Being in Berlin
After being on the road for a number of weeks, we've managed to gather two complete weeks in Berlin. The real reason that we managed it, was because we completed a 180 – the world came to us instead of us going to the world.
Today's entry will be a quick one, just featuring some photos and comments on the last two weeks and the visitors that we had.
First, not to be completely our done by Erin, who had a private meeting with the Federal Chancellor, I managed to have my own run in with "Angie" (as she of course asked me to call her) during the Tag der öffenen Tür – a day when even Joe-Schmo can enter into all the federal minstry buildings. If you were to look at my picture (and I was nearer), it matches that of the front page of all the German papers. The second picture shows tha back side of the new Kanzler-Amt on the River, something only accessible on this day. Notice how my picture looks just like the one that landed on all the papers the next day. (I might be ready for the next paparazzi tryouts!)
After Angie and I had some 1-on-1 face time, Erin got back into town. We took the opportunity on the second day of the open ministries to visit the Finance Ministry. I know that this doesn't sound like a wildly exciting tour, but as those of you can attest to, the Finance Ministry is a massive (no kidding, something like 4000 offices) Nazi relic that sits just .5 kilometers from the apartment. The history of the building is pretty sorted:
As if all that wasn't enough baggage and embarrassment, you have to deal with the occasional Tom Cruise fly-by because of the filming of his newest endeavor, in which Cruise portrays a famous martyr of the Nazi regime. (Truth be told, the way they closed down the street, spread dirt everywhere and then draped Nazi flags over the building was more than just a little spooky. Click here to see a picture.)
The best story told was of the theories about how this building survived the war when most of Wilhelm Straße was leveled. One says that the war generals between the Brits and Germans had a "Gentleman's Agreement" not to blow each other up; another says that bombers and their payloads were so amazingly inaccurate that is was shear luck that saved the building; and the last says that a building so large couldn't be wasted for the obvious landmark that it presented in the middle of Berlin (you know, "Fly to the Luftwaffe building, turn left, bomb the crap out of the Reichskanzlerei".).
Anyway, also spending so much time on the road made us more than just a little süchtig to see our friends in Berlin. So after getting back to Berlin, the first thing that we did, was to call some of them...and the first thing they did, was put us to work. As part of her project, Jessica (see Jessica Knapp) has set out to display one of her pieces, "Mauer Blumchen" (wall flowers), at least 7 times. This is not a small undertaking as the installation that was originally designed for indoors, contains a flower for every week that the Berlin Wall stood: (more than 1400 weeks).
So, with the promise of Mimosas at the success planting of 1400 hand-made porcellan flowers, we set to work. Occasionally, a local would have made the zig-zag course through the cemetery that is part of the Wall Memorial so that we could catch them interacting with Jessica.
On this same day, friends David and Tiffany made the long flight from Denver to Berlin. Their visit with us was short, too short, but it great to spend some time with them (the first time since leaving Colorado in June 2006). We putzed around Berlin, find a Biergarten here and there along the way. Before they ICE'd (train) back to Frankfurt so that they could start a 10 day auto tour of the country (in a 911s), we managed to get them into bed at Spindler and Klatt -- where getting into a huge bed is how you eat dinner or take your appertivs.
After being on the road for a number of weeks, we've managed to gather two complete weeks in Berlin. The real reason that we managed it, was because we completed a 180 – the world came to us instead of us going to the world.
Today's entry will be a quick one, just featuring some photos and comments on the last two weeks and the visitors that we had.
First, not to be completely our done by Erin, who had a private meeting with the Federal Chancellor, I managed to have my own run in with "Angie" (as she of course asked me to call her) during the Tag der öffenen Tür – a day when even Joe-Schmo can enter into all the federal minstry buildings. If you were to look at my picture (and I was nearer), it matches that of the front page of all the German papers. The second picture shows tha back side of the new Kanzler-Amt on the River, something only accessible on this day. Notice how my picture looks just like the one that landed on all the papers the next day. (I might be ready for the next paparazzi tryouts!)
After Angie and I had some 1-on-1 face time, Erin got back into town. We took the opportunity on the second day of the open ministries to visit the Finance Ministry. I know that this doesn't sound like a wildly exciting tour, but as those of you can attest to, the Finance Ministry is a massive (no kidding, something like 4000 offices) Nazi relic that sits just .5 kilometers from the apartment. The history of the building is pretty sorted:
- Nazis build it and maintain the Luftwaffe there;
- Some of the "Final Solution" meetings are heald there;
- Then the Soviets raid the building and take anything worth a penny;
- The DDR, hard up for cash and buildings, inhabits the building and maintains its ministries there;
- Oh, and the building is only (max) 50 feet from the Berlin Wall and freedom;
- Lastly, the BRD, also hard up for cash and buildings, has a major internal fight about which ministry to house in such a haunted building (no one volunteered).
As if all that wasn't enough baggage and embarrassment, you have to deal with the occasional Tom Cruise fly-by because of the filming of his newest endeavor, in which Cruise portrays a famous martyr of the Nazi regime. (Truth be told, the way they closed down the street, spread dirt everywhere and then draped Nazi flags over the building was more than just a little spooky. Click here to see a picture.)
The best story told was of the theories about how this building survived the war when most of Wilhelm Straße was leveled. One says that the war generals between the Brits and Germans had a "Gentleman's Agreement" not to blow each other up; another says that bombers and their payloads were so amazingly inaccurate that is was shear luck that saved the building; and the last says that a building so large couldn't be wasted for the obvious landmark that it presented in the middle of Berlin (you know, "Fly to the Luftwaffe building, turn left, bomb the crap out of the Reichskanzlerei".).
Anyway, also spending so much time on the road made us more than just a little süchtig to see our friends in Berlin. So after getting back to Berlin, the first thing that we did, was to call some of them...and the first thing they did, was put us to work. As part of her project, Jessica (see Jessica Knapp) has set out to display one of her pieces, "Mauer Blumchen" (wall flowers), at least 7 times. This is not a small undertaking as the installation that was originally designed for indoors, contains a flower for every week that the Berlin Wall stood: (more than 1400 weeks). So, with the promise of Mimosas at the success planting of 1400 hand-made porcellan flowers, we set to work. Occasionally, a local would have made the zig-zag course through the cemetery that is part of the Wall Memorial so that we could catch them interacting with Jessica.
On this same day, friends David and Tiffany made the long flight from Denver to Berlin. Their visit with us was short, too short, but it great to spend some time with them (the first time since leaving Colorado in June 2006). We putzed around Berlin, find a Biergarten here and there along the way. Before they ICE'd (train) back to Frankfurt so that they could start a 10 day auto tour of the country (in a 911s), we managed to get them into bed at Spindler and Klatt -- where getting into a huge bed is how you eat dinner or take your appertivs.
posted by Dave Suss at 7:31 PM
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