Day 82: One Last Look

Guten Morgan. Our last (full) day. A day for cleaning, packing, and last minute sight-seeing.

First things first... we must send three more boxes. But, they are heavy and awkward, too much to carry, so we take a taxi. It's a short distance for a taxi ride (5€) but it helps us get the packages to the Deutsch Post.

I'm a little bummed that this is how we're spending our morning. I had wanted to get in one more walk with Chris to his office. I wanted to run home via Mauerpark one last time. But, after last night's debacle, we slept in a little bit and these boxes have got to be mailed. It's another short line at the Post, today, so there's that!

The woman said, as far as I could understand, that because one of the boxes was valued over 800€, we would have to pay a little more (to insure it?) She asked if that was ok... and what were we supposed to say? Not much choice, so we say, yes, it's fine. I quietly add, "Es ist was es ist (It is what it is)". And she added, "Genau (I agree or exactly)."

After shipping the boxes, Chris heads to work and I head back to the apartment to clean. Either because of the prospect of needing to clean, or more likely, the fact that we are on our last day, I am relishing my short walk home. I feel the air, look at the shops, and try to soak up as much "Berlin" as I can.

Meanwhile, we have no internet. It was out when we arrived back last night. It's still out today. It's being fixed, but there is no news as to when this might happen. It's frustrating to all of us to not have our connection to the outside world (ok, the kids can't play their games or watch YouTube and I can't blog). This lack of internet adds to all of our sadness about leaving.

Mould in the cream cheese

The kids and I tired to eat out of the refrigerator. The kids ate the rest of their frozen dumplings, rest of their chicken nuggets from last night, and other foods from the refrigerator. I thought I'd have a bit of cream cheese on one of our last tortillas... but, I found mould in the Philadelphia cream cheese! Maybe we got "something" in to the cream cheese and it "grew", but still... I have never seen this much mould in cream cheese that is only a few weeks old. I'm convinced it's because it's "fresher" than the stuff they market in the U.S. Either way. Gross.

The Brandenburger Tor continues to be one of my favourite spots in town. It's on my list of things I want to do today. See the gate one more time with the kids. We hop on transportation and head over.

The kids and I take in the gate one last time. Then we're off for one last visit to the Jewish Memorial. As we walk through the gate, I see, what I think could be the inlaid stones, that used to be the wall... and then, doh! I realise they are just the outline of a bike lane. But, as we make our way to the memorial, I see more inlaid stones in the street going at odd angles... ahhh, that's the path of the old Wall. I had wanted to see it and now I have. Check!

The path of the Wall (left), Bike lane (right), Cool manhole-cover (right)

The kids enter the memorial and take one more tour around. I take more photos, and really just soak as much in as I can. The sounds. The sun. The shadows.

And now it's time to say good-bye to the memorial. Good-bye to the gate. It's hard to not look back.

"US"
UBahn and SBahn

And now for an errand. Remember, I have no raincoat anymore. We're about to go to London during the rainy season. I must get a coat. So, we're off to the Galleria one last time. I'm not as sentimental about the Galleria, but I will say it has become a lifesaver in many instances.

We decide, that since we'll be there anyway, let's take a quick detour to see the World Clock one more time. It really is a beautiful day and great weather for us to be out and about (makes all our sight-seeing fun and leisurely).

I do find a coat to buy that fits my needs... at least I think so. Out of the 1,000 coats I see for sale, there seem to be only about 3 choices for waterproof. Of course, I can't read most labels and then there are many without labels. The only one I found with a label and in English said, "water resistant" not "water proof". Sigh. So, I settle on a coat that looks like it's water resistant and isn't too expensive (after all, I have tons of coats back home, so no need for a new one...)

After this, we head to the parks near our house. The kids play for about 15 minutes ate the big one (where the kids did a bit of circus arts and ping-pong). And while I was in the middle of emailing on my phone (using cellular service since we have no wifi), I sent the kids to the park across the street to take one last go at the steep slide. I finished my email and went to catch up with the kids. At this point, I realised that "across the street" might be ambiguous as there are a few branches of streets intersecting at this point. I'm now worried that they took the wrong street and we'll be lost from one another... in the dark. I look on the street that I think they could have accidentally gone down... I don't see them.... so I head to the park, and, phew, there they are, swinging and having fun... in the dark (good thing it is dark, at one point, Xander had to "water the plants" and the darkness gave him good cover).

It's cold. It's dark. It's late. So, we don't spend too much time at this park. Time to get home so we can go out to dinner one last time.

Dark park (left), Zionskirche (right)

As we head out with Chris, we see our tram coming. We run about two blocks to be able to catch the tram. I guess I got my run in after all! And... guess, what... it's the wrong tram, which we only realised two stops too late. Time to back track. Whoops!

We picked Zia Maria for our last dinner in Berlin. This was a good pizza place and it's a place where we don't need to make a reservation. Other than the tiny fly that kept bothering Xander (and landing on his head, so he said), we enjoy a perfect last meal.

We are looking forward to more Hokey Pokey for dessert (that super yummy ice cream place that has been recommended time and time again by one of Chris' coworkers). But... it closed at 7pm (it's close to 9pm now). So, dejected, we head home for ice cream from our freezer (silver lining... cleaning out the refrigerator).

Between the wild boar delay, no internet, no Hokey Pokey... we've decided it's the universe making it a little easier for us to leave Berlin.

Day 68: Memorials

After our tasty treats, we headed back to the centre of Berlin to do items 3 and 4 on my list.

Side note: Everyone (and seriously, more than 2/3 of the people around us) has a map out today. Unfolded maps being read everywhere I look. The trains where we're transferring seem to be busy as well. It's either due to construction, it's always a busy transferring area (it's our first time at this stop), or... I don't know. I just haven't seen so many tourists in one spot before. It feels like something's going on and just don't know about it. Hmmm, we'll wonder forever.

There is a plaque that marks the location of Hitler's bunker where he committed suicide with Eva Braun.  Until now, I barely wanted to see Hitler's Bunker. I have recently finished reading "In the Garden of Beasts", which has peaked my interest in seeing the plaque. I don't really know why. Maybe to make the "closure" real. That this monster really existed and is really gone. I don't know.

But we head there. It really is just a plaque in the corner of a parking lot, across the street from a sports court, down a few blocks from the Jewish Memorial site. There is a small group of people reading about the bunker that used to be below. I told the kids they didn't have to read the plaque if they didn't want to. It was mostly information about the bunker itself (room dimensions, decorations, building materials). That was it. Not much about Hitler, in life or in death. Somewhat lacking in emotion or horror that fill all the other memorials around town. I'm not saying he deserves more. It is just an experience, difficult to describe, that such a hugely evil spirit has such a dismissive grave marking.

Just before the bunker, is the State Representation of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg building (a German region) that had a cool display. At the top of part of the building is a lighted "art" piece. There are many words that will light up in different orders making different sentences. We watched for a little bit, and tried to decipher them, but mostly were awed by the coolness of the idea. Later, I tried to Google Translate the two sentences we captured:

"We are not saying it right, therefore" (left building photo)
"I want to tell you why" (right building photo)

Buddy Bear (left) State Representation of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg (middle)
Hitler's Bunker (right)

As I mentioned, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is just down the street of Hitler's Bunker. Stop 4 on my list is just beyond there, so we walk through the memorial again. I think it's fitting to go through again, having just been at the bunker. The kids and I split up as we walk through, planning to meet up on the other side of the memorial (remember, some of the stone blocks are way taller than we are, so we remember to look for the Tiergarten and the American flag from the Embassy if we get lost).

It is a little difficult to have a peaceful time in the memorial. There always seem to be a lot of people going through, playing hide-and-seek with their group. It's hard not to. But, as people want to take photos, want to run through faster than their friend, it is hard to find a spot in the memorial for quiet contemplation.

As I walked through on my own, I noticed the rain (sprinkles, really) had created teardrops on the stones. How apropos.  A time to contemplate, even if just for a moment.

Then, as if the universe was continuing to align, on the other side of the memorial, a bagpiper stood alone. What was he playing? I could have sworn it was Amazing Grace. Although, by the time we got closer to the musician, he was playing something else. But in that moment, when I first heard him, I heard Amazing Grace. How apropos. We tipped him for his contribution to my day.

Bagpiper performer (left), Top of Brandenburger Tor (right)

Stop number 4 on my list is the Soviet War Memorial. I didn't know much about this memorial before today. We had seen it a few times from the bus and when we came to the Unity Celebration (although it was fenced off at that time and we couldn't see much). I took note from those brief viewings and decided I wanted a closer look.

The memorial has quite an interesting history (to me). It is on the west side of the Brandenburger Tor, thus it was on the west side of The Wall. But, the Soviets were on the East side of The Wall. So, this memorial, which was erected in 1945, after WWII as a burial site for over 2,000 Soviet soldiers, was mostly inaccessible to the Soviets during the time of The Wall (1961-1989). From my understanding, some were allowed visitations, but mostly it was cared for by the British. After 1989, the city of Berlin took over the maintenance and care for this memorial.

As we walked up to the immense structure, we see others walking through it. We follow. And there is another building behind the front structure with multiple plaques to read, as well as a large garden area. Again, with it being fall, the colours are stunning and creates a beautiful landscape for the fallen soldiers.

Top photos are the front of the memorial.
Flowers laid at the base (lower-left) and the back of the memorial (lower-right)

Garden areas behind the memorial (left), The information building (middle), more gardens (right) 

Ok, random set of bushes I walked into (yes, walked into) to take these photos.
Made me think of the setting of a Grimm's fairytale.

The first Soviet tanks to reach Berlin.

That was it for my list today. Although, I did sneak a number 5 in there. Again, having read "In the Garden of Beasts", I now want to visit Tiergartenstrasse 7a (at least that's what I think is the address), where the American Ambassador to Germany, Dodd, lived. But Google can't find this address. And now it's getting dark. The kids are ready to head home (although, they have been doing GREAT today with no complaining about all the walking! Just a quick wimper when it started to rain a lot at one point... but the rain ceased and so did the wimpering).

So, on the off chance that we can see Tiergartenstrasse 7a, I head us through the Tiergarten. If we can find it, great, if we can't, my path will take us to a Bahn station that will take us home.

A pond and statue in the Teirgarten

A monument that was reconstructed (as it was destroyed in WWII and/or unstable) and the kids walking.

The above monument (to Mozart, Beethoven, and Hayden) was actually first a statue of Venus. That was changed to the memorial to the composers, which was then damaged in WWII. After WWII, a tunnel was created under the Tiergarten, and the memorial was moved to be "saved" and then reconstructed with as much original parts as possible, back in it's original spot.

The Brandenburger Tor (left) and the Tiergarten tunnel "exit" (right)

Where Tiergartenstrasse 7a looks like it should be (from where we're standing and without walking closer) seems like... its where the Philharmonic building is. So, I'll have to research more on that later.

For now, we head to Potsdamer Platz to catch an U-Bahn home. Side note: I ran across this original S-Bahn sign (see photo below). Pretty cool, as I think it's the one seen in a recent AMAZING video we just watched that shows Berlin right after WWII (in Kodachrome!). It is cool and, simultaneously, horrific to see the "WWII ruined" city we've been living in for the past few months. And in it, is an S-Bahn sign (around minute 4:09), just like the one below:

And thus ends a busy, busy day of checking things off my to-see list. Yesterday, zero photos and under 3,000 steps. Today, over 200 photos and over 20,000 steps! Yahoo!