A Short, Scattered Berlin History Lesson

May 12, 2012 

Berlin, Germany

“Berlin is an ugly city,” so starts the description of the city on my Wombat’s Hostel city map. While I see where the writers are coming from (there is a plethora of concrete, communist-era buildings), the city has a lot of character, and “ugly” isn’t the word that comes to mind when I think of it: paintings and monuments on each corner, people wearing all sorts of curious, vibrant fashion, and bright, artfully decorated bikes and TV satellite dishes create a bohemian atmosphere. 

I had several days on my own to explore Berlin. The first day somehow was swallowed by laundry and a trip to the post office, and maybe a bit of extra sleep, but the following day I went on a free tour of the city, which was entertaining and informative. Traveling has definitely both helped me understand history a little better, and perhaps more importantly, prompted a desire in me to learn more.

Our tour started at Pariser Platz at the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin’s cultural icon. (I actually think of the Wall when I think of the city, but the gate goes back a little further, is much more attractive, and represents a better point in history.) As a side note, the gate’s Quadriga was actually taken by Napolen after a Prussian defeat in 1806, and it was kept in the Louvre for a bit. When the Germans got it back, they decided to rename the square it overlooks Paris Square—and who says the Germans don’t have a sense of humor?) There are several embassies, including the US, and hotels near the gate, all of which have very plain architecture as the area used to be home to the Berlin Wall. Adjacent to the square is also the place where Michael Jackson notoriously held his child out of the window. (I actually didn’t know about this incident until the tour—see what I mean about learning things while traveling?)

And to my right is the Michael Jackson Hotel.
Oh, yes, the Brandenberg Gate is behind me.

Germany has a long history that I won’t go into here. In terms of its recent history, it’s hard to imagine how someone with the ideas of Hitler could rise to power and how something as atrocious as the Holocaust could happen.  But the tour I took was helpful. (And while I have learned not to believe everything I hear from tour guides, ours was actually in the process of getting his PhD in German history, so I hope most of what he said was reasonably factual.) I hadn’t realized (remembered?) much of what was going on in the country and world leading up to the Second World War. While I assume most people reading this know more about German history than I do, I’m going to share some oversimplified bits of our condensed German history lesson I found particularly interesting.

Okay, the Treaty of Versailles is familiar, but I hadn’t realized some of the details of the turmoil it caused in Germany. The Treaty of Versailles made the German people responsible for the WWI. It required them to pay for the war, which they did. (The last payment was made October 14, 2010—good old German reliability.) It also required the Germans to have a democracy. While it tried, it each government struggled, and the country had 14 governments in 10 years. In 1923 the country experienced hyperinflation: one dollar went from being equal to four marks to four trillion marks. By the time the Great Depression began in 1929 unemployment was at 50%. People were furious and felt democracy had failed them.

The Nazis were basically an angry street party while this was happening during the 1920s. In the 1932 election the party received 37.4% of the vote. (I hadn’t realized that Hitler was never elected by a majority.) Hitler and the party then capitalized on a fire in the parliament building claiming that the communists were trying to destroy democracy and Hitler received emergency powers. (It isn’t clear who actually started the fire—some people blame it on a guy named van der Lubbe while others think it might have actually been started by the Nazi party itself.)

The day I visited was the anniversary of the book burning
outside Humboldt University in the Nazi time.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

This sandbox is over Hitler's bunker

This parking is where Hitler committed suicide.

Ninety-two percent of Berlin was destroyed by the time WWII ended. Its control was divided up between various countries, most notably communist Russia and democratic US. In 1949 West and East Germany were formed, and West Berlin became an island of democracy in a sea of communism. When the country was divided, three million people (or one in five) left East Germany through Berlin.

As the East couldn’t have so many people leaving, the Berlin Wall was erected, basically overnight, in 1961. Only about 5000 people escaped in the 28 years it stood. (Those escapes primarily happened through tunnels dug by students from inside the wall to apartments in West Berlin or in Trombli cars in which the padding was taken out of the seats, a person was sewn inside, and then a West Berliner would drive the smuggled passenger across the border. Crazy!)

Clearly there were lots of things happening in the world leading up to the 1989 fall of the wall, but I hadn’t realized how sudden it happened and that David Hasslehoff takes credit for it.

Checkpoint Charlie

The Berlin Wall

Today Berlin is still getting on its feet.  While the overall unemployment rate in Germany is 6%, in Berlin, it’s 12%. The average salary is 800 Euros a month versus twice that in most other German cities.  There is infrastructure for five million people, but many apartments are empty. The main problem is lack of jobs and other Germans resent Berliners for not doing their part for the economy.

Tourism is the number one industry in Berlin. The upside of this for a tourist is that there is plenty to see and do. I visited several museums as well as parks and monuments in my remaining time in the city. Our tour guide also made a special effort of pointing out the fact that Berlin doesn’t try to gloss over its history. Rather, it makes a point of remembering what happened in order to not repeat it. 

Museum shots:

And, of course, I need to include a traditional German meal:

Schnitzel

The Sinking of a Great Ship and Other Sites in Stockholm

May 9, 2012

Stockholm, Sweden

Hello, Sweden!

It’s dangerous visiting Scandinavian cities in the spring. You get caught up in their beauty and energy and think you might want to move there, forgetting that as light and green as it is at the moment it is as dark and grey six months down the line. But the gloomy and cold Stockholm winter might be worth it for the spring and summer. People were out everywhere running, strolling, riding bikes. And everyone was extremely helpful—we were assisted in one way or another probably four times within the first two hours of our arrival. (Maybe there’s something about me that says I need help?)

We arrived in the city by ship. Our “ferry” turned out to be more of a one-night cruise, which, unfortunately, we were a bit too tired to take full advantage of, but it was still nice to be on a ship with things going on. But at least we arrived in the city refreshed and we went out to explore the city after dropping our things off at the hotel. We again decided to follow the Hop-on, Hop-Off bus route by foot to see the sights Stockholm is known for.

While getting our bearings on a bench we were approached by a man who was working on a photography project who wanted us to pose in some “spring” photos. It turns out he has a daughter living in Palo Alto—small world.

The weather really was perfect.

The Aussie sisters were very excited about the their first hockey game and we decided it would be fun to catch a game in the other host city of the Championship, and we saw Germany and Latvia face-off in the Stockholm stadium that night. We were cheering for Germany as Kat had lived there for a bit, but the stadium belonged to Latvia. In fact, I think perhaps all of Latvia was there. It was a close game, and despite holding a German flag, I was quite satisfied when Latvia scored the game-winning goal. The red-painted Latvian faces erupted in cheers and kisses, and we heard chants and satisfied cheers the whole subway ride home.

The Latvian fans sitting behind us. They couldn't contain their enthusiasm.

The following day we explored Stockholm, including a visit to the Vasa Museum. The Vasa was a Swedish war ship that sunk on its maiden voyage in 1628. Much effort and attention had gone into its building and ornamentation, but evidently not enough into its design. It was top-heavy and lacked enough ballast. Once built but before its fateful first journey, the ship’s captain actually cut some its initial stability testing short because he was worried he was going to sink the ship. But, evidently, no one had the courage to let the eager king who had ordered it know about these doubts. So it set sail and sank within a nautical mile while hundreds of ordinary citizens watched. Most passengers made if off the ship, but when the Vasa was found in 1950s, there were remains of at least 15 people onboard. The salt water into which it sank did a great job preserving the ship, and archeologists have learned much about warships of the time from its recovery. I have to say, it was pretty impressive.

The Vasa

The rest of the time in Stockholm involved enjoying its beauty—including a boat ride around some of its canals. 

Not quite sure what this sign is trying to tell us.

So Many Places to Worship, So Few People Who Do So

May 6, 2012

Tallin, Estonia

I don’t think I knew the country of Estonia existed before living in Finland. For those of you who aren’t familiar with where it is, Estonia is a small country on the Baltic Sea south of Finland. It has a population of 1.3 million people and has spent most of its history being pushed around by bigger countries. 

(Wikipedia, 6/16/12: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonia)

We arrive in its capital, Tallinn, via ferry at one in the morning on a stormy night. The hostel where we were staying was supposed to be a short 15 minute walk away from the port, and we were all looking forward to a warm bed and a sound sleep. Unfortunately, our hostel didn’t specify in their directions which port it was a quick 15-minute walk from. And we learned after unsuccessfully trying to navigate our way to the place (we ended up taking a cab after wandering for the better part of an hour in the pouring rain) that indeed, the directions were not from the port we disembarked from. Alas. 

But once we arrived, the hostel was quite comfortable. We slept as late as we could in order to still be able to make it to the free city tour, which was fantastic. If you find yourself in Tallinn, which I recommend, definitely take the tour. 

Our guide.

Some favorite photos from the tour and a few random facts:

Estonia has more churches than any other country in Europe, yet only 16% of the country is religious. (It is the second least religious country in the world—after China.)

There is and eight- to eleven- month compulsory military service for able-bodied males, but men can be called to serve anytime between 19 and 26 years of age.  This means that men with regular jobs and families are often called away from them. Our guide explained that guys, therefore, come up with various ways to try to avoid this service. Some of her friends managed to get a doctor to sign off on a poor bill of health after downing a case of Red Bull before their physicals.

The War of Independence Victory Column was manufactured by a Czech company and cost 8.5 million Euros. Unfortunately, the inside lighting didn’t work, the glass became discolored, and the panels weren’t manufactured to withstand the temperature fluctuations in Estonia, so several of the panes broke and fell to the ground. And, many Estonians think the memorial is quite ugly. Nice.

On the right is an arm holding a sword if it wasn't immediately obvious to you.
(It wasn't to me.)

The front

They moved the discolored panels to the back. 

Fortress

Who knew Shrek lived in Estonia?

View of the old town

The three of us 

I just don't get it.

Salmon lunch. Yum!

After a delicious traditional lunch, the Aussies and I had to head to the port again to catch our ferry to Stockholm. Fortunately, this time we knew which port we were headed to. 

The Good Thing about a Bad Memory

May 4, 2012

Helsinki, Finland

How can one resist the moose?

The good thing about a bad memory is that you get to re-experience the first time excitement of doing things you’ve already done. Case in point for me is Finland. Yes, I lived in the country for almost a year and a half. It could arguably be said I even spoke Finnish during that time. But with the exception of the main church, the harbor, and some favorite food items, I remembered almost nothing of Helsinki, and even less Finnish. Fortunately, it’s a wonderful place to rediscover, and most people there speak English.

I traveled there with Kat and Alicia, my Aussie friends from the last tour. We almost missed our flight from St. Petersburg after checking in while the girls were having their first TGIF Friday’s experience. There was a screen inside the restaurant showing boarding gates and times we were watching, but it turns out they don’t update it regularly. (Which, in our defense, is strange as it’s a TV monitor that is continually changing like it is being updated.) Anyway, when we finally decided to head downstairs to see what was happening at the gate, it turns out the airline was looking for us. We were quickly ushered through security and almost had the whole shuttle to the plane to ourselves. Oops!

There's where we're supposed to be.

 We arrived to our apartment around nine in the evening, and the whole process of checking in the place was electronic. We received a code online when we booked the place and then used the code to open the door to the apartment and our room. We received some information about the place on the TV, and that was it. No people involved. (Perfect for a country like Finland. ;)) If we had stayed there longer than a five nights, I believe housekeepers would have come to the room, but that was it. The apartment was small, but very efficient. (See photos.) The bathroom must have been an afterthought as it was on a raised platform (presumably for a place for the plumbing) in the middle of one wall. A bit different, but an experience and cheap (at least for Scandinavian standards).

Chairs convert into beds.

And linens are stored inside the chair cushions. Ingenious!

If we could just figure out how to make the bed.

There was even wifi!

It’s a wonderful time to be in Scandinavia because the days are getting long. It’s still dusk around 11:00 in the evening, and the moon reflecting on all the water makes it a magical place to be. (Corny, I know. But really, you could be in a fairytale!) We only had one full day there, which we spent walking the Hop-On, Hop-Off Bus tour route and then went to the old fortress island of Suomelina, a 15-minute ferry ride from Helsinki.

The sights:

The church was built into a rock. How's that for symbolism?
(Or maybe the firm foundation is on the rock. Either way, pretty neat.)

Sibelius Monument

Part Two.

Train Station (Not sure it's a must-see, but it's pretty.)

Helsinki Cathedral, with Alicia

Group Photo

Off to Suomelina

Does anyone else find this sign amusing?

Oh, Kat

Helsinki's Bridge o' Love

Feelin' the Love

People take this seriously.

 It just so happened that the first games of Ice Hockey World Championships hosted by Finland and Sweden coincided with our two days in Helsinki. I saw the US beat France 7-2, which was fun. It was the Aussies’ first ever hockey game which made the experience that much more fun. And, they were handing out paper helmets and flags as we entered the stadium so we even got to look like hockey players. Or something.

Hockey Bird

Put us in, Coach!

I talked the girls into joining me at a public sauna that evening before getting onto the ferry to Tallinn. We asked where to go at the tourist information desk, and they definitely sent us to an authentic place.  And as it was a Friday evening, the sauna was a happening place to be. I think we were all a little worried to see only men hanging around outside the sauna in towels when we arrived at the place, but after inquiry at the front desk, we learned the ladies sauna was upstairs. It’s ironic to me that a culture with a reputation of such shyness is so willing to strip down and hang around naked with naked strangers. But I like the tradition, and I think it’s fair to say that the sauna brings out a less inhibited side of the Finns.