Last weekend I tasted the most amazing bratwursts on the planet…three times… Friday night I went out with my roommates ins Kino gehen (to the movies!). We saw Into the Wild, the story of a boy who rebels from his parents, runs out west, lives with hippies, rows down some rivers, and does some other crazy things. It was…ehh….OK but nothing to really write about (ironic because I am…). Before that, we went to Mehringdam to have some of the most incredible Currywursts known to mankind. Doused in ketchup and served with fries and mayo, it was probably one of the least heart-healthy meals I could have ever eaten. But it tasted so delicious that I proceeded to eat that meal two more times during the weekend (I think I'm going to need to start jogging or something…). On Saturday, I went to the Judisches (Jewish) Museum. On first entry, you feel like you're a mouse entering into a maze with twisty walls and a floor that slants sideways. Nothing that you look at is straight which gives you sort of nauseous feeling that I'm sure was intended by the architects. The museum is full of random spaces called "voids" that sometimes have lights shining from the outside, are sometimes pitch black dark, or are sometimes just stone figures that echo voices through audio headsets. In one void was contained a bunch of heavy metal faces on the ground that made a loud clinking sound when you walked on them. Watch this video to see what I mean...
Upstairs were all kinds of exhibits that told the story of the Jews in Germany from the Nuremburg Laws to the Enlightenment. The Judisches museum was probably the most creative, informative, and interactive museum I've ever been to and I think it's a must see for anyone coming to Berlin (Alyssa and Ariel would really like it…lol).
On Sunday a friend of mine who is studying abroad in Italy came to Berlin. I went with her and her friends on the Berlin walking tour and learned a lot more about the city. I did, however, think that the tour guide missed out on a lot of important stuff and next time I have guests in Berlin, I think I'm just going to give the tour myself. One of the most incredible sites we saw was Babelplatz, the site of the German book burning in 1933. There are two metal signs set into the cement there. One is Heinrich Heine's famous quote written in 1820 "Where books are burnt, in the end people will burn." Right next to it was the description of the actions done 100 years later that had been so precisely foreshadowed:
"In der Mitte dieses Platzes verbrannten am 10. Mai 1933 Nationalsozialistische Studenten die Werke hunderter freier Schriftstiller, Publizisten, Philosophen, und Wissenschafler."
On May 10, 1933 in the middle of this plaza National Socialist students burnt the works of hundreds of free authors, publishers, philosophers, and scientists.
The university that organized the book burning now holds a huge book sale every year to "commemorate" this event. And books markets are set up almost every day across the street.
Later that night we went to the Staatsoper and saw a ballet in the first public opera theater in the world. The ballet was Onegin and I've gotta say I was surprisingly impressed about how much I enjoyed it. The music was by Tchaikovsky and the performers did a superb job detailing the story without saying any words at all! Not too bad of a deal considering the student tickets we got were just 12 Euro.
The Cast of Onegin
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