You may ask why I refer to Berlin as poor but sexy. Well that is because the 2004 mayor of Berlin said "Berlin is poor but sexy." Our tour guide on Sunday told us that the unemployment rate in Berlin just dropped down to around 12%. And I thought us Americans had it bad.
Friday early early early, so early it still seemed like Thursday, two other girls from my program and I ventured from London to Berlin. We were quite an eclectic group. There was the curly haired super-Jew brunette from Chicago (me), a quiet but incredibly sweet blonde girl from South Carolina (aften), and a long-haired red-head who grew up on Long Island but goes to school in Lakeforest outside Chicago. And none of us knew a word of German (Jeremy, where are you when I need you?).
We landed in a sunny Berlin day, checked into our hostel, and headed out to start working on the list of places to go that I had compiled. First stop, Ritter Sport Factory. Duh. Why would we start it out any other way. Seriously now. At this magical wonderland you can get a square Ritter Sport bar of chocolate for just 70 euro cent. You can go through the upstairs exhibit on how their chocolate is produced and the history of the company. The best part, without a doubt, was the make-your-own-flavor station. Everything from nuts to marshmallows, chili to gummy bears. I put rice crispies and chili in mine. Yum. It took thirty minutes for this chocolate making process to happen so we wandered around and ended up in a beautiful square by the concert hall and two churches. There were some people in top hats and vests and long coats styled circa 1900 doing some sort of filming in the square. Very interesting...
After we retrieved our chocolate and tasted it, we went to the Jewish museum. This place is huge. It zigzags in some sort of conceptual architectural ideological manifestation of something or other and seems to go on and on and on. We were so exhausted, saturated, and hungry by the time we zigzaged down to the ground floor that we just skipped it. But boy did we learn about the Jews in Berlin starting with the time of the diaspora. And of course I made sure to obnoxiously fill in any gaps about anything I thought the exhibits were missing. But that's why I'm a super Jew. After the Jewish museum we got dinner. We stumbled into this little restaurant with walls absolutely covered, every single inch, with framed reproductions of paintings. The waiter spoke pretty much no English and we were the only people there. To tell us that certain items on the menu were actually not being served, he had to physically cross them out with his pen. And because Aften and I are both vegetarians, we had to be quite careful about what we ordered (especially in a land known for their sausage). We ended up with spaghetti and tomato sauce. We sat and chatted for a while, caught our breath, and then headed back to the hostel. After getting up at 4:15 am to catch our flight, we were all excited for an early night.
On Saturday we woke up relatively early, ate at the 5 euro all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet at the hostel (eggs, cheese, breads, cereals, unlimited coffee, etc) and then got on the train to go to Sachsenhausen. This is a concentration camp near Oranianburg. I'm not sure if its on the outskirts of the city or if its just outside the city limits. Anyways, it was the last stop on the line. It was a chilly day and after some confusion we figured out how to get from the train station to the camp. As you can imagine, we were in for a rather depressing history lesson kind of morning. I guess Sachsenhausen was a work camp for political prisoners, roma & sinti, Jehovah's Witnesses, and mainly non-Jews. But Jews got sent there, too. It was also one that was shown to the public, I think because of how close it is to Berlin. So when foreign diplomats or whoever would come and be like "yo what about these camps you got" the Nazis, and even Himmler himself, would give them a tour of Sachsenhausen which was of course incredibly staged and made to look like a different and less inhumane place than it was on every other day. This was also a place that young boys were taken to for experimentation purposes. Nice, huh? It wasn't a very big camp but I really, really appreciated the reminder that it wasn't just the Jews the Nazis were after, it was pretty much anyone who didn't fit into this small, small idea of the superior race. Gag.
Trying to counteract the depressing cloud sitting on our soldiers, we walked the twenty or so minutes back to the train station and got Nutella crepes. We then proceeded to wait for, I really think, more than 30 minutes for a train back into the city. When it finally came and we finally got out of the cold we took it the Berlin Wall Memorial. This was incredibly depressing and mainly a memorial to the people who died trying to escape East Berlin. Humbling, to say the least. Scary to think how recent the U.S.S.R. came toppling down. I mean basically just a year older than me from Berlin lived during that era. But I guess that was the same frightening realization I had the Museum of Communism in Prague. We then went to the East Side Gallery which is the strip of the wall that has been converted into a public art mural exhibit. This had been the main inspiration for my desire to travel to Berlin (in addition to Irv and the Jewish history), to see these murals. They were incredible. They blew my mind. Really, really spectacular. Heavy day. After this we went to the Ritter Sport factory again to buy some cheap, cheap chocolate to help balance out the depressing Berlin history we had been grappling with all Saturday. Then we found dinner at a small and simple spot and called it a(n exhausting) day.
Sunday was our last day in Berlin. We got up and down to breakfast by 10, checked out, and was out of the hostel by 10:30 or so. We went over to Alexanderplatz to go on a bike tour. This was really fabulous because we got to see a lot more of the city, get a stronger feel than just train stations and museums, and have a young Australian guide tell us history stories. We went to (out of order) Checkpoint Charlie, stood over the place Hitler's bunker had been, former headquarters of Nazie Luftwaffe headquarters, saw a Berlin Wall watchtower, the TV tower, Bebelplatz and the memorial to the Nazi book burning at the university (which is a really, really powerful memorial of underground bookshelves that you can see through a small glass square, the bookshelves are empty but there is room for 20,000 books which is the approximate number lost in the fire), Bradenburg Tor, Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Museum Island and the cathedral there that was supposed to out-do St. Peter's in Rome (yeah right), Reichstag, Victory Tower, the American Embassy (unintentionally), and other remnants of the Wall by the Topography of Terror. We had lunch at a beer garden in some huge city park that is probably quite beautiful in the summer when the trees actually have leaves and the flowers are growing. We had sunny weather so the bike ride was pleasant and it was nice to be moving a bit considering we went straight to the airport afterward. The tour was great. We saw a lot and learned a lot that we wouldn't have known if we had wondered around the train systems by ourselves trying to get to all these places.
We came back Sunday night, exhausted and ready for an English speaking country and a hot shower. Successful weekend trip to Berlin.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Poor but Sexy, or Three Days in Berlin.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Picturs of Wien and Praha
carnivale praha!
museum of communism!
carnivale praha
coolest clock in the world.
Charles Bridge!
Prague!
Stephansdom!
my Viennese chocolate cake!
the belvedere!
La Vie Boheme! or my 21st Birthday and Midterm Break in Vienna (Wien) and Prague (Praha)
Wednesday morning at midnight some of my friends and kitchenmates in my program came to my kitchen to eat glutton-free (I'm in the celiacs/auto-immune disease kitchen) brownies, glutton-full carrot cake, and drink some margaritas in celebration of my 21st birthday. It was great, low-key, and we just sat around for an hour and a half or so giggling and telling stories. Compared to some of my past birthdays, this was quite a good start. Wednesday, when I got up for the day, I mailed in a midterm paper and took off for Gatwick airport to hop a plane to visit Caitlin (another Puget Sound student studying abroad) in Vienna. I finally got in around 8 at night and it took me until 9:30 to get to her apartment from the airport. Awaiting me was a Viennese chocolate bunt cake for my birthday! It was so great to see an old friend and take a break from the structure and routine of IES London.
Thursday morning we got up early to get into the center of the city for Caitlin's morning class. The IES center in Vienna is by the major cathedral in Vienna, Stephansdom, and near the opera house on a major shopping street. I got some coffee and went to see Stephansdom while Caitlin went to class. It was freezing cold, however, 0 degrees celsius, which is a temperature I am no longer used to after temperate and rainy conditions in London. It didn't take long for me to seek warmth inside a coffee shop until Caitlin's class was over. After that I tried to tap into the Jewish heritage and history in Vienna. First I went to try and take a tour of a synagogue. But they stopped me at the door and told me the synagogue was under construction and the only way to get inside was to come to Shabbat services the next evening. Then we tried to find the Jewish museum. Also a failure due to construction. In fact, we walked past the museum almost three times trying to find it because it was behind construction netting and gates. We gave up on Jewish heritage and I went to the Albertina Graphic Art Museum and Caitlin went to a meeting for school. There was a huge Lichtenstein exhibit at the Albertina and so I walked three rooms full of American pop art. I'm not a huge pop art fan but it was interesting to see it on display in Europe and to think about the global responses to the pop art movement. Their permanent collection had pieces from Durer to Schiele. There was a huge exhibit on the Blue Ritter artists but most of the pieces kind of showed process and development of a movement as a historical period. After the Albertina, which I enjoyed, I met back up with Caitlin and her apartmentmates and we went to Naschmarket for lunch. This is a historical market lined with stands for olives, dried fruits, sausages, cheeses, scarves, soccer/football team spirit clothing items, breads, falafel and restaurants. We went to one of the sit-down restaurants for lunch. The menu was a challenge because it was all in German and I have to be careful about what I ordered, being a vegetarian and all. I ended up ordering a grilled cheese with some vegetables which I thought would be cheese between bread. Nope, it was a hunk of SALTY SALTY cheese. Lesson learned. After the Naschmarket Caitlin and I went to the Belvedere. This was super exciting, even if the employees called us stupid when we asked questions about the collection, and really showed us just how obsessed with and proud of Klimt Vienna is. "The Kiss" is in this museum, this converted palace, as well as many other Klimt pieces (especially unfinished ones!). I fell in love with his version of Judith and Holofernes. Look. It. Up. I could have stared at some of the Klimt pieces for hours, I swear. The collection also includes art by other members of the Vienna Secession and other European impressionists and avant-garde artists. We walked through the collection of neoclassicism and romanticism paintings but that was way obviously less interesting. We were there for a couple hours and by the time we left it was cold, cold outside and we somehow made our way back to the train then the streetcar to get back to Caitlin's apartment for dinner and what as left of birthday cake.
On Friday I met Caitlin after her class, catching up on a little bit of sleep, and I bought a huge sweater for 7 euro because I definitely had not packed appropriately for the freezing cold and windy weather. Then we went to the Secession Contemporary art gallery. I didn't like the contemporary art they had on display. I didn't find it particularly effective or interesting even with the lamentation cards available explain the ideology behind the installations. But in the basement was a Klimt fresco (noticing the theme) which was really cool. It was inspired by one of Beethoven's symphonies and there was a pamphlet explaining the symbolism and ideas in it which definitely helped me appreciate it even more. So getting to see that was probably worth the entrance fee. Also, the building is super strange. It has this weird golden weaved-looking sphere on top and the building kind of looks like white blocks put together. After this we went back to Naschmarket to get some falafel and wien pickels. Then I went to the Sigmund Freud House/Museum and Caitlin went back to take a nap (poor thing is still recovering from mono). This was a rather disappointing because it was basically a collection of his writings and his certificates and his archeological collections and busts of himself and photographs just on display. There was no information about his theories or about the debates and social anxieties about him. I was really hoping to learn about that. But it was cool to see where he practiced and lived when in Vienna with his family. After this I went back to Caitlin's and also took a nap. I was exhausted from the early mornings, the traveling, and the cold weather. When we got up we planned our trip to Prague for the next day and made dinner. Then two of her apartmentmates came with us to a Heurigan, which is a wine garden. We got dessert and a glass of wine and a couple men were going around the traditionally decorated Heurigan playing double-necked guitars which is also apparently some kind of traditional Austrian instrument. Lots and lots of the German language flying everywhere.
The next morning Caitlin and I got up early to catch a 9:45 bus to Prague. It was about a 5 hour bus ride with a half hour stop in another Czech city in between. We arrived around 2:30 or so Saturday afternoon, in a slightly warmer and sunnier Prague. I slept for most of the bus ride, of course. We found our hostel which was quite excellent. We booked a double and it had a private bathroom and a kitchenette. Now that is luxury by hostel standards. No bedbugs! We settled our stuff, got a map, and headed out to the Old Town. Now that is an incredible piece of living history. The architecture is mind blowing. Bright, colorful, ornate. The old brick towers by the Charles Bridge and the entrance by the Opera House really force you to feel like where you're walking looked like that hundreds of years ago. I fell in love with the astronomical clock, of course. We crossed Charles Bridge, past the stands selling art and jewelry, trying to squeeze through the mobs of tourists, to get to the Kafka museum before it closed. Caitlin went into a second hand bookstore with lots of English books while I went to the museum. I really loved the Kafka museum. It was set up to appeal to your senses and creep you out, with the audio effects of leaking water and the red lighting in some spots. But this was a much better museum than the Freud museum in Vienna. This one talked about Kafka, his hatred for his father, his relationship with Prague as a city, his relationship with the Jewish population, his many girlfriends, his interest in theater, other writers he conversed with and inspired him, his law school background, the existentialist issues he tackles in his unfinished works and famous works. There was even a bit on "The Hunger Artist" that I remembered having to study in high school and had made a bigger impression on me than his "Metamorphosis" (probably because of the reputation the "Metamorphosis" has and you already know what you're getting into when you open to the first page of it). The museum tried to transport you back to Kafka's era, tried to create the atmosphere that weighed heavily on Franz Kafka. After this museum, we crossed back over the Charles Bridge and went to the Museum of Medieval Torture Instruments. This was gruesome and disgusting and if they say that the Medieval Times was not a period of creative outburst, well then you're just not not looking at the right things. There are definitely some disgustingly creative torture devices. Did you know that the chastity belt was a torture instrument? Yuck. We got pizza from an Italian restaurant after this disturbing endeavor and there was a table of Italians sitting next to us. I always get excited when I can recognize and understand pieces of Italian conversation. After dinner we went on a ghost tour. Our tour guide was from Oregon so Caitlin and I were excited to meet a West-Coaster. We learned about some Prague history including stories about alchemists, a mysterious Black Madonna, architects meeting the devil, the 27 crosses and bloody political days in Prague history, a royal figure who had reoccurring nightmares of being buried alive and then actually was. Then our guide took us under the church where the astronomical clock is and through cells that used to be for locking up prisoners, torturing prisoners, and executions. He told us stories about the famous executioner, Jan Mydler, who became an executioner to try and save the woman he loved. Our tour guide was clearly fairly skeptical about the existence of ghosts, which I definitely appreciated, and was also a history buff who would throw in tidbits of information prefaced by "This isn't part of the tour but you should look up..." so that was cool. We got back to the hostel around midnight and went to sleep so we could get a good nights rest and make sure we were well rested for the full, cold day that awaited us.
On Sunday we got up around 8 in the morning and went to an American style deli called "Bohemia Bagels" for breakfast. Caitlin was craving American-style pancakes and the ghost tour had handed out discounts for different places including this restaurant. After this we went to the Museum of Communism which was pretty scary. It followed history from the end of World War II to the fall of the U.S.S.R. It was loaded with artifacts, panels, videos, photographs, and even a piece of the Berlin wall. The panels had so much information that it was hard to digest the whole timeline and waves of complications. It was scary to think that pretty much everyone even just a year older than Caitlin and I had experienced living under Communist rule. Especially seeing how scary it was, how impoverished people were, how stuck in hell they were. The propaganda, the censorship, the lack of access to basic necessities...I definitely learned more about how dire the circumstances had been in Czechoslovakia before I was born. After this rather sobering trip through the museum we went to go try and find the Jewish museum. It took a little bit of confusion and anger about being a Jew and having to pay to go into synagogues to realize that the Jewish museum in Prague is split up between six or so synagogues and each house a different category of information. For example, one is on the Burial Society and one explains different major Jewish holidays and traditions and another explains migrations, etc. The two that I found the most moving were the Pinchas Synagogue and the Spanish Synagogue (and of course the synagogue with the attic where Golem lives, where Rabbie Loew had practiced). The Pinchas Synagogue is the memorial to the Prague Jews who died in the Holocaust. Inside, on the walls, are written the names of Jews who perished. I think it was around 200,000 names and all of a sudden I had some idea of how large of a number that is, seeing the names spread out across the walls. I saw my first name quite a few times, as I tend to do in memorials of this sort. Heart-wrenching and bringing it all too close to home, this personal history. But for the first time I saw last names really close to my own. I saw "Bischisky" and something else similar to that and, with a last name as unusual as mine, I was shocked and felt an even stronger horrifying connection to this community. Upstairs was a small exhibit of some of the art work made by children in Terezin. This was particular moving as well, as children's art tends to be. The Spanish Synagogue was a completely different experience. First of all it was physically stunning. Inside were red and gold geometric designs covering every square inch of the walls and columns. There was an elaborate gold dome. It was breath taking. In this museum is the history of the Jews from the mid-1700's through the 1950's or so. It had cases on Jewish artists and writers from Prague, the varying laws that came and went, and the Czech response to Israel under communism. It took me quite a while to get through all these synagogues and to go through the sprawling Jewish cemetery. While I did this, Caitlin did her own thing, get a feel for the city from the architecture, the souvenir vendors, and the available hot drinks. I didn't even get through all of the synagogues. I only missed one though. That's some serious dedication and stamina. It was late afternoon at this point and so we got sandwiches, coffee, and did our final souvenir shopping. We hustled back over to the hostel, I gathered up my bags, said good-bye to Caitlin until our next rendezvous in Amsterdam in April, and by 7 pm was on my way to the airport.
Good-bye Praha. Good-bye Wien. Good-bye Caitlin. Hello English-speaking London! Now its time to hit the books. I had an assignment due today, I have one due tomorrow, and one due thursday. And an application due Friday. And I leave for Berlin early, early Friday morning! Well at least none of my papers need theses, they are all creative writing assignments (re:you know you're abroad when...)!!!!
Thursday morning we got up early to get into the center of the city for Caitlin's morning class. The IES center in Vienna is by the major cathedral in Vienna, Stephansdom, and near the opera house on a major shopping street. I got some coffee and went to see Stephansdom while Caitlin went to class. It was freezing cold, however, 0 degrees celsius, which is a temperature I am no longer used to after temperate and rainy conditions in London. It didn't take long for me to seek warmth inside a coffee shop until Caitlin's class was over. After that I tried to tap into the Jewish heritage and history in Vienna. First I went to try and take a tour of a synagogue. But they stopped me at the door and told me the synagogue was under construction and the only way to get inside was to come to Shabbat services the next evening. Then we tried to find the Jewish museum. Also a failure due to construction. In fact, we walked past the museum almost three times trying to find it because it was behind construction netting and gates. We gave up on Jewish heritage and I went to the Albertina Graphic Art Museum and Caitlin went to a meeting for school. There was a huge Lichtenstein exhibit at the Albertina and so I walked three rooms full of American pop art. I'm not a huge pop art fan but it was interesting to see it on display in Europe and to think about the global responses to the pop art movement. Their permanent collection had pieces from Durer to Schiele. There was a huge exhibit on the Blue Ritter artists but most of the pieces kind of showed process and development of a movement as a historical period. After the Albertina, which I enjoyed, I met back up with Caitlin and her apartmentmates and we went to Naschmarket for lunch. This is a historical market lined with stands for olives, dried fruits, sausages, cheeses, scarves, soccer/football team spirit clothing items, breads, falafel and restaurants. We went to one of the sit-down restaurants for lunch. The menu was a challenge because it was all in German and I have to be careful about what I ordered, being a vegetarian and all. I ended up ordering a grilled cheese with some vegetables which I thought would be cheese between bread. Nope, it was a hunk of SALTY SALTY cheese. Lesson learned. After the Naschmarket Caitlin and I went to the Belvedere. This was super exciting, even if the employees called us stupid when we asked questions about the collection, and really showed us just how obsessed with and proud of Klimt Vienna is. "The Kiss" is in this museum, this converted palace, as well as many other Klimt pieces (especially unfinished ones!). I fell in love with his version of Judith and Holofernes. Look. It. Up. I could have stared at some of the Klimt pieces for hours, I swear. The collection also includes art by other members of the Vienna Secession and other European impressionists and avant-garde artists. We walked through the collection of neoclassicism and romanticism paintings but that was way obviously less interesting. We were there for a couple hours and by the time we left it was cold, cold outside and we somehow made our way back to the train then the streetcar to get back to Caitlin's apartment for dinner and what as left of birthday cake.
On Friday I met Caitlin after her class, catching up on a little bit of sleep, and I bought a huge sweater for 7 euro because I definitely had not packed appropriately for the freezing cold and windy weather. Then we went to the Secession Contemporary art gallery. I didn't like the contemporary art they had on display. I didn't find it particularly effective or interesting even with the lamentation cards available explain the ideology behind the installations. But in the basement was a Klimt fresco (noticing the theme) which was really cool. It was inspired by one of Beethoven's symphonies and there was a pamphlet explaining the symbolism and ideas in it which definitely helped me appreciate it even more. So getting to see that was probably worth the entrance fee. Also, the building is super strange. It has this weird golden weaved-looking sphere on top and the building kind of looks like white blocks put together. After this we went back to Naschmarket to get some falafel and wien pickels. Then I went to the Sigmund Freud House/Museum and Caitlin went back to take a nap (poor thing is still recovering from mono). This was a rather disappointing because it was basically a collection of his writings and his certificates and his archeological collections and busts of himself and photographs just on display. There was no information about his theories or about the debates and social anxieties about him. I was really hoping to learn about that. But it was cool to see where he practiced and lived when in Vienna with his family. After this I went back to Caitlin's and also took a nap. I was exhausted from the early mornings, the traveling, and the cold weather. When we got up we planned our trip to Prague for the next day and made dinner. Then two of her apartmentmates came with us to a Heurigan, which is a wine garden. We got dessert and a glass of wine and a couple men were going around the traditionally decorated Heurigan playing double-necked guitars which is also apparently some kind of traditional Austrian instrument. Lots and lots of the German language flying everywhere.
The next morning Caitlin and I got up early to catch a 9:45 bus to Prague. It was about a 5 hour bus ride with a half hour stop in another Czech city in between. We arrived around 2:30 or so Saturday afternoon, in a slightly warmer and sunnier Prague. I slept for most of the bus ride, of course. We found our hostel which was quite excellent. We booked a double and it had a private bathroom and a kitchenette. Now that is luxury by hostel standards. No bedbugs! We settled our stuff, got a map, and headed out to the Old Town. Now that is an incredible piece of living history. The architecture is mind blowing. Bright, colorful, ornate. The old brick towers by the Charles Bridge and the entrance by the Opera House really force you to feel like where you're walking looked like that hundreds of years ago. I fell in love with the astronomical clock, of course. We crossed Charles Bridge, past the stands selling art and jewelry, trying to squeeze through the mobs of tourists, to get to the Kafka museum before it closed. Caitlin went into a second hand bookstore with lots of English books while I went to the museum. I really loved the Kafka museum. It was set up to appeal to your senses and creep you out, with the audio effects of leaking water and the red lighting in some spots. But this was a much better museum than the Freud museum in Vienna. This one talked about Kafka, his hatred for his father, his relationship with Prague as a city, his relationship with the Jewish population, his many girlfriends, his interest in theater, other writers he conversed with and inspired him, his law school background, the existentialist issues he tackles in his unfinished works and famous works. There was even a bit on "The Hunger Artist" that I remembered having to study in high school and had made a bigger impression on me than his "Metamorphosis" (probably because of the reputation the "Metamorphosis" has and you already know what you're getting into when you open to the first page of it). The museum tried to transport you back to Kafka's era, tried to create the atmosphere that weighed heavily on Franz Kafka. After this museum, we crossed back over the Charles Bridge and went to the Museum of Medieval Torture Instruments. This was gruesome and disgusting and if they say that the Medieval Times was not a period of creative outburst, well then you're just not not looking at the right things. There are definitely some disgustingly creative torture devices. Did you know that the chastity belt was a torture instrument? Yuck. We got pizza from an Italian restaurant after this disturbing endeavor and there was a table of Italians sitting next to us. I always get excited when I can recognize and understand pieces of Italian conversation. After dinner we went on a ghost tour. Our tour guide was from Oregon so Caitlin and I were excited to meet a West-Coaster. We learned about some Prague history including stories about alchemists, a mysterious Black Madonna, architects meeting the devil, the 27 crosses and bloody political days in Prague history, a royal figure who had reoccurring nightmares of being buried alive and then actually was. Then our guide took us under the church where the astronomical clock is and through cells that used to be for locking up prisoners, torturing prisoners, and executions. He told us stories about the famous executioner, Jan Mydler, who became an executioner to try and save the woman he loved. Our tour guide was clearly fairly skeptical about the existence of ghosts, which I definitely appreciated, and was also a history buff who would throw in tidbits of information prefaced by "This isn't part of the tour but you should look up..." so that was cool. We got back to the hostel around midnight and went to sleep so we could get a good nights rest and make sure we were well rested for the full, cold day that awaited us.
On Sunday we got up around 8 in the morning and went to an American style deli called "Bohemia Bagels" for breakfast. Caitlin was craving American-style pancakes and the ghost tour had handed out discounts for different places including this restaurant. After this we went to the Museum of Communism which was pretty scary. It followed history from the end of World War II to the fall of the U.S.S.R. It was loaded with artifacts, panels, videos, photographs, and even a piece of the Berlin wall. The panels had so much information that it was hard to digest the whole timeline and waves of complications. It was scary to think that pretty much everyone even just a year older than Caitlin and I had experienced living under Communist rule. Especially seeing how scary it was, how impoverished people were, how stuck in hell they were. The propaganda, the censorship, the lack of access to basic necessities...I definitely learned more about how dire the circumstances had been in Czechoslovakia before I was born. After this rather sobering trip through the museum we went to go try and find the Jewish museum. It took a little bit of confusion and anger about being a Jew and having to pay to go into synagogues to realize that the Jewish museum in Prague is split up between six or so synagogues and each house a different category of information. For example, one is on the Burial Society and one explains different major Jewish holidays and traditions and another explains migrations, etc. The two that I found the most moving were the Pinchas Synagogue and the Spanish Synagogue (and of course the synagogue with the attic where Golem lives, where Rabbie Loew had practiced). The Pinchas Synagogue is the memorial to the Prague Jews who died in the Holocaust. Inside, on the walls, are written the names of Jews who perished. I think it was around 200,000 names and all of a sudden I had some idea of how large of a number that is, seeing the names spread out across the walls. I saw my first name quite a few times, as I tend to do in memorials of this sort. Heart-wrenching and bringing it all too close to home, this personal history. But for the first time I saw last names really close to my own. I saw "Bischisky" and something else similar to that and, with a last name as unusual as mine, I was shocked and felt an even stronger horrifying connection to this community. Upstairs was a small exhibit of some of the art work made by children in Terezin. This was particular moving as well, as children's art tends to be. The Spanish Synagogue was a completely different experience. First of all it was physically stunning. Inside were red and gold geometric designs covering every square inch of the walls and columns. There was an elaborate gold dome. It was breath taking. In this museum is the history of the Jews from the mid-1700's through the 1950's or so. It had cases on Jewish artists and writers from Prague, the varying laws that came and went, and the Czech response to Israel under communism. It took me quite a while to get through all these synagogues and to go through the sprawling Jewish cemetery. While I did this, Caitlin did her own thing, get a feel for the city from the architecture, the souvenir vendors, and the available hot drinks. I didn't even get through all of the synagogues. I only missed one though. That's some serious dedication and stamina. It was late afternoon at this point and so we got sandwiches, coffee, and did our final souvenir shopping. We hustled back over to the hostel, I gathered up my bags, said good-bye to Caitlin until our next rendezvous in Amsterdam in April, and by 7 pm was on my way to the airport.
Good-bye Praha. Good-bye Wien. Good-bye Caitlin. Hello English-speaking London! Now its time to hit the books. I had an assignment due today, I have one due tomorrow, and one due thursday. And an application due Friday. And I leave for Berlin early, early Friday morning! Well at least none of my papers need theses, they are all creative writing assignments (re:you know you're abroad when...)!!!!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Plays Seen, Books Read, and Service in Hackney. I love London.
Its official. I love London. I love it even when its gray and rainy and I love it even when its cold and windy. I especially love this city when its sunny and the birds are chirping at every hour of the day. I don't even mind it when I'm waiting on a delayed, overcrowded, and smelly tube.
Recent London activities include a tour of Parliament, a trip to the National Gallery, a trip to the Natural History museum (focus on the dinosaurs exhibit), performing a poem at a spoken mic night, Indian food, visiting the Rough Trade music store, buying 25p beigels (bagels) on brick lane, the East End markets, blues dancing, stopping in to see my all time favorite Manet painting at the Courtauld gallery for free ("Bar at the Folies Bergères"), walking through and writing in Hyde Park on a particularly sunny day, seeing plays "Penelope" (horrible) and "A Flea in Her Ear" (wonderful) and "Vernon God Little" (mediocre), service in Hackney, and making guacomole in our dorm kitchen.
I guess I haven't really explained anything about my service position. For one of my classes on the social welfare state I am required to do service every week. My placement is in Hackney, a borough neighboring Shoreditch on the east end. I work at the Laburnum Boat Club which is a community and youth center that teaches kids canoeing and kayaking, as well as providing an after school supervised clubhouse for local kids to go. The club is located on the canal which is where the kids go canoeing and kayaking. The kids range from 8 years old to about 14 years old. I don't do any of that boating stuff with them. I just hang out in clubhouse, supervising, cooking, and playing games with them. And I've grown to really enjoy this weekly commitment.
Highlight from the past week:
10 year old girl: Do you like living in America?
8 year old girl: Of course she does!
Me: Why do you think that?
8 year old girl: Because in America you can do things like go horseback riding and go cheerleading.
That must be America in a nutshell. I'm not looking forward to returning to America. At least I'll be 21 and finally able to go and take advantage of the city. But going back to America will be like going back to the real world. This pocket in time year will be over, this vacation from real life and real troubles over. I already have to start worrying about where I'm going to live this summer when I need to take summer classes, where I'm going to live next semester back on campus, applying to summer internships and jobs. I'd really rather just stay here and go to free museums and free concerts and listen to the British accent while visiting monumental literary sites and attending poetry readings.
Midterms are next week and I have a lot to do. I have two 2000 word creative writing assignments, one 1000 word creative writing assignment focused on creating atmosphere/establishing location that has to be on brick lane, one 1500 word theater essay, and in-class essay exam on domestic ideology in the 1700's for my women's social history class. Since I last updated about my literature classes we have read "Don't Go To the Dogs Tonight" by Alexandra Fuller, "The Thing Around Your Neck" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro. Over the midterm break I am reading "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood (!!!!!!) and "The Last King of Scotland" by Giles Foden. Have I mentioned recently how much I absolutely love my two literature classes? This professor has taught me to love to read again.
Over the midterm break I am traveling to Vienna and Prague with some fellow Puget Sound study abroad-ers. I leave Wednesday aka my birthday. Expect to hear about that next!
Recent London activities include a tour of Parliament, a trip to the National Gallery, a trip to the Natural History museum (focus on the dinosaurs exhibit), performing a poem at a spoken mic night, Indian food, visiting the Rough Trade music store, buying 25p beigels (bagels) on brick lane, the East End markets, blues dancing, stopping in to see my all time favorite Manet painting at the Courtauld gallery for free ("Bar at the Folies Bergères"), walking through and writing in Hyde Park on a particularly sunny day, seeing plays "Penelope" (horrible) and "A Flea in Her Ear" (wonderful) and "Vernon God Little" (mediocre), service in Hackney, and making guacomole in our dorm kitchen.
I guess I haven't really explained anything about my service position. For one of my classes on the social welfare state I am required to do service every week. My placement is in Hackney, a borough neighboring Shoreditch on the east end. I work at the Laburnum Boat Club which is a community and youth center that teaches kids canoeing and kayaking, as well as providing an after school supervised clubhouse for local kids to go. The club is located on the canal which is where the kids go canoeing and kayaking. The kids range from 8 years old to about 14 years old. I don't do any of that boating stuff with them. I just hang out in clubhouse, supervising, cooking, and playing games with them. And I've grown to really enjoy this weekly commitment.
Highlight from the past week:
10 year old girl: Do you like living in America?
8 year old girl: Of course she does!
Me: Why do you think that?
8 year old girl: Because in America you can do things like go horseback riding and go cheerleading.
That must be America in a nutshell. I'm not looking forward to returning to America. At least I'll be 21 and finally able to go and take advantage of the city. But going back to America will be like going back to the real world. This pocket in time year will be over, this vacation from real life and real troubles over. I already have to start worrying about where I'm going to live this summer when I need to take summer classes, where I'm going to live next semester back on campus, applying to summer internships and jobs. I'd really rather just stay here and go to free museums and free concerts and listen to the British accent while visiting monumental literary sites and attending poetry readings.
Midterms are next week and I have a lot to do. I have two 2000 word creative writing assignments, one 1000 word creative writing assignment focused on creating atmosphere/establishing location that has to be on brick lane, one 1500 word theater essay, and in-class essay exam on domestic ideology in the 1700's for my women's social history class. Since I last updated about my literature classes we have read "Don't Go To the Dogs Tonight" by Alexandra Fuller, "The Thing Around Your Neck" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro. Over the midterm break I am reading "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood (!!!!!!) and "The Last King of Scotland" by Giles Foden. Have I mentioned recently how much I absolutely love my two literature classes? This professor has taught me to love to read again.
Over the midterm break I am traveling to Vienna and Prague with some fellow Puget Sound study abroad-ers. I leave Wednesday aka my birthday. Expect to hear about that next!
Monday, February 7, 2011
Back to the EU mainland, or two days in Paris
I know I've been talking about how I don't really take weekend trips this semester in my past posts but now it's time to change it up and report on a weekend adventure outside my host city. This past weekend I took the eurostar chunnel to Paris. We left early Saturday morning when it was definitely still dark out in London and arrived in Paris just before 10 am where it wasn't much lighter, just more gray skies. We wondered around for a while trying to find our hostel to drop our stuff off. Oh hostels, how I had forgotten the joy of your accommodations. We dropped our stuff off in storage and headed on out to see the city of love. We took the metro over to the champs-elysee and arc d'triumph. We found my favorite store in all of Europe (which of course has a location in almost every city except London) called Promod and there the best surprise ever awaited us. They were having a massive sale. Now normally this is not an inexpensive clothing store. Its not as bad as, say, Urban Outfitters, maybe price-range closer to the Limited or Express. So definitely not cheap. But they were having their last day of the winter sale and they had shirts for 5 and 7 euro, dresses for 10 and 12 euro. BIG SALE. It was like a big early birthday present or something, they knew I was coming. Mom and Dad, I promise I did not over do it. After this magical shopping stop, we hung out on the corner and took pictures of the arc d'triumph. Reminded me of the one in Milan from Napoleon's invasion...which of course was modeled after this one. It was about 2 pm at this point and we decided to walk to Notre Dame (especially since it had been under construction when I came to Paris 10 years ago). Our map was very deceptive in terms of distances and this walk did not look as long as it felt. We walked along the Seine by all the stands selling vintage magazines, newspapers, and books. We passed many a gold-domed museums and landmarks (invalides, musee orsay, etc) and finally, finally, finally (chilled to our bones) arrived at the famous church. We took pictures, hunted for the hunchback, and explored the inside. I think I would have been much more impressed if I hadn't gone on a church-viewing marathon last semester through Italia. But, still, pretty cool house of worship if a Jew might say so herself. After this we took or super cold bodies to a cafe and got ourselves some nutella crepes. WOWZA. I think it has been a long, long, long time since I have consumed that much sugar in one sitting. Delicious...for the first few bites. At the end...nauseating. But when in France...
After this we walked back to the hostel. We dropped Jennica off to take a nap and then Kaitlin and I explored some more around our hostel. We were located near the piazza Republique (sp?) and so we walked around there. We purchased some wonderfully inexpensive French wine. We came back to pick up Jennica and then went out to explore some Parisian nightlife.
On Sunday we had originally planned on trying to see the Louvre and Versailles. Other people at the hostel, however, told us a trip to Versailles takes 6 hours and I was not willing to sacrifice a trip to the Louvre for Versailles. We got up around 8:30 in the morning to get the breakfast that was included with our hostel price. Well by breakfast I mean a slab of baguette, applesauce, and coffee. Then we headed over to the Louvre to get in line. Admission was free because the museums in France are free on the first Sunday of the month. And the line moved fast. I don't think we waited more than 30 minutes to get in. Yes it was rather crowded, but February is the off season and we still managed to get to the front of the Mona Lisa crowd. The Louvre was fantastic. Well, naturally. But my god. Art-gasm. Getting to see the "Madonna of the Rocks" after studying it so intensely last semester was amazing. Just chilling with some Raphael, some Goya, some Giotto, some da Vinci, some Vermeer, some Michaelangelo...bunch o famous stuff. No big deal...just got to see "psyche and cupid" sculpture and the code of hammurabi. I know most people are disappointed by seeing the Mona Lisa after all the hype. So I was prepared for this tiny tiny portrait, far away, unable to make out more than the outline of a woman. I was impressed, though. It was bigger than I thought it would be. The colors were more vivid, I could even make out the bridge in the background landscape. Mona was totally looking at us no matter where we stood. I loved it. I understand why this painting is such a big freaking deal now. I feel like I get it now. We were there from 11 or so until about 5:20 in afternoon. Day long art-gasm. We were all pretty saturated and exhausted by the end.
When we left we walked through the gardens in front of it, by the big ferris wheel, I found a bracelet that says Paris to add to my wrist collection, and just enjoyed the "fresh" air and limp and naked tree branches. The sun was setting and the sky was golden and pink. Beautiful. Like a grand ending to an incredible day. We walked to the Eiffel Tower from there to take some night time pictures of it all lit up. All the people selling stuff over there reminded me of Italia. People throwing those light up things into the air, flower sellers (personal favorite, NOT), people selling those weirdo wind up dogs and other toys, and a million mini eiffel towers. After this quick stop we booked it back to the hostel, grabbed our stuff that was in storage, and nearly ran to the train station to get there by the check in time of 8:45 pm. How time goes by so fast, I have no idea. Lets just say sitting for a little over 2 hours on the train back was a very welcome break for our feet. And now its back to the London game. Time to hit the books!
After this we walked back to the hostel. We dropped Jennica off to take a nap and then Kaitlin and I explored some more around our hostel. We were located near the piazza Republique (sp?) and so we walked around there. We purchased some wonderfully inexpensive French wine. We came back to pick up Jennica and then went out to explore some Parisian nightlife.
On Sunday we had originally planned on trying to see the Louvre and Versailles. Other people at the hostel, however, told us a trip to Versailles takes 6 hours and I was not willing to sacrifice a trip to the Louvre for Versailles. We got up around 8:30 in the morning to get the breakfast that was included with our hostel price. Well by breakfast I mean a slab of baguette, applesauce, and coffee. Then we headed over to the Louvre to get in line. Admission was free because the museums in France are free on the first Sunday of the month. And the line moved fast. I don't think we waited more than 30 minutes to get in. Yes it was rather crowded, but February is the off season and we still managed to get to the front of the Mona Lisa crowd. The Louvre was fantastic. Well, naturally. But my god. Art-gasm. Getting to see the "Madonna of the Rocks" after studying it so intensely last semester was amazing. Just chilling with some Raphael, some Goya, some Giotto, some da Vinci, some Vermeer, some Michaelangelo...bunch o famous stuff. No big deal...just got to see "psyche and cupid" sculpture and the code of hammurabi. I know most people are disappointed by seeing the Mona Lisa after all the hype. So I was prepared for this tiny tiny portrait, far away, unable to make out more than the outline of a woman. I was impressed, though. It was bigger than I thought it would be. The colors were more vivid, I could even make out the bridge in the background landscape. Mona was totally looking at us no matter where we stood. I loved it. I understand why this painting is such a big freaking deal now. I feel like I get it now. We were there from 11 or so until about 5:20 in afternoon. Day long art-gasm. We were all pretty saturated and exhausted by the end.
When we left we walked through the gardens in front of it, by the big ferris wheel, I found a bracelet that says Paris to add to my wrist collection, and just enjoyed the "fresh" air and limp and naked tree branches. The sun was setting and the sky was golden and pink. Beautiful. Like a grand ending to an incredible day. We walked to the Eiffel Tower from there to take some night time pictures of it all lit up. All the people selling stuff over there reminded me of Italia. People throwing those light up things into the air, flower sellers (personal favorite, NOT), people selling those weirdo wind up dogs and other toys, and a million mini eiffel towers. After this quick stop we booked it back to the hostel, grabbed our stuff that was in storage, and nearly ran to the train station to get there by the check in time of 8:45 pm. How time goes by so fast, I have no idea. Lets just say sitting for a little over 2 hours on the train back was a very welcome break for our feet. And now its back to the London game. Time to hit the books!
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