemorates the 3 victories Germany had before WW I.

So, why did I start by saying this was a hard day? After finishing our full tour, we decided to see the Jewish Museum.

It was the product of one man who wanted to create something that would convey, not only the information, but the emotional impacts of the holocaust as well.

The museum is made up of two separate buildings with no obvious connection.

The buildings are connected by an underground tunnel, with no right angles, down sloping ceilings and upward sloping floors. There are many side corridors at weird angles, all to disorient, to frustrate and create anguish. One way out of the tunnel leads to a “garden” of pillars. The pillars are at a weird angle to the floor, which is at a weird angle to the walkway. It all made us dizzy. Which was expected, per the guide iPod. The picture could not show what it looked like or felt.

Another aspect the architect built into the building, was “voids”. These are spaces, from the bottom of the spaces to the very top, that were left empty. One of these voids is open to the public.

See the “rubble” on the floor? It is not rubble, but individual metal disks with anguished faces on them, each individually made and distinct.

We were encouraged to walk on them. They made clanking noises. A lot of clanking. Arleen responded to this experience as giving voice to the victims. Duane felt differently, as if he was inflicting additional pain to the victims. Either way, it was emotionally disturbing, as was intended.

One of the saving graces was the opportunity to express our own dreams for the future and write them on a card and put the card on a prayer tree.

Both of our cards echoed the same sentiment, peace and respect for every person.

Well, we were pretty used up by then and left to catch our on/off bus. We had traveled about 1 1/2 hours on the return bus when the driver stopped at a prescribed stop and told us he was done. We were VERY far from our hotel. As a matter of fact, we couldn’t really figure out where we were so we could catch a city bus back. The driver was a jerk and didn’t help at all. Fortunately there was a bus from another company at the same stop. We asked if we could board his bus, and he said not if we had a ticket from another company. So we were stranded, trying to find other transportation. It probably wouldn’t have been so bad had we both not been emotionally exhausted. Just when I was ready to cry, the bus driver from the second company let us ride with him to his last stop. It was not that close to our hotel, but we were happy to walk the rest of the way.

We took the whole next day off to recuperate.