Well yesterday was an amazing time. I met up with Jeremy and Christine, Jeremy plays on my rugby team and his wife is just a wonderful rugby wife, she takes care of us all. Jeremy has a friend living here Rike. He met her in high school when she came to the US to be an exchange student. We all met in Rike's neighborhood, a former east Berlin neighborhood. Walls filled with graffiti, some still abandoned buildings and the slight glimspe of gentrification defined this neighborhood. At first glance it might seem scary and unfriendly but as Rike and her partner Hendrick (no need to marry in Germany, their baby is due in 3 weeks and they get all the benefits a married couple would get...) showed me, their neighborhood is this vibrant young and uncaring neighborhood, something I would come to define East Berlin.
After gorging on a wonderful all you can eat buffet at a local restaurant for breakfast (fish sticks anyone?!), Rike wisked us to the true east side of Berlin to show us the last standing pieces of the Berlin Wall. Rike lived in East Berlin all of her life, except for when she came to the US. She is what i would imagine most east berliners are, free spirited, loves to learn and loves to show off their city. When I mentioned my hesitance toward speaking english she quickly quipped that Germans are language vampires, they always jump on the chance to speak another language, they had to learn it so they tend to love to practice it when they can!
From Karl Marx Strasse, a soviet era boulevard that came to define East Berlin in the 40-50's, we met up with Hendrich, her partner. Hendrich works for a representative in Parliment and so he was kind enough to give us a private tour of the place. If anything signifies Germany's new philosphy on government, it is Parliment. The Reichstag Building, holding nothing of the original except for the facade itself is a wonder. Sir Norman Foster designed the new interior with the theme of transparency. Glass is everywhere, the entire Plannery Chamber is see through it seems, letting the public scrutinize their proceedings. Unlike the US you are allowed into these facilities with just a minor security pass. You are allowed to take pictures everywhere, without feeling like you are being watched. The coupala on top was amazing as well. Clad in glass, this coupala is not only an architectural wonder but functional too. The mirrors attached to it funnel light into the planery chamber down below. The heat energy is captured to heat the building in the winter and is used to cool the building in the summer as well. This is the Trigeneration Principle that Germany has adopted in many of their energy initiatives.
The parliment grounds also includes offices for the representatives and a library for them to access periodicals and historical records, which in sheer size is the third largest library in the world. There is also a kindergarten on the premises too, however this isnt for representatives but for the workers that keep the building running, which i thought was a great idea.
We walked past the Brandenburg Gate before doing the tour and as we did a large protest was starting about milk costs in Germany. Thousands of farmers and sympathizers gathered in front of the gate to protest the government's fixed pricing that is leaving farmers empty handed for their hard work. I kind of wanted to join in, it isnt a vacation until you have participated in a protest! The interesting aspect of this was not the protesters themselves but the dozens of large tractors farmers drove into the city and lined up in front of the gate as some weird parade/protest/rural military action. Quite the site!
Post tour Jeremy Christine and I decided we needed to see the city via boat. We took an hour tour of the city along the river, drinking beer and chatting about life in general, it was great catching up and was just an amazing day to see the city.
We met back up with Rike and Hendrich for dinner. They took us to a chinese restaurant that Rike used to work at when she was in school. The owner/waitress was very pleasant and we stuffed ourselves on lamb with broccoli, duck with celery, noodles with chicken and fried salmon in sweet/sour sauce. Very good food and it was on this wonderful street in a quiet east berlin neighborhood.
Rike asked us if we just wanted to get a couple beers and go to the canal to just hang out. She insisted this is what the cool kids do in Berlin. Naturally, being a cool kid, we went. Grabbing a six pack along the way, her quiet neighborhood that we started in that morning had turned into this lively street festival of sorts. Groups of friends walking around, hanging out in front of convenience stores (these stores have tables in front for you to enjoy your purchases...), people buying ice cream and pizza at 11PM, this is why the neighborhood was so quiet, they are all asleep at 8AM!
Further down we had to cross a park to get to the canal. Calling this space a park is creative. It is a former S Bahn (surface rail) train station/service yard that they removed the tracks years ago. what is left is pieces of underground tunnels, hasitly planted trees and camps of people hanging out for the night. What again might seem scary was rather scenery I mean here we are in the middle of a city and it feels like we are transported to a field in the country instantly.
Finally arriving at canal we all take our positions along the wall, opening our beers with lighters, key chains, belt buckles, anything that we can use as a lever. We chat about socialist politics, American English vernacular, architecture, US culture, German culture, anything really until we realize it is 1230Am and we are all tired (especially Rike the 8 mo pregnant woman! ) Wearily we all head on home, tired but happy to have this one crazy day seeing the city with Berlin natives.
as a note I will be posting on more blog about berlin, i just need to catch my train to prague and I want some time to put thoughts together on the culture and my take on the city in general.
Cheers!
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