Two Hours in Berlin

Yesterday I had to wake up at the completely unholy hour of 3 in preparation for the 10-hour round trip between Prague and Berlin. I, along with 4 other Caledonian School employees, had to make this hellish commute in order to visit the Czech Embassy on Wilhelmstraße as part of the work permit/visa application.

Since we didn't need to wait inside the whole time they were checking our documents, we took a rather rapid stroll around the city. Only now have I gotten the chance to do a bit of research and find out more info on what it is we actually saw.

First we ran across the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas), designed by Peter Eisenman (architect) and Buro Happold (engineer). Allegedly, the concrete slabs ("stelae"), which are spaced out geometrically but vary in height - both actual hight and percieved hight due to the uneven plane upon which the memorial is constructed - are "designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason" wiki.

Moving past that, we walked beneath the Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor), and walked a few blocks to see the remains of the Berlin Wall, and Checkpoint Charlie. And then we went back to the embassy. Yup, that pretty much sums up the speed at which we saw those sights.

It was, however, the cheapest city tour I've ever taken (not counting the visa application); I spent a grand total of €2.50, and that was on a Döner kebab to keep me nourished on the 5-hour return trip.

Image borrowed from Wikimedia commons