A week in Germany…

So I’ve been here for one week, and I can now say: Guten tag, tschüss, ein…(random bakery item) bitte, entshuldigung, ich spreke nitch Deutch, and Spreken sie English? Oh, and I can order Kaffee mit Sojamilch. I can recognize the German words for pork (very important for someone who does not eat pork in a country where they put pork in just about everything), chicken, cheese, milk, bread, strawberry, asparagus and the mighty potato.

I’ve seen the bust of Nefertiti, a piece of the Berlin wall that is still standing, and the Brandenburg Gate where Ronald Regean made his famous speech. I’ve also eaten more baked goods than I would in a month in Vancouver, pedaled along the banks of the River Havel, and had my first-ever (and last-ever) bite of sausage.

If you had asked me where my top places to visit were, Germany would not have been among them. It is not a place I have had any real connection to through history, nor is it a culture I have been particularly drawn to (especially as a vegetarian, lactose-intolerant person who does not care much for cake).Travelling to a place to see someone is definitely a different experience. I did not come to Potsdam explicitly to see Potsdam, but to spend time with Jason. What I find, however, is that it doesn’t matter where you go, there is so much to see.

It’s been quite the experience so far, beginning with the misplacement of my luggage, as the first thing I had to do in Germany was buy underwear and socks. Luckily, my luggage arrived via delivery the next day, so I had my delicates back. On that Thursday, Jason took me to Potsdam. Potsdam has a history as the hunting and leisure capital of the Prussian court, with palaces and manicured landscapes along the scenic banks of the Havel. After WWII, it was the site of the dividing of Germany into different areas controlled by France, England, the US, and the USSR. The Berlin wall also ran along the river here. Much of the historical part of the city has been restored, so I wandered, jetlagged and wearing Jason’s shirt, through the cobblestone streets. It was lovely, and the architecture, to me, was novel.

On Friday, we went to the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, a high tech research facility located incongruently in the yellow-checked, pastoral landscape of Golm. The easiest way to get there is by train, and once there, you are confined to what Max Planck has to offer. Luckily, what it has to offer is quite a bit. Jason shares his office with two of his fellow grad students, but his large desk gives me room to work. The building is new and very spacious – a far cry from my little former office in ANSO. There is a decent cafeteria, free carbonated water that simply flows from the tap, and espresso for .40 Euro, a substance instrumental in helping to ward off the unexpected and sudden jetlag induced desire to fall asleep on the keyboard at 2 in the afternoon. Qwerty face would not be appreciated, I’m sure.

Saturday, we venture to Berlin, armed like good tourists with maps, cameras and sturdy walking shoes. I know tourists are often ridiculed, but I am going to make the most of my trip to Europe. For me, the archaeologist, no trip would be complete without braving the tourist crowds and going to the museums and monuments that are of historical significance. I am not going to come to Berlin and not see the Brandenburg Gate. And there is no way I am going to Paris and skipping the Eiffel tower. If that means wandering around with a map and a confused expression, paying three Euro for a tiny bottle of water, then so be it. Clearly I feel I have to justify this…damn anthropology!

Berlin is an interesting mix of modern architecture and historical buildings. We got off the S-bahn (the much more efficient and extensive version of the Skytrain) in the centre of Berlin with all the other map-followers, but our first goal was lunch. In this part of German, people speak a fair bit of English, a trait I meet with a mix of relief and disappointment. I want to learn, but I know so little. We order a beer – hefewisen for me, kostritzer for Jason – and peruse the menu. I read, and read, and read – sausage with onion, sausage with bread, sausage with pretzel, pork chop…farmer’s cheese salad. It’s one of two things I can have on the menu, so I order it and…they don’t have it. Lunch consisted of a large beer and a small piece of toast with some very yummy cheese. Jason got a white sausage served in a bowl of hot water, with pretzel and mustard.

We were a bit tipsy by the end of it, so we wandered through the market, checking out all of the kitschy touristy things and noshing on some rhubarb tart. Our next destination was Museum Island. I was quite entranced by the architecture, the bridges, and just the general ambience. The Egyptian exhibit at the Alte Museum was amazing for me, particularly the bust of Nefertiti.

The most powerful experience that I have had so far, however, was the Holocaust Memorial. Remnants of the war have mostly been erased in Berlin, with the exception of a burned out church and a city block covered in large, unmarked concrete blocks. We arrived there to a bunch of kids playing hide and seek and a bunch of adults jumping along the tops of the blocks. To me, it was not a place for laughter.

Jason and I weren’t sure what the memorial was about until we found a door leading underground below the blocks. Free admission and a security check later, we moved through the memorial.

I won’t describe it for you.

When we moved back into the sunshine, I was experiencing a whole series of emotions, the strongest of which was pain, followed by a sense of disbelief that one group of humans would treat another so horribly. The worst was the words of children on postcards thrown from “deportation” trains.

There was also rage.

I spent the next couple of days being ridiculously productive at Max Planck and mingling with physicists. However, I’m not just here to work, so on Wednesday I decided to stay here, so I rented a bike and pedaled my way through Babelsburg, but trying to see things by myself just isn’t that fun…

Next up…Paris!