Berlin -where it all came down.

We went to germany (Berlin, Munich) and Prague for our easter break! It was a really good trip but it snowed and rained a lot.. so most of the time, we were indoors enjoying the goood food :)

Berlin was the most interesting place because we had a really fantastic guide (go for the New Berlin Tours, based on tips) that told us the history of the place and all the monuments. Here's some pictures we managed to take when our hands weren't freezing to death!


The brandenburg gate at night / close up of the Quadriga above the gate:





This gate has mulitple significances, one of them being that it was the wall that divided East and West Germany. Here's a bit of history from the tour.. it's interesting! The quadriga above the bradenburg gate was initially the goddess of peace, Eirene. When Napoleon marched through Berlin, he took this quadriga and brought it to Paris to be displayed. It remained with the French for 8 years before the German won the war against France, therefore taking the quadriga back. This time, the goddess of peace was replaced with the goddess of victory, Victoria, removing the olive wreathe and adding the iron cross and eagle to the statue.



Interestingly, the square is named Pariser Platz (Paris Plaza) and this was done to show the the German's victory over the French where the goddess of victory now reigns over the platz. Furthermore, the eyes of the goddess of victory were damaged at some point in time so when the eyes were recast to restore the damage, the gaze of the eyes were changed from looking straight to looking right(when you're looking at the picture) -significance being that the French embassy is on the right and in doing so, the Germans are saying that we're keeping an eye on the French people so that they dont take things away from us anymore. That's German humour for you!


Another memorial I really liked was the Jewish memorial:

This memorial did not have any specific symbolism or meaning -the architect said it was subjective art and wanted to leave it open to interpretation. It's made up of rectangular columns of the same width and length, but different heights. These columns are placed on uneven, undulating grounds, starting with the shortest columns on the outside and gradually increasing in height as you move towards the middle.

Walking through the columns from one corner to the opposite corner was quite an experience. It reminded me of the lit paper I wrote last sem on Hiroshima, where the long alleys down the columns create a predominantly empty and isolated space and there is this lingering sense of loss walking down the alleys. The thoughts of the millions that died sinks in and there's an overwhelming sense of all the suffering that they went through. Yet it's the feeling that all these will never be enough because they went through so much more, and no memorial can do justice/commemorate all that happened. Walking futher down into the middle, there is a perpetual stillness and sense of uneasiness, caused by the uncertainty of when someone might cross your paths.

There was slight relief when I stepped out into the open, it was a place I didnt want to stay inside for long, am glad it wasn't night time when I was there. I really liked it though, left the largest impression on me out of everything in Berlin.

Other pictures:

Good foood / The peaceful protest by the people that resulted in a lot of bloodshed / the view from the TV tower / TV Tower / Propaganda posters

Munich and prague soon!