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enthusiastickFriday evening I arrived in Berlin. Well, actually, I arrived on the outskirts of Berlin. I got off the train one stop early because I was daydreaming and not reading any of the large, clearly posted signs. I blinked when I realized where I actually was, bought a day pass for the S-Bahn (German equivalent of the L-train) and rode up to my actual destination, feeling suitably stupid. Located my father's hotel (the Intercontinental Berlin, auf Budapesterstrasse 2) with minimum fuss. My Dad confessed that he had tried to meet me at the train station and was worried he had missed me.
On our way to dinner, for the first time since I've been to Germany, I got lost. With my Dad no less, which is totally uncanny as he has a great sense of direction. He chalks it up to bad directions from the conceirge. After succesfully returning to the hotel for better directions, we located a Biergarten and sat eating pizza and generally catching up. My father is a little over-fond of Biergartens, I think, due to fond memories of his own trip to Deutschland at about my age. But I didn't mind indulging him, particularly not when he was paying...
Saturday we got up and bought tickets for one of those open-top double-decker bus 'round the city tours that you can get on and off all day. Then at a positively startling speed using a combination of foot travel and the bus we proceeded to get at least a glimpse of all of the major Tourist stops in Berlin. I bought a Checkpoint Charlie t-shirt that I'm pretty pleased with. My Dad was suitably impressed by my proficiency with conversational German and my store of accumulated knowledge about Berlin. I thought the Potsdamer Platz, particularly the Sony Center, was hella impressive. And I was more intrigued by the Berliner Dom than I expected to be (I figured I was spoiled rotten by having seen the Kölner Dom extensively.)
We spent a chunk of the afternoon exploring the Pergamon Museum, a real treat for the history geek in me. The Museum houses a positively staggering amount of art and architecture from the ancient world, in particular Greece and Babylon. And when I say architecture, I mean architecture - the entire Pergamon altar and staircase leading up to it has been faithfully reconstructed so you can walk through it. Likewise the alley and gate of the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II (more commonly called the Ishtar gate) from Babylon, which I found personally more impressive. Its made up of Blue glazed tiles and is just wicked cool to walk through.
Saturday night we ate dinner in the Fernsehturm (aka the TV-tower, aka the Toothpick.) There's a revolving restaurant which was quite good, and although we were seated a little bit after sunrise the city was still pretty cool looking lit up at night. I was immediately struck by certain aspects of the city. Somewhat like New York (and totally unlike Chicago) Berlin lacks a proper 'city center' from which everything important radiates outward. And unlike almost all American cities, Berlin is not very tall. From the gallery of the Fernsehturm we were looking down on literally everything.
Sunday Dad and I slept in a bit and then headed back over to the Brandenburg Gate to check out the Reichstag. The line to go in and see the dome looked a little too long to be worth standing in, so we wandered along the Spree and looked at the new government buildings which are all currently nearing completion. We had an interesting discussion about the state of urban renewal in Berlin... there's new construction everywhere, and even so there's stuff that remains to be done. Eventually we ended up walking along the picturesque Unter den Linden street and then ducking back to the hotel before scoping out the Berlin Zoo a little. The Zoo was unimpressive to my Dad due to its old-fashioned style (its basically a big park with animal enclosures littered throughout.) I'm forced to agree that some of it was pretty lame, although I did get to ogle a dozing Giant Panda and see frantically swimming Hippos.
Then I went to the train station, and found the group on the ESA Excursion standing on the platform waiting to catch the same train back as I was. So my Dad and I said goodbye (I'll see him in less than a week now) and I rode back to Weimar.
Berlin is one kickass city, all things considered.
I'm starting to get inescapably excited about the prospect of returning to the USA. This time next week I'll be in Connecticut, and only a couple weeks later I'll be in Evanston. That is a beautiful, beautiful thing. I'm not ready to be a senior... I'm not old enough, and I'm too terrified by the prospect of life after college. But I love my college life so much that I am really looking forward to my senior year. I miss Sam... (I've noticed that I express that sentiment way more often in my personal handwritten journal than in my blog for public consumption. I will repeat it, as it bears repeating: I miss Samantha Nelson. Like crazy.)
I had an interesting conversation with my Dad about employment following college. He seemed unsurprised that I don't even know what region of the country I'd like to live in yet, and appreciated that there are a certain number of variables and shifting factors involved in making that decision. I expressed the sentiment that I'm probably 'too lazy to fail' and he was at least amused. All the things I can think of that I would enjoy as a job (i.e. high school history teacher, tour guide, etc.) involve being poor and not making the most of my education. My father remains blithely confident that I'll find a niche that makes me happy in the business world, as he has seen my sisters and their friends do. But I've met so many people who hate their jobs and seem trapped in them... I'm not ready. I'm not going to be ready in nine months. But ready or not, here it comes. Right?
On our way to dinner, for the first time since I've been to Germany, I got lost. With my Dad no less, which is totally uncanny as he has a great sense of direction. He chalks it up to bad directions from the conceirge. After succesfully returning to the hotel for better directions, we located a Biergarten and sat eating pizza and generally catching up. My father is a little over-fond of Biergartens, I think, due to fond memories of his own trip to Deutschland at about my age. But I didn't mind indulging him, particularly not when he was paying...
Saturday we got up and bought tickets for one of those open-top double-decker bus 'round the city tours that you can get on and off all day. Then at a positively startling speed using a combination of foot travel and the bus we proceeded to get at least a glimpse of all of the major Tourist stops in Berlin. I bought a Checkpoint Charlie t-shirt that I'm pretty pleased with. My Dad was suitably impressed by my proficiency with conversational German and my store of accumulated knowledge about Berlin. I thought the Potsdamer Platz, particularly the Sony Center, was hella impressive. And I was more intrigued by the Berliner Dom than I expected to be (I figured I was spoiled rotten by having seen the Kölner Dom extensively.)
We spent a chunk of the afternoon exploring the Pergamon Museum, a real treat for the history geek in me. The Museum houses a positively staggering amount of art and architecture from the ancient world, in particular Greece and Babylon. And when I say architecture, I mean architecture - the entire Pergamon altar and staircase leading up to it has been faithfully reconstructed so you can walk through it. Likewise the alley and gate of the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II (more commonly called the Ishtar gate) from Babylon, which I found personally more impressive. Its made up of Blue glazed tiles and is just wicked cool to walk through.
Saturday night we ate dinner in the Fernsehturm (aka the TV-tower, aka the Toothpick.) There's a revolving restaurant which was quite good, and although we were seated a little bit after sunrise the city was still pretty cool looking lit up at night. I was immediately struck by certain aspects of the city. Somewhat like New York (and totally unlike Chicago) Berlin lacks a proper 'city center' from which everything important radiates outward. And unlike almost all American cities, Berlin is not very tall. From the gallery of the Fernsehturm we were looking down on literally everything.
Sunday Dad and I slept in a bit and then headed back over to the Brandenburg Gate to check out the Reichstag. The line to go in and see the dome looked a little too long to be worth standing in, so we wandered along the Spree and looked at the new government buildings which are all currently nearing completion. We had an interesting discussion about the state of urban renewal in Berlin... there's new construction everywhere, and even so there's stuff that remains to be done. Eventually we ended up walking along the picturesque Unter den Linden street and then ducking back to the hotel before scoping out the Berlin Zoo a little. The Zoo was unimpressive to my Dad due to its old-fashioned style (its basically a big park with animal enclosures littered throughout.) I'm forced to agree that some of it was pretty lame, although I did get to ogle a dozing Giant Panda and see frantically swimming Hippos.
Then I went to the train station, and found the group on the ESA Excursion standing on the platform waiting to catch the same train back as I was. So my Dad and I said goodbye (I'll see him in less than a week now) and I rode back to Weimar.
Berlin is one kickass city, all things considered.
I'm starting to get inescapably excited about the prospect of returning to the USA. This time next week I'll be in Connecticut, and only a couple weeks later I'll be in Evanston. That is a beautiful, beautiful thing. I'm not ready to be a senior... I'm not old enough, and I'm too terrified by the prospect of life after college. But I love my college life so much that I am really looking forward to my senior year. I miss Sam... (I've noticed that I express that sentiment way more often in my personal handwritten journal than in my blog for public consumption. I will repeat it, as it bears repeating: I miss Samantha Nelson. Like crazy.)
I had an interesting conversation with my Dad about employment following college. He seemed unsurprised that I don't even know what region of the country I'd like to live in yet, and appreciated that there are a certain number of variables and shifting factors involved in making that decision. I expressed the sentiment that I'm probably 'too lazy to fail' and he was at least amused. All the things I can think of that I would enjoy as a job (i.e. high school history teacher, tour guide, etc.) involve being poor and not making the most of my education. My father remains blithely confident that I'll find a niche that makes me happy in the business world, as he has seen my sisters and their friends do. But I've met so many people who hate their jobs and seem trapped in them... I'm not ready. I'm not going to be ready in nine months. But ready or not, here it comes. Right?
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Date: 2003-08-27 05:13 pm (UTC)My apologies. I know it's Eben, but it was late, and I was very tired.