Berlin & Dresden

I had high hopes for our long weekend out East. We rented a car (both of ours are beaters,) packed some car snacks, and set out. The 6.5 hour drive was not nearly as horrendous as we were anticipating- it was straight Autobahn the entire way. 

I have talked up Berlin to just about anyone who will listen, so I was slightly nervous for Zack to experience it. (I feared I would take it as a personal insult if he, or anyone else, didn’t share the same zeal for Berlin.) Unfortunately, he did not fall deeply in love with the city as I had two years ago. The weather definitely played a naughty part in that though, as it poured for one full day, and was blustery and chilly the next. Weather really does play a tremendous role in how you feel about a place, and the first time I went to Berlin, the sun shone the whole time that mild June weekend. 

We stayed in a hotel very close to Checkpoint Charlie, and we could even see a remnant of the Berlin Wall outside of our window.The hotel's saving grace was that view and the fact that they had the most amazing honey nut cheese and a cappuccino machine at their breakfast buffet. It certainly wasn't the staff, who spoke no English, and looked blankly at our attempts at German. 

On Friday morning, we set out against the chilly wind and crossed our fingers that the ominous grey clouds looming above would hold our for our walking tour. They did not. We spent the morning and afternoon eating cheap and delicious pizza, drinking wine from the bottle, and napping. Fortunately it cleared up enough that we were able to walk to dinner at Henne, a somewhat famous (famous by three different travel books standards, although I'd never heard of it) chicken restaurant. It was packed, the staff was curt, and they only had one meal to choose from on the menu, but it was delicious. I ordered the half-chicken (halb hähnchen) and all but ate the bones, it was so flavorful and perfectly cooked. Henne certainly gave the roast chicken man who sets up his portable shop below our house, a run for his Euro.

Saturday we took the Insider Tour, a roughly four hour walking tour covering the majority of the sites in Berlin. The first time I went to Berlin, I did the Brewer's Tour and it was by far the best tour I have ever been on. It was eight hours, but it could have been 19 hours and I still would have kept trekking on. It was incredibly fascinating and I learned everything I could hope to know about the city. So this time around, I knew most everything, and the dry tour guide did little to pique my interest any further. 

That evening, I noticed Zack had an aura about him (I am big into auras...I swear I can read peoples') that was uncharacteristically gloomy. When I asked why, he said he just felt down because so much bad stuff had happened in Berlin, and the city itself seemed sad. I felt a twinge of guilt because that was one of the reasons I loved the city so much. Not because so much horrible things happened there, but because of the deep and tumultuous history lying in plain view at every corner. Yet despite Berlin's rocky past, the city is alive, throbbing with acceptance, pleasure, and an eye set on the future. Only do the tourists seem to want to look back- the jelly donuts just keep moving forward. 

 

 

 

 

After Berlin, we were able to spend the remaining days of our spring break in Dresden. Dresden was hauntingly beautiful. The buildings seemed to ache with stories, stories they couldn't tell because the majority of them were replicas that were rebuilt after the infamous firebombings of WWII. 90% of the city was destroyed during the bombings, and it's estimated 25,000 people lost their lives. I couldn't imagine why the Allied forces would want to bomb Dresden, it is so pretty and has a skyline that is able of eliciting an audible gasp upon first glance. Then Zack told me Dresden was a large manufacturing and military hub during the war. Oh. 

 

 

We spent the day wandering the city and simply admiring the gorgeous buildings, despite the cold drizzle that wouldn't let up. Although I could have spent days more there, time ran out and Monday morning began calling. Before leaving Dresden, we had to stop and see the real slaughterhouse-five. Kurt Vonnegut was a POW in Dresden during WWII, and his inspiration for Slaughterhouse-Five came from his real-life experience. It was eerily cool to see the original complex. 

 

 

Spring Break 2012 was world's away (literally) from my hazy college spring break days spent in Panama City Beach and Myrtle Beach, but I'd say it was a sign I've grown up, and grown on. One can only accumulate so many plastic Pineapple Willy cups before their self esteem and morals begins to waver.