Scene 27 - 16th July
Tragedy strikes today on our Eurotrip, as we lose one of our members! Fortunately, of course, its not any of us - Lase, Gobi, Eugene and I. Its my laptop. Before we go on with this account, I have to share this sad story...
Breakfast at the Meininger Hotel, and my laptop is down having breakfast with me. Of course, the purpose of this, I must admit, was to be chatting with someone back home in Singapore. Truth be told, its that same person for whom I went walking around in the desert-like heat of Dresden, looking for Slaughterhouse Five. But, that's a story for another day; not to mention another account altogether.
Anyway, we're in a rush then; because we're going to be late for our Sandemans tour of Berlin. If you don't recall; or just are not following this account blow-by-blow, I'll refresh your memory. Sandeman's tour is the same New Europe Tour that we went on in Munich, and then Prague. Berlin, in fact, is the original city where this New Europe tour started off in; so we're kind of doing this whole thing in reverse. Nevertheless, we move on with the story...
We're in a rush. But I need to go to the loo; so I tell Eugene to switch off my laptop. When I return, though; Eugene is half laughing half crying. I reckon that's the face of hysteria. If that's the right word. Here's what actually happened in the one minute I left my laptop alone. Eugene accidentally swivels around and his bag knocks over my poor laptop. The laptop responds by falling to the floor and its screen now has a large crack across it. Ah well. Accidents happen, I tell Eugene. They do, after all, and it could just as easily have been me knocking down his laptop. Anyway, he offers to pay for the repair; which I reckon I would have too had the situation indeed been reversed.
Gobi insists that Eugene was actually jealous with the laptop (it having got more attention than him) and, in a fit of jealousy, slammed it on the floor repeatedly, stepping on it and laughing like a maniac. Of course, Gobi is known to exaggerate. And make up stories.
*
Anyway, its enough about my laptop and now we move on to our New Berlin Tour.
Oh yes, I nearly forgot to mention. Eugene's friend from school is in Berlin now, on a Eurotrip of her own, with her friend; and we had decided to meet up whilst here. However, in the end, they decided that they would be going for Sandeman's Tour tomorrow; so we'll only be meeting them for dinner today. Once more, I will refrain from making any Asian Chick references to Henrik Larsson. At least till dinner. Ok, now, to the Sandeman's tour for real.
Victoria, our tour guide today, is wearing the wrong name tag. In any case, she's fun and, like all of them, a native English speaker. She's in Berlin to try to brush up on her German, but according to her, its to not much avail as most Berliners speak better English than she speaks German. It seems that I wouldn't have much need for German here, then.
*
Berlin is a city rich with history; it being the capital of Germany. Here, I am tempted to say that Germany is the notorious villain of the past World Wars; but frankly speaking, we do have to consider that the only reason why its considered as THE ultimate villain is because it LOST the World Wars. Both of them. If I have learnt anything from my visit to the Eastern half of Europe, we must accept that the Soviets were not much better. In fact, every country has its own cobwebs that they mostly don't boast about. Victoria explains that Germany is unique in the sense that it is very open about its dark history. The purpose? In knowing the mistakes of the past, we understand how to avoid them in the future.
Berlin is not ALL about the Wars and its consequences. Well, not entirely, at least. There is some fun stories in Berlin; and that's where this tour starts. Victoria starts off the tour by telling 300 years of German History in 3 minutes. She timed herself. But mostly it sailed past most of our heads; and besides, it wasn't particularly interesting.
She did this under the famous Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate).
If you recall, I have mentioned before how the French and the Germans were never the best of friends; and this comes up again. Its a local joke, apparently, that the French Embassy, in the square in front of the Brandenburg Gate, looks a lot like a military barracks.
The joke goes on to explain why that's the case. So, why does it look like military barracks?
Because the goddess Victoria (goddess of victory, no less, mind you), riding the chariot on the top of the Brandenburg Gate, is looking straight at it.
See?. I Think its their way of doing this..
Anyway, across from the French Embassy is this hotel.
Now it might seem unremarkable; but this hotel has a history of hosting royalty. Considering its location, thats unsurprising. So the kings of various countries in Europe, the President of America, and even the great King of Pop himself resided there. In fact, this is that hotel where MJ dangled his baby out the window...
*
Then we go to a darker time in German History - World War II. The persecution of the Jews, to be specific. If anyone doesn't know this yet; firstly, wow, come out of your turtle shell like now; Hitler planned a genocide of the Jews for some reason. So there is a whole monument dedicated to the Jews that suffered and died during his reign as Fuhrer.
Apart from that, there is a memorial dedicated to the other victims of tyranny and war; as we know there are many.
This one is a statue a mother with her dead son. Its interesting to note that this picture is an image of a mother weeping for her dead German soldier son. Perhaps its an illustration of how the German people suffered during the war too? I don't know. Apparently, architecture, like art, is subjective. So, for the Jewish memorial, nobody actually knows what inspired the work - though some theories include a theory that it resembles the Jewish cemetery in Prague.
*
Hitler was a tyrant, but he wasn't the last one. Berlin was the centre of the cold war, of course. Where the best representation of the Iron Curtain lies - the Berlin Wall. Its true that the wall is torn down, in great parts; but you can see it throught the whole city.
I must restrain myself from giving yet another history lesson here; but to those who are remotely interested, check here.. But, what we did do was cross the Berlin Wall only about a few hundred times. That's how well it divides up the city. Why we didn't realise that we had crossed it so many times its because this is how most of it looks these days.
*
Anyway, after the tour Eugene asks Victoria where can we find a "war museum". After repeating himself a few times, Victoria finally points it out to him. However, it turns out she's pointing out a "wall museum". Its here, and only here, that we realise that Eugene's pronounciation is well, not that good. Its only because we live in Singapore and we're so used to it that this fact doesn't occur to us till now.
Obviously we spend the next few hours minutes making fun, and the rest of the time trying to get him to say "wall".
But there is no need for proper pronounciation for dinner - we're going to meet up with Eugene's friends.
*
Ah, yes. I know I've promised Asian chick references to Mr Henrik Larsson, but I'm going to have to disappoint you. No Asian chick references to the fact that we're going to meet Eugene's friends from NTU. I'm not going to mention that his keen-ness on this meet was just too visible. No mention of the disappointment when he heard there were only two.
Anyway, meeting them was harder than expected - they said to meet at the "red building", when we were at the sky-tower in Berlin. No issue. Wait. There are two red buildings. Hm.
Fortunately, one is a historic-looking building and the other is a shopping mall. So... its pretty easy to figure out which one they'd be at. And I amn't mistaken.
We're unsure what type of food they'd like to eat - so we just go back to where we ate yesterday. Turns out they've been living on kebabs and snacks for the past month or so, but they agree to treat themselves to some nice filling food. Its here that I realise that Gobi and Lase, having lived in Western Countries for that long, don't have the notion that food MUST cost below $10. And I, having travelled with them long enough, have already forgotten about my $2 chicken rice waiting for me back home; and am settling for $15 pasta plates etc. Never mind. In memory of my poor laptop.
Then my day just becomes worse. Yes its possible. First, the waitress taking our order brings the wrong dish. But, well, if you know me, I'm not fussy about this. As long as it doesn't cost significantly higher. Then, she spills the rice on me. And everyone else, for that matter. I do get flustered enough, after being cajolled into it by my dinner-mates, to go to complain to the head waiter. He, not-so-promptly gives me a new bowl of rice, but during that time where I was waiting for it, well, I'm not eating. Not-so-promptly is being very nice; and I had been waiting for some time.
If that's not bad enough, this waiter has the chick to not return us our change, after insisting that the restaurant has no service charge. We had explained to him that tipping is when you feel that the service was good, not when the waitress drops half your food on you and doesn't apologise. Perhaps he's just plain stupid not to see that we're not obliged to tip him, and that we had no intention to do so. I mean, of all the restaurants that we have visited throughout the trip, this one was the one which least deserved a tip.
Its less than a Euro, anyway, so I don't want to make such a big noise to him. Or his manager.
I know this blog doesn't have fantastic readership. But for the sake of whoever reads it, by chance or not, you probably want to know the name of this restaurant. Obviously I'm not telling you not to eat there, just that every other shop in its vicinity has better tasting food and better service.
Oh yes. The name is Rocco's. At Hackesher Markt.
Anyway, I'm sure tomorrow will be better, even if my poor laptop will not come to life. We're going to meet the girls again, (Shu Hui and Genevieve) to visit the Parliament House. Lase is very happy.
(Sorry, couldn't resist that...)
Scene 28 - 17th July
As promised, Day 2 of Berlin (technically Day 3).
If previous days are to be considered, I'd have to say that we don't really have much to do today. After all, we have already walked along on our free walking tour and seen much of Berlin yesterday. So we stay in for the morning, Eugene of course, has to do laundry again, Lase is happy with WiFi. Me, of course, without my laptop, can't access the WiFi of the Hostel, but Eugene kindly allows me to use his laptop. Its tiny and has an uncomfortably crammed up keyboard, but I have to make do with this.
New discovery. Being guests at the Meininger Hostel Hauptbahnhoff, we have discounts eating at the Hauptbahnhoff next door. So we decide to walk over there for lunch. When we reach there, however, we realise that we have forgotten to bring our room cards. So no discount on our fries and chicken and sotong nuggets.
As I might have previously mentioned, today's agenda can be simply summarised by a visit to the Reichstag building with Shu Hui and Genevieve.
The Reichstag building is free to enter, and hence...
Actually I'll attribute this queue moreso to the fact that today is Saturday. If Paris was anything to go by, it seems that tourist attractions get rather crowded on the weekends. This probably is an interesting fact that any reader should take away from this account. Don't visit tourist attractions on weekends.
Anyway, what's the big fuss with the Reichstag building? Apart from the fact that it was once supposed to be the center of the Central World Government, I mean. Well, the dome on top of it, perhaps.
Daniel's Mum had told us that the Reichstag building was worth a visit in Berlin because they let you go up to the top of the dome. Plus its free, so...
Anyway, the security to get into the Reichstag building is expectedly quite strict, and all of us have to pass through those metal detectors etc. And only a certain number of people can be in the building at any particular time. This, incidentally, is probably the reason why there was such a megalong queue outside the building.
Anyway, once we're up there, we're not really going to come down too easily, right?
We rarely get a groupshot for the simple reason that its difficult to take the picture while being in it. So probably the above groupshot is the only full one we'll get. This is on the roof (terrace?) of the Reichstag building. Next to the dome.
Its very windy out here. The weather is scorching hot, so each gust of wind is a blessing. But sooner or later we have to enter the giant dome.
Its interesting once inside, though.
First, there's an interesting account of the history of the building. Considering the fact that I mentioned above (i.e. that this building was meant to be the seat of the World Government), there is a significant amount of History in this building.
Secondly, there's this insane mirror thing in the middle of the room.
The architecht designed this (post Hitler, of course) to reflect the transparency in the government. Its to remind the German government who they are serving - the People. Dem Deutsche Volke.
Thirldly, we can climb up to the top of the dome for a panoramic view of the whole of Berlin. There was an audio-guide, by the way, which was free. And, unlike the one at the Louvre, we found this one quite useful. Besides, did I mention that it was free?
*
Post-Reichstag Building and we're walking by the Berlin Wall again. There is something on the map about a Berlin Wall exhibition. Again, the drawing factor is that it is free. Turns out its just that some people had painted colourful pictures on the Berlin Wall. Voila, an exhibition. Ah well.
Interesting event here. Its quite funny, I must admit; though I'm a little shocked that it happened. Two girls, on passing an oriental painting from Japan, I think, stopped by to take a photo. Catch is, that they pulled the sides of their eyes i.e. narrowing them to slits. Hmm..
Actually the funnier part of it was that they were slightly taken aback when they saw Eugene walking towards them. Even funnier part - Eugene spends the next five minutes trying to convince us that his eyes are large.
*
Dinner is at Central Station again; and, once again, we forget the discount cards. Its just not meant to be, is it? Never mind; tomorrow, we're off to Copenhagen and then Sweden. You can actually see Lase is glad to be reaching home.
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