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~around the world~ Saturday, 26th May 2007 Saturday morning in Berlin ~ i wake to the song of a blackbird, and to soft light streaming through garlands of ivy in front of the window. this is Berlin, i think, and once more it feels like a tale.
but there i am, on the last day of our trip, right in the middle of Berlin, in our apartment in Prenzlauer Berg, surrounded by the sounds of a “Hinterhof” – an inner yard that is typical for this area. to get to a Hinterhof-apartment, you walk from the street through a gate that leads past the first row of houses to a second row, framed by small gardens and by trees. smiling, i get up, to go to the bakery. by now, i know the way, know how to turn the key in the gate to have it open on first try. fifteen minutes later i am back, and am welcomed by the taste of fresh coffee: Inge and Efrat are up already, too, setting the breakfast table. “i woke at 3, and lay awake, with all the moments and places spinning in my head,” Efrat says. “I've seen a lot of cities, but Berlin is such an amazing place, so modern, and at the same time so full of history.”
i take a sheet of paper, and we start to make the list, the map of Berlin on the table between our cups of coffee, the images of the last 3 days swirling in our heads. ~~~~~~~~ Berlin - day 1 ~~~~~~~~ Berlin - day 2
~~~~~~~~ Berlin - day 3
“it's no surprise that we feel like coming from a world trip,” i say, looking at the list. “walking through the streets of Berlin, it's like walking through history.” what also adds to the feeling: the museums we have visited the afternoon before. there is a whole museum island in Berlin, with 5 museums. one of them is home to Nofretete. one to the Pergamon temple altar. (yes. they brought a whole temple from Turkey to Berlin .) if you go there, it's like a world journey on its own: Egypt, Syria , Babylon/Iraq, Pergamon, - they even have a hall with exhibition pieces from Mschatte / Jordan. which connected to the trip Inge was coming from. and the stairway that leads to it was hosts a gallery of old photos, some of them from Ishfahan, Iran – the very place Efrat's mother was born. “it's a place that belongs to my family history, but that is out of reach for me, and for any one else right now,” Efrat said there. it was odd, to see this rich culture heritage, and try to match it with the horrible news that come from those places now, news that makes you think there is nothing there but tragedy and violence.
another moving place: the holocaust memorial. it is set under open sky, not far from the Brandenburger Gate in the middle of the city. it's a field of 2751 stelae. you walk through it. there is no advised entry or exit, no inscription, nothing. just this field. and the feeling it gives. first intrigating, then, surprisingly soon, almost suffocating. and with the other persons walking, it's like a silent drama theatre of people trying to find a way through irritation, through exitlessness. here's a link: Berlin holocaust memorial and not far from it, on the other side of the Brandenburger Tor – there is the street of the 17th June, its name a memory to the uprise of people in former East Germany in 1953. (here a link with the history, in German: Strasse des 17. Juni) the street nowadays is the home of the Love Parade. and also, the home of the Fanmeile: the huge public viewing place of soccer events. i knew it from TV, but it was so different to be there in real, and watch the Fanmeile being built for the football final: Nuremberg vs. Stuttgart. when it's on, we will be on the way home already. a half day left. where to go, we wonder, and figure out a rough itienary while we sip our second coffee: Berlin - day 4
~~ what we don't know by then: there is a stormfront heading towards Berlin. yet, luck has it that it arrives twenty minutes after our plane is leaving Schönefeld. "sorry for the bumpy start - we were the last plane to go before the storm," the captain says. but we haven't escaped the rain: in Stuttgart, we are greeted by a twin of the storm, and have to fly circles before we can land, delayed by an hour - and thus, just in time to reach home in time for the final. "that's where i was this morning," i say to Ronnie and point at the TV. it still feels like i'm coming from another land, from a journey around the world. ~~~ |
