Weekend in Berlin and Potsdam

After a week of lesson planning, observing, and teaching, Berlin here we come! My sister who had flown in from London, joined us all at the Hauptbahnhof and off we went.
After checking into our very satisfactory hostel, we headed out for an Italian meal about 200 yds away. Our painting the town red would have to wait for the next night, as after dinner we collapsed in a heap in our room, and prepared ourselves for the Dr. Gommlich March around Berlin the next day.
It was a good job that we had prepared ourselves because the next day's tourist adventure began at 9.30am and ended at 12am. I think we saw every historical, political, social edifice in Berlin (plus tasting the good beer).

Just like many other cities in Germany, there is a lot of history that would be easy to sweep under the table because of the shame, but in each city we have visited so far the Jewish history is very openly displayed--Berlin being no exception. The photo above is the remains of the station through which thousands of Jews were transported to concentration camps. Outside the area is a large plaque detailing the year of transportation and the number of people who were removed from Berlin.

Many years after WWII, Germany commissioned an American artist to create a memorial to those who perished in the camps. The memorial is very symbolic: the blocks are various sizes of dull, gray, concrete signifying the different ages of the victims; the pathways in-between the blocks undulate and have road markings on them to represent the long, hard, march that the inmates experienced. The overall grayness of the monument, and the solitary tree, echo the dullness and monotony of life in the camps where neither love nor beauty existed. The claustrophobic atmosphere of the gaps between the gray blocks reflected the atmosphere in the camps where there was little chance of escape. I am sure that the artist thought long and hard about how make the memorial representative of the Jews' journey from freedom, to discrimination, and finally incarceration.

On to a happier note: Berlin is a very interesting city. It is situated on a river and is a mix of old and new. Remnants of the Wall have been left as a reminder of a time best forgotten, and it is still possible to have your passport stamped with the same stamps that were used on the passports of those who were allowed to cross from West to East and vice versa.
What better way to spend an hour of rest and relaxation, after a 5 hour Dr. Gommlich guided walking tour, than on a boat sauntering down the River Spree. We could have learned a lot from the guide on the boat if only he had known English (a potential customer for all we soon-to-be TEFL certificate holders!) However, everyone was glad to be able to sit down before the tour continued.

We eventually got back to the neighborhood near our hostel around 9pm and headed to the Sony Center to grab a well-deserved meal and some nice, cold, beer.
Our hostel (the more than adequate one) was aptly names "Three Little Pigs Hostel" and Debs and I were wondering whether "a huff, and a puff, would blow the house down" but luckily it didn't.
We left it early on Sunday morning for a train ride to Potsdam to visit Schloss Sanssouci, the summer palace of Frederick the Great of Prussia. It was well worth the visit! The sheer opulence of the grounds and buildings certainly made us realize the wealth of the Prussian Kings in the 18th century. One palace was purely for the staff that were needed to ensure that enough food was prepared, served, and cleared and that the palaces were cleaned and the grounds maintained.

This photo is of the main palace (of three). It was built on a hill with a magnificent view of the plebs going about their daily lives in the town. Frederick the Great was rather partial to wine and figs, and the terraces at the front of the palace are still strewn with vines and espaliered figs that provide a great first impression on the journey up to the front of the palace.
After our visit, we caught a tram to the old Dutch area of Potsdam that housed the artisans brought in by Frederick's minions to help build the Palace. The whole area has been renovated and now houses cute little shops, restaurants, and townhouses inside the Dutch-style buildings.
After lunch, we headed back to Berlin Hauptbahnhof where we caught the first of two trains back to Dresden.
So now it's back to the grindstone for another week and then............. Prague.