New Year's--Berlin Edition

All the way last year, Lauren and I flew into Switzerland. There we had our first travel meal of quiche-to-go. Two for 17€, yikes! The exciting part was being able to order in French. This would be the last of my local language comprehension, as I know a total of 15 words in German. From the Swiss border we took a train to the town/city Freiburg. Here we spent the afternoon roaming around until our night train. Freiburg is a good size, noted by its better shopping selection than Lugo. Perhaps the successful German economy has something to do with the fact that the main shopping street seemed bustling. Many houses and buildings were quaint and colorful. We entered the main Cathedral and had wurst from a street vendor as a dinner/snack. One difference we noticed between Spain and Germany is that most of the cafés there were closing at 7 or 8 PM. We had nowhere to go! It also seemed that people were heading home at that hour, rather than heading to meet with friends as they often do in Spain.

An idyllic square in Freiburg

But one thing the Spaniards can learn from the Germans is train comfort. On Spain´s national railroad, if you don't shell out for the bunk-beds on a night train, good luck sleeping because the seats are your typical, no leg-room, barely reclinable train seats. On the German night train, however, we were pleasantly surprised to find plenty of baggage and legroom even when leaning all the way back in your cushiony chair. Deluxe! Therefore the next morning we arrived quite well-rested to Berlin.

Cool, cool Berlin. We arrived their New Year´s Eve and set out to discover it on a very informative tour. There is so much relatively recent history in this city --mostly tragic-- from World War 2 to the Cold War era separation of East and West. We saw the remains of the Berlin Wall, which is about the length of one big building. Behind the section of remaining wall is a free museum called Topographie des Terrors, about the Secret Police and other Nazi atrocities. I've often wondered how they got away with the Holocaust, and why nobody immediately stood up to them. This museum gave an idea why, showing how they used fear to control people. For example, apart from the groups everyone knows they murdered and tortured, they also would publicly humiliate those associated with Jews or other prisoners. For example, women's heads were shaved in front of a crowd of townspeople, and then they were paraded around town with a sign calling them traitors. Granted, this isn't as bad as a concentration camp, but psychological warfare is damaging too. The Nazis also bought a rest home for the mentally/physically handicapped and installed gas chambers in the showers. As atrocious as the information in the exhibit was, I believe it's important to realize these things happen and remember them so it doesn't happen again.

On a related note, we also saw the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, which apparently is a controversial monument for it's abstractness. It's about 100 rectangles of different heights. You are meant to walk through it and in the middle they seem to tower over you. Below the memorial is an exhibit about the Jews. Again, absolutely awful, but this museum did a good job bringing the statistic of 6 million to life. It contained a few families' stories throughout the Holocaust, included excerpts of letters from the concentration camps, and in a dark room was a recording of biographies of Holocaust victims. It would be impossible to leave that place without at least getting teary-eyed.

But not all of Berlin's attractions are depressing. The last open Christmas Markt for example was quite the opposite. Christmas cheer to ring in the new year, ho ho ho. Aside from perusing the stalls of mostly food and other homemade products, we imbibed GLÜHWEIN (hot wine). At first it was nice, especially since outside it was frigid but lightly drizzling. But by the time it lost its heat, the taste was unpleasant. 

Giant pretzels

And then there were the NYE festivities. New Year's Eve was an Armageddon meets alcohol commercial. Germans are serious about their fireworks, and don't seem to control themselves, contrarily to their constrained stereotype. As we were walking with the horde of people headed towards the entrance to Brandenburg Tower (where the big outdoor celebration was), fireworks kept going off in the middle of the street, about two yards away from us! What the heck?! And the police didn't do anything to stop them. We got to the Tower area by 7:00, and by 10:00 it was full and no more people were allowed in. To entertain ourselves there were food stands and bands. Have to say, the band selection was disappointing for NEW YEAR'S EVE in Berlin, supposedly one of the best in Europe. The highlight was David Hasselhoff. Seriously, he played the last and first song of the years. People ate it up! He actually had to be gently escorted off stage because he tried to sing along with the next act. But anyways, it was nice to say that we survived hours on our feet to greet 2015 with a bang in Berlin. As we were heading home, people were out celebrating in the streets, which were flooded with debris. Mostly alcohol bottles. They used champagne bottles to set off fireworks. What a vision, 2015. What a vision.

Brandenburg Tower, NYE (At least there is police presence)