Thursday, February 1, 2018

Cold, Heavy, and Dark

Sunday, Jan 21st
Our last morning in Leipzig was pleasant but uneventful. I made a turtleneck for the road and we headed for the train station. As we waited at the station and watched the minutes tick by, we couldn't help but notice our train had failed to arrive at the scheduled time. As it turns out we somehow missed it (despite being 15 minutes early) and had to catch another one. Nevertheless, we eventually made it to Berlin and checked into our hostel. My roommates and I decided to continue the tradition of getting Vietnamese food for our first meal in a German city and made the 20-minute trek to Pho Noodle Bar. At this point we were satisfied with the food and eagerly anticipating Mozart’s opera, Don Giovanni. Unfortunately, however, there was confusion with the tickets and we ended up unable to attend the opera. Despite the disappointment, we still managed to have a good night with friends in the new city.

Monday, Jan 22nd
Ready for a morning tour of Berlin, our group headed into the city to meet our guide. I was somewhat surprised to find he was a native English speaker who had moved to Germany after falling in love with the country on a backpacking trip. We started at museum island, right next to the impressive Berliner Dom cathedral. Along the tour we also got to see part of the Berlin Wall, the Brandenburg Gate, and the Holocaust memorial for the murdered Jews of Europe. This was probably my favorite city tour yet although some of the subject matter was quite dark. After the tour, the class was turned loose at the Topography of Terror museum where we learned more about the Holocaust. Many of my classmates shared mixed feelings about the Holocaust-related events we had just experienced and would continue to experience for the next few days; on one hand, it was obviously depressing to think about. On the other hand, it was good to become more educated on the topic and experience the unique opportunity we had here in Berlin.

A view from inside the memorial.

If the first half of the day could be considered dreary, we at least got to end the day with a group dinner at the Prater Garten. Upon arrival, we struggled to find the entrance (which will come to be a recurring motif of the trip…) before finally trying the most obvious candidate, the door with a menu posted right next to it. We were rewarded with pints of beer and a delicious three-course meal. This was my first experience eating a full fish, which means I had to endure a few bony bites here and there.

Tuesday, Jan 23rd
Monday's events would serve as preparation for the day ahead of us. We started our day bright and early to meet our tour guide who would show us around the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, about an hour out of Berlin. Once again we were bombarded with heavy subject matter that took its toll on the collective mood of the group. Fittingly, this was also the coldest day of the trip. The tour lasted about three hours and covered areas such as the prisoners’ barracks, a special “celebrity prisoner” holding building, and the site where some prisoners were murdered either by way of gas chamber, oven, or an elaborate neck shooting mechanism. Sachsenhausen was not primarily a death camp but a working camp where prisoners were put to work to further the Nazi’s war efforts. Nevertheless, they still turned to systematic murder towards the end of the camp’s establishment.

The inside of a gas chamber at Sachsenhausen.

The excursion to the concentration camp took up most of the day. We had a few hours to ourselves after we got back to Berlin before the concert of the night, the Alliage (Saxophone and Piano) Quintet featuring Sabine Meyer on the clarinet. This was definitely the most contemporary concert yet, featuring a Shostakovich's Waltz No. 2 in A minor and a suite from Stravinsky's Firebird. The performers were applauded enough to play two encore pieces for us, and these were actually my two favorite pieces of the concert.

Wednesday, Jan 24th
Another day, another early morning departure. Today we made our way to Wittenberg where Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the doors of one of the churches in town. We met up with our tour guide who apparently expected us to be prepared for a Martin Luther pop quiz. Almost everything she had to tell us was first asked in question form. You would think that after the first four or five instances of silence following her questions about the history of Martin Luther and Wittenberg, she would get the hint that we were either too shy or (in my case) uneducated in Lutheran history to answer her questions. Nevertheless she continued to conduct the tour in this fashion until the bitter end. Although it wasn't the most entertaining tour, I enjoyed the picturesque town and it was good to learn a bit about Lutheran history.

A very photogenic church in the town square.

My favorite part of Wittenberg, however, was still to come. After the tour, we headed to the Wittenberg Brauhaus for our first and only group lunch of the trip. Despite some confusion with the menu and entree distribution, this turned out to be my favorite group meal yet. Dr. Powell was under the impression that we would all receive the same dish but I was skeptical. The waitresses started bringing out the chicken with mushrooms and potato patties. After the first five had been brought out, I took took my chance and raised my hand for the next one. This was the right call as the remaining dishes being served were roast pork with carrots and potatoes. After trying a bite of Matt’s, I concluded that it was tasty, but I was happier with my chicken and potato patties.

After lunch, we returned to Berlin for a free evening. My roommates Jeffery, Alex, Matt, and I deliberated over what to eat for dinner before settling on sushi. We ventured 30 minutes to a little hole in the wall known as Rice In. Here I had a spicy tuna roll and my first onigiri, a food I'd always wanted to try. It turned out to be the right move as it was authentic, affordable, and delicious. Matt and I were on our way back to the hostel via subway when we heard a familiar tune being played in the distance. As it turned out, a street performer was playing the very same Shostakovich waltz we’d heard in concert the night before, but on accordion!

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