Berlin - Reichstag, Thai Park, Dom, and Topography of Terror

Reichstag building in Berlin - home of the German parliament

We started our day with a highly recommended tour of the Reichstag, where all laws are adopted. First and foremost, it is free. Reservations are required and at a minimum you must make them 2-3 days in advance.  Summer visitors will want to make them 6 weeks in advance.  Remember to bring your passport/identification.  The tour starts on the roof of Germany's parliament building and winds up into the glass dome - accompanied by an audio guide briefly explaining each important site within your surrounding view. 

The dome symbolizes that the people are above the government

The transparency of the glass represents the now transparent democratic state

The mirrored cone in the center reflects sunlight

Next we went out to Preussenpark - nicknamed "Thai Park" because Berlin's Thai population congregates there to picnic in its open, green space. Now they sell their yummy Thai food to the Berliners, so we went to enjoy their food.  It was delicious, better than most food I tasted in Thailand, and cheap - meat skewers, dumplings and spring rolls for a euro and noodle dishes 4 euro. 

From a distance, confused Chris asked, "So it's not a bunch of hobo tents?"  Then seconds later, walking behind us dad echoed, "Is that food or a homeless camp?"

Thai Park is an outdoor market for Thai delicacies - open daily (weather permitting) but most popular on Sundays

Sampling an array of homemade traditional Thai dishes

After lunch Chris and I went to check out the Berlin Cathedral, or "Dom."  Originally opened in 1905, the church was built to show off the power of the new German Empire.  After a WW II incendiary bomb destroyed the dome in 1944, it had a temporary roof and was under construction until the Lutheran church raised enough money and completed the restoration in 1993. We climbed up the dome for a 360 degree view of Berlin. 

The Berlin Cathedral is located on Museum Island

The impressive basilica is known as the "Protestant St. Peter's"

Enjoying the 360° view from the top of the dome

We met back up with the family and together went to the Topography of Terror, another free museum. Located on the site of the Gestapo and SS headquarters, it's a large space designed to explain the timeline of Hitler's forces coming to power - depicted through a lot of words and pictures.  I got lost in all the words, which were mostly about Heinrich Himmler, one of the people most directly responsible for the Holocaust and Hitler's right-hand man.

Topography of Terror and the biggest surviving piece of the outer wall

For our last meal in Berlin, we didn't want to miss out on the "best" doner kebab - a family favorite - so Jeremy and I were charged with waiting in line to try Mustafa's Gemuse Kebab.  It was tasty but whether the line is worth your wait depends on how busy you are and what else you could be doing with your time.  Jeremy and I didn't mind waiting together, enjoying a beer and each other's company, for 1 hour and 24 minutes. 

Made with chicken and roasted vegetables, Mustafa's kebab is a twist on the traditional kebab

Berlin Walking Tour

Today we went on a four-hour walking tour around Berlin. We learned about Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall, and the Holocaust Memorial. Two things I found particularly interesting: 1) walking on the grass is for people who don't iron their underwear, and 2) I had always pictured the wall as a line down a map, however, "East" and "West" Berlin do not refer to geographic locations but the political east and west.  Since Berlin was in the physical area deemed East Germany, a circle of the capital was sectioned off for West Germany, like an island surrounded by East Germany.

Berliners and tourists love the ampelmann - the iconic little green walking man protecting pedestrians on the streets of communist East Berlin

The Brandenburg Gate is a symbol of the tumultuous history of Europe and Germany

Checkpoint Charlie is famous as the place where the start of World War III was diverted. It was actually a military checkpoint and border crossing for Americans to enter West Berlin. Now sandwiched between McDonalds and souvenir stores, it stages - with actors and props - the checkpoint's appearance before the wall. 

Checkpoint Charlie

The standoff that almost started WW III

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe was one of my favorite stops.  I think the designer did a brilliant job creating the aspects of the Memorial. It is wide-spread (4.7 acres) and cannot be missed, yet it can be ignored. It doesn't force meaning and emotion on you, yet invites your interest and feelings.  Its sloping field and maze pattern gives a sense of aloneness - you can't see visitors until you take the plunge into the Memorial. When we went there were playful people around every turn, making it difficult to evoke a deep sense of sadness and appreciation. If I had time, I'd return here during a quieter part of the day to give it the respect it deserves. 

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (also called The Holocaust Memorial) - 2,711 concrete stelae vary in height from 8 inches to 15 1/2 feet. 

The Potsdamer Platz, part of the barren dead zone between East and West Germany, is now new (post-wall) modern buildings. 

This "building" is actually just a massive sheet of canvas surrounding a vacant piece of land in Potsdamer Platz.  

Following an afternoon rest we went to the area of the city called the zoo district that includes the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial church and upper-end stores. 

Walking around Kurfurstendamm - one of the most famous avenues in Berlin

The Protestant Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church was destroyed by a British bomb in World War II; its gaping, ruined tower has been preserved as a reminder of the horrors of war. Its odd modern, cement replacement doesn't appear to be a church on the outside; however inside the glass blocks produce an intense blue light. 

The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, also known as "the hollow tooth"

Sitting outside the damaged spire of the old church

Kaufhaus des Westens (nicknamed KaDeWe) is the largest department store in Germany and second largest in Europe, only behind London's Harrods. Out of curiosity, we went straight to the top floor which is entirely gourmet food. 

Ka De We department store has almost 15 acres of selling space

Berlin Wall Street Art

We drove four hours today, an uneventful ride to Berlin. We are staying for 3 nights at Mercure at Checkpoint Charlie - definitely recommended!

The mezzanine between the 1st and 2nd floor of our hotel room 

We used the U-bahn (subway) to get around from the hotel, to lunch, to Alexanderplatz, to the Memorial of the Berlin Wall, and lastly the East Side Gallery. Since there are no turnstiles, you buy a ticket and use it on the honor system. 

Berlin - Riding on the metro-o-o

Lunch at Curry 36 - touted Berlin's best currywurst

The World Clock in Alexanderplatz is on the cover of Kate's German book

Starting at the World Clock at the Alexanderplatz, we took a self-guided Graffiti Art tour. It opens your eyes to graffiti - to see it as an expression of uniqueness and creativity instead of offensive vandalism. Although graffiti is illegal here too, Berlin is one of the top street art destinations in the world.  We learned about terms like "tag", "throw-up", and being "buffed".  Our walking tour detoured to the Memorial of the Berlin Wall and its Documentation Center (museum) - where there is a surviving double-walled section of the Wall and watch tower still standing. 

There's a lot of street art to see along the tracks on Dirckenstrasse, particularly SOBR's dancing girls

The hidden courtyard of Haus Schwarzenberg fosters a creative space for alternative street art

Very cool street art

Memorial of the Berlin Wall - the steel posts mark where the wall stood

A subway ride took us to the next segment of our street art tour - over by the East Side Gallery.

Street art is valued by the quality of the art, by its size and also by how well it uses the space it has.  It also increases in status if the space is hard to get to.  High up "heaven" art, like this mural by ROA,  are the most respected.

Blu painted this man - looking closely you will see it consists of many small figures

A trip to Berlin wouldn't be complete without seeing the longest (1.3 km) remaining section of the Berlin Wall called the East Side Gallery.  With the Fall of the Berlin Wall, in the spring of 1990, artists were invited from all over the world to paint 105 murals of freedom.  The most famous mural is a reproduction of the famous kiss between the head of the Soviet Union and the leader of the GDR. 

East Berlin Gallery

Dmitri Vrubel's famous kiss, captioned with, "God, help me survive this deadly love."

Another popular mural - 'Berlyn' was painted by Gerhard Lahr

For dinner we ate yummy cheeseburgers at nearby Burgermeister, an old converted public restroom. 

Burgermeister, serving hamburgers from a converted bathroom, just might be the most interesting burger joint we've encountered

Hof Freitag

Hof Freitag farm house

Visiting family and cows at Hof Freitag

Hof Freitag is the farm belonging to my mom's cousin (her mom's sister's son). Her cousin Christoph is married to Irmgard, who greeted all of us with huge, welcoming hugs. They have 4 kids the same ages as me and my 3 brothers, and today we would see them all (plus spouses and children).  They speak varying degrees of English, more than enough to have plentiful conversation, but I particularly loved when they passionately break out in flowing German sentences, comfortably assuming I could follow along!

Before we arrived, Kate was struggling to wrap her head around how the farm might not have wi-fi.  (And Chris was concerned about losing his streaks.)  Kate tried to reason, "But don't they have a girl my age living there?"  As it turned out, yes they do have a girl Kate's age (Gesa) and yes they do have wi-fi, except in the house where we were staying.

Karsten and his family run the dairy

Sunrise - walking to the barn to milk the cows

Our day started early when Jeremy, Christopher, Kate and I jumped out of bed at 5:30am to be a part of the 6:00am milking. My cousin (once removed), Karsten - my age and the youngest of the 4 kids - runs the dairy business and lives in the old farm house with his family. Over the course of an hour, he gave us a very interesting tour of the milking process.  If you've never given thought to the concept of how a dairy runs, here it is:  a heffer (female bovine) becomes a "cow" when it gives birth. The calf is taken away from the mother, who can now produce milk. If the calf is a female, she is kept for milk production; males (bulls) are raised til they are sold off for beef at the age of two (for 1400 euro each).  The cows and bulls cannot be penned together. Bulls are mean, can only be penned in small numbers, and should not be approached alone. The farmer works 70 relentless hours a week - milking, feeding, cleaning, growing and harvesting crops, etc.

Hof Freitag Statistics:

146 year-old farm house

620 acres

150 cows (Germans are particular and do not tolerate mass-produced milk)

Milk twice daily 6am and 5pm

During the tour, Jeremy fired Chris as a translator because he doesn't know how to translate farm words and couldn't help him ask if they harvest the semen - apparently Frau didn't teach that word. (Plus they speak a different dialect called Plattdeutsch, or low German.)  Jeremy's knowledge from his Dairy Science class at Cal Poly actually proved a resourceful compliment to the tour.   

Waiting to be milked

The cows are so cute and curious - the look at you and come over when they see you

In the milking room

Squeezing milk out of the cow

2-day old Juliene has a twin sister!

Red is a recessive color.  They love this unusually sweet, red bull!

My mom was very happy being surrounded by so many relatives. She said, "I wonder what my father would think if he knew my children and grandchildren were here."

Spending time with family in another country fills your soul

We couldn't keep up with all the delicious food and meals, which is how we spent most of our visit. Irmgard kept repeating, "You make me happy when you eat," and Christoph kept putting more food and beer in front of us - including breaking out shots of Jagermeister and grain alcohol.  At one point I stared in disbelief at Chris for having another fresh beer. Resigned, he claimed, "He saw mine was almost gone and gave me another one!"  We were all trying to perfect the practice of eating enough to not be rude yet not eating it all or you'd be served more.  It  became quite the joke amongst us. Greg said you have to have a beer at all times and, "I've been holding this one for 2 hours!"

During our tour of the campground on their property, the weather quickly started to turn.  The storm was furious and brief, with hail (in nearby areas) the size of walnuts, and strong gusts of wind causing a tree on the farm to fall.  "It is only like that once a year," we were told.

Touring the campground with Irmgard

The dark clouds were swirling over our heads

After a fantastic, exhausting day with all of our German relatives, as we crawled into bed Greg stated, "I couldn't survive living here ... I don't know how they drink so much!"

Driving to the Farm in Germany

We did nothing today except eat at The Pancake Bakery and then travel from Amsterdam to Hipstedt, Germany but it was no less memorable than any other activity!  

Train from Amsterdam to Lingen, Germany

It's so relaxing to ride the train through beautiful countryside, with family, enjoying a nice picnic and movie

After our train ride to get within German borders to a small town called Lingen - where we could pick up a rental car for the next 10 days - our day got a lot more interesting. One of our travel jokes is who wants to be in the "fun" boat/car with Uncle Craig and Aunt Reene.  However, unexpectedly it turns out this wasn't a choice. Due to a miscommunication, Lingen only had one car - waiting for me and not Craig. Immediately we realized that we were all going to be in the "fun car" with Craig and Reene, or as Chris called it, the clown car. We rented a Volvo wagon and squeezed 5 people into its back seat.  At the same time we also received a text from mom, who was stuck at the Bremen train station because she couldn't find her cousin, "Please come pick me up."  Luckily Bremen was on our way and also had a car for Craig. Unfortunately for the people in the backseat, it took us 2 hours to get there. 

Just as Craig was taking a picture, Chris moved his foot under my bottom, causing me a bit of pain

The boys in the front seat had it easy

I realized my limit of sitting curled up in a ball, crammed on the floor and sitting on sharp objects, is 1 1/2 hours. Although no one was complaining and we laughed about our pathetic situation the entire way, I started thinking that the throbbing numbness in my butt might cause me to start crying uncontrollably - but I held it together, barely. 

After picking up the car and mom, and slowly getting out of town during rush hour, we were headed to our destination:  the farm in Hipstedt belonging to my mom's cousin.

Location of the family farm

Our transportation for the next 10 days