Berlin greeted us with functional public transportation, delicious food (vegan options yay), and historical landscapes. Needless to say, I don’t miss New Jersey!
Day two in Germany featured a wide variety of sites. Me and my fellow Landscape Architecture students saw the Berlin Wall memorial, the museum “Island”, two fountains (great for cooling off in the heat), parliament buildings, and the holocaust memorial for the murdered Jews of Europe (designed by peter Eisenman). I ended the busy day with Vietnamese food and yoga in the park.
I found the Berlin wall memorial particularly interesting. A city once divided, now singular and connected. Remnants of the wall itself bring reminders of past tensions, and artistic representations of rebar and concrete are powerful and thought provoking.
I lectured a presentation for my class about the memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe. It was interesting to see a place I had studied in depth on line in person. The space felt much larger than it looked in images, and it was disorienting to be among high concrete blocks, lost in the wavy center.
Berlin is growing on me. The city is rugged, hip, and fresh. The streets are bursting with life and the people are trendy and interesting.
Day 2, done!
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