Christmas in Europe - Berlin

As noted earlier, our Christmas in Berlin unfortunately started with a trip to the emergency room. On the plus side, it could really only get better from there.

Even on arriving in Berlin with crippling stomach pain and the all-over aches of a slowly simmering fever, we couldn't miss the 4-story tall Christmas tree in the train station. According to the guidebook, it was decorated with 40,000 Swarovski crystal ornaments. Unfortunately, the guidebook fails to mention that even pretty and expensive transparent ornaments don't photograph well in daylight, although apparently large corporate logos in windows do just fine.



We also enjoyed the strange German adult fascination with Legos. While not quite as tall, this tree did still have its charms.



Moving on to more meaningful sightseeing, we went to Breitscheidplatz to see the "Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche" (Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, I think). It combines the ruins of the original church which was bombed in WWII with a new modern octoganol church built on the same site.



Ok, so what I wrote above wasn't strictly true. Yes, there is a memorial church at the square which is a popular tourist destination. However, what drew us to the site might have been the large Christmas market. No, we weren't eating anything (at least, not anything fried in lard) but it's still fun to look.

Look, they're large, pretty, delicious, and fun to eat!



One of the joys of touring a world-class city is that they tend to invest heavily in public art. I really like this sculpture. I don't know if it's because it reminds me of the simple joy of two people being together, if it makes me think of Sesame Street, or if it makes me think back to when I studied karate and watched movies where action heroes would routinely punch their hands into someone's chest and rip out their hearts. Which is kind of what it looks like is going on here.



Of course, not all investments were in "public" art, as noted by the Erotik Museum we happened to walk by. No, really. We particularly liked the rotating "69" sign on top.



Much of the rest of Berlin (or the little we saw while staggering around doped up on painkillers and various stomach-settling medications) was highly grandiose in a style I will now attribute as German. Large, towering, even overwhelming...but frankly not really that attractive. Many buildings or monuments look like good places in which to decide someone's fate or monitor the private activities of millions (a la Big Brother) but they don't really speak to me of interesting cultural attractions.

One such example is the Brandenberg Gate. Built in the late 1700's, it symbolizes peace and has a very interesting history which you can read about on Wikipedia but which I wasn't that interested in as I was looking up at it. Mostly I just craned my neck way back and said, "huh. big."



As another example, see the Reichstag, below. It's the seat of German parliament, and also unfortunately so freakin' huge that I had to slowly step backwards for about a half mile in order to get the whole thing in frame. Barely.



Despite my initial negative attitude, the truth is that there were some large and grandiose monuments with which I could identify. The controversial and expensive Holocaust memorial in the center of Berlin was one example. Composed of essentially an entire block of tall stone squares rising out of the cement to different heights, I think it is meant to convey the masses of people who died. It also serves as a maze through which you can walk, sinking slowly deeper as the heights of the blocks around you rise to block out the sun and make you feel very very alone.



The remnant of the Berlin Wall at Potsdamer Platz well less effective at evoking feeling. It just looks small and insignificant. Mostly it just serves as a useful backdrop for tourist photos -- like this one!



The cobblestone path running through Berlin conveys the message of the former Berlin Wall much more effectively. It traces out the path of the Wall throughout the city, cutting today's highways and sidewalks in seemingly random places to remind people "what is on the other side of this line might be beyond your reach".



All this talk of memorials and war is depressing. So, I end this entry with a Christmas message kindly delivered by our nifty four-star hotel: a pretty (and fancy! check out the peacock feather) poinsettia which arrives in our room on Christmas Eve.