A Divided City

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Berlin...what an incredible city. Every single traveler i spoke to raved about the place and i just couldn't believe how or why it could be so great. but Berlin really was that great. firstly, it's such a vibrant city...always something going on. underground art exhibits, every sort of music scene imaginable...punk is alive!! and the history doesn't just surround the city...it engulfs it. the unsuspecting streets, buildings, parks and neighborhoods have lived through so much. a hotel acorss from my hostel: where hitler had once ordered jews to be kept, a parking lot and park: the site of hitler's bunker, a line of stones through the middle of an intersection: the site of the Berlin wall. if you didn't know...you'd never even suspect the underlying dark history. the main drag, lined with impressive museums, monuments and office buildings, was once the site of hitler's marching troops...ya know...his birthday celebrations and such. the street was actually widened to accommodate a 16 soldiers walking shoulder to shoulder...all nicely goose-stepping to hitlers eerie delight. not to mention that when you walk down the street you can still see evidence of shrapnel damage on the sides of buildings. if you didn't look closely you wouldn't notice. thousands of tourists pass along these streets, casually snapping photos. here one giant piece of history just leads into another...the Berlin Wall. their are sections of the wall that are preserved as monuments and art exhibits. walking along next to the wall was crazy. i really can't think of a better word...just crazy...thinking about it. looking into the remaining guard towers...the barbed-wire...  Right here...people were clamoring for their life...trying desperately to escape to the west. quite moving. weird to think that this wall, that oppressive, physically menacing symbol of war, control, and division is now sold in tiny pieces throughout tourist shops. there is so much that transpired in berlin that it is overwhelming. sometimes it is hard to imagine any of the atrocities of history actually happening...but being in berlin...you realize...wow...right here. it was right here. you definitely have to breathe in the harsh reality and reflect on it before moving on. otherwise you're just ignoring the processes that have brought this city, the entire country really, into it's current state. definitely a city still defining itself... continuing to reconstruct and remember all that has happened.

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i did two tours while in the city and both were (just as you would imagine) packed with information. very knowledgable...felt like i should have been taking notes. one of the guides actually lived in Berlin (illegally moved there) in 1988 to join the revolution, ran an illegal underground newspaper and was there with his bare hands to tear the wall down when it finally fell in '89. it was amazing hearing accounts of the east/west division from someone who lived through it...fascinating and frightening. every time i asked this guy why he had done something or what he believed he would just say "revolution!" or "for the revolution!"...hardcore dude. it's so difficult to cram everything into a little blog...wish i had more time to better articulate everything that i saw or felt because it really was moving.

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on the lighter side of things...i did find some cool punk music stores where i hung out and listened to local music for hours and even chatted with a punk guy about the scene...comparing music, etc...wish i could have stayed longer. i also found a veggie fast food restaurant! katie...where were you??! i was excited...went on a pub crawl that was some good fun. saw a bit of the bar scene and tasted the local brews.

Berlin...a war torn city, a divided city and now a city vibrantly moving on without forgetting the past