Reflections and Writing on the Walls

Wow, what a trip! Spanning almost 4 weeks, 3 different countries, and six different cities and I can't even believe it's over already. But if there is one thing I found out during our extensive trip was that you will always be able to find Graffiti; the  art of the underground anywhere and everywhere. I have had a personal interest in Graffiti or Street Art as an Art form ever since I did my IB research paper on it my senior year of high school. So on this trip I made sure to take pictures of my favorite Graffiti and Street Art pieces in each city we visited. For each city's  culture and people were different in there own little ways. Which for me the effects of these small differences were noticeable in each of their respective Graffiti and Street Art scenes and in a way it became the way I felt I could get the best understanding for each city. And now as our trip comes to close these pieces of Graffiti serve as a kind of way to remember the culture and to an extent the very people of each cities we visited. So I felt no better way to end my part on this blog and the trip than to  share with you all may favorite pieces from each city.

Taken in Vienna, near our hostel.

Taken in Prague, this artist also had similar pieces all over the city.

Taken in Leipzig, on the way to the train station.

Taken in Wittenberg, as we entered the city.

One of my favorites from the East Side gallery in Berlin. 

Also taken in Berlin, on the "backside" of the East Side gallery.

Taken in Salzburg, on the forest path near the Monastery.

Hidden and later uncovered graffiti made by the prisoners at the Sachsenhausen Concentration camp.
One of the most beautiful pieces I have pictures of.

Bikes and the Berlin Wall

We spent so much time in Berlin that I feel it deserves to posts to be devoted to it, so in light of my early post this will take a much lighter tone, to show you all what I think is the true Berlin experience. Matt, Brett, and I all decided to rent bikes for a day a bike around Berlin, to try and get at least a small feel for this huge city. Our goal was to eventually end up at the East Side Gallery, a portion of the old Berlin Wall now devoted to artists and street artists to paint as they see fit. It was a ways away from where our group was staying in  Berlin so we thought that traveling there by bike would not only be the on of the simpler but more scenic ways of getting there.

Me and my Bike!

We started form the area near the Brandenburg gate where we rented our bike from the City Market for 5 euro for a 2 hr rental. After riding through the city, and stopping only a few times to check our map we made it to the east side gallery. When we arrived a feeling of joy began to sink into me as I took in the wall for what it had become. For I saw what used to be the physical manifestation of the "Iron Curtain" now turned into a beautiful collection of art not only form the east side community but form  around the world. Even though it is just a concrete wall in the end, but fact that it had changed from being separator of peoples into an art gallery that unites them, amazed me. For it was refreshing to see how much the wall changed from it's original use to this newfound one.

A part of the more "original" wall near the Topography of Terror museum. 

Part of the Wall from The East Side Gallery.

Afterwards we stopped at this amazing sushi place called Rice In (I would later end up eating there a total of three times during our six day stay in Berlin). But I had this amazing Onigiri that his the spot perfectly after riding all day on the bikes. If anyone plans on visiting Berlin anytime soon I would highly recommend stopping there at least once.

Amazing Tuna and Avocado Onigiri.

Heavy Heart and Heavy Mind; Berlin

So we've been in Berlin for a few days now but the first and second full day had my heart sinking to the floor.  On our first day, we took a walking tour around the city of Berlin. The first half wasn't too bad at all; we got to see all the various museums that the city had and their history. Then as we went on, the guide began to go into figures of history like Stalin and Hitler and the Nazi party. It was really cool to get to hear about this topic and see the monuments as we went. Our the end of our tour (3 hours later) was at the topography of Terror  museum. It's here that we got to see part of the Berlin wall that was still standing. One thing I found interesting was that any type of museum or monument that has anything to to with the holocaust is free of charge, by law. Being in that museum, I could see that some people were  at the point of tears because of  all the pictures and information that were put on display; others had a look of silent shock. For me, as I saw some of the pictures and read about them, I felt a sadness and heaviness take over. I couldn't process that something like this had taken place.

 This feeling was amplified when, on day 2, we went on a walking tour of the Saschausen Concentration Camp.We saw a lay out of what the whole place looked like and then saw some of the original buildings that were in it that had become museums. there was one building that had letters and paperwork from all the victims of the holocaust and honestly, it made my heart hurt. On the bottom floor, There was a large floor display of all the shoes and clothes of people that had been found and excavated. As I stood there looking at this, I just felt increasingly heartbroken and was at the edge of crying when the guide told us we were moving on. For the rest of that tour and the day, I just felt so emotionally exhausted. It was honestly a really sobering experience to see and learn about such a significant part of our history....