Travels with Samuel (Spring Break 2 part 2)

Most of my vacation plans were determined when I was told by Samuel that he was going to Croatia with his family and wanted to stop by Germany on the way back (for those of you who don't know him, I've been friends with Samuel since first grade, and he also took part in my high school exchange in Germany).  Since he just happened to be coming during my vacation, I made plans to go to Berlin and Hamburg with him.  After arriving early afternoon and checking into the hostel, I met up with my former middle school German teacher, Herr Brune, and we wandered around the city for a while.

Obligatory picture in front of Brandenburger Tor

He showed me to some interesting and less well-known sights, like the memorial to the Roma and Sinti killed by the Nazis and the memorial to the Russian soldiers killed in the battle for Berlin.

Note the tanks.  Please don't note the horrible lens flare (J.J. Abrams, why would you ever think that effect looks good?)

After having dinner, I went back to the hostel and waited at the hostel for Samuel.

The next morning, Samuel and I got museum passes and went to the Pergamon Museum, one of the most famous museums in Berlin (it's suggested to get a timed ticket in advance, because the line can be horrendous).  After going to the museum, I can definitely understand why it is so popular.  Features include the Ishtar Gate from Babylon and a marketplace gate from a Roman city, as well as many examples of Islamic art.

After getting lunch, we went to the Jewish Museum.  It served as a reminder that even though Germany has done horrible things to Jews in the past, the country has done a wonderful job of acknowledging and attempting to make up for those actions.  You enter the museum through a lower floor containing three intersecting parts: the Axis of Exile, commemorating the Jews forced to flee to escape Nazi persecution and ending in a memorial garden designed to emulate the disturbance felt by those forced to adapt to a new country; the Axis of the Holocaust, ending in a large, hollow, unheated, and barely lit tower; and the Axis of Continuity, leading to the permanent exhibition.  I thought that the exhibit was really well-done, and wish that there had been enough time to completely go through it.  It was a very difficult museum to leave early, partly because of its IKEA-like design (you had to go through everything in order).

After that, Samuel and I hurried back to our hostel to get some nicer clothes, had a quick dinner, and went to go see the Berliner Philharmoniker.  We had arranged for some tickets when planning the trip, because it is known to be one of the best orchestras in the world.  The concert was amazing, and included a modern piece, a Richard Strauss piece, and a Tchaikovsky symphony.

The next day, we met with Herr Brune, and he took us to some of his favorite places in East Berlin.  One of the main sights he showed us was the East Side Gallery, a section of the Berlin Wall that had been left standing along the river and that had been painted by street artists shortly after the borders opened, then repainted on the 20th anniversary.

After lunch, we went to the Deutsches Technikmuseum.  They have a huge collection of technology, ranging from things related to shipping to planes to trains stored in what used to be a train shed.  It is a very large museum, which caused a problem when the two of us got separated, but we were able to find each other eventually.  I came to the conclusion that I should never try to pilot a 18th-century ship after failing miserably in some interactive simulator that they had.

After leaving the museum, Samuel and I went to the former Tempelhof Airport nearby, which Herr Brune had told us about.  The airport was built in 1923, and was notable for its use during the Berlin Airlift (when the Soviet government tried to block supplies from reaching West Berlin).  When it was closed in 2008, the land was designated as a public park.  It seems like it would be a lovely place to go for a run or bike ride, or just to hang out for a while.

The next morning, Samuel and I left to go to Hamburg, since that was the city we had been spent a little over two weeks in the vicinity of last time.  I was slightly concerned about that leg of the trip because had been a train strike causing some of the trains not to run, but luckily it had been resolved before it affected us.  After getting there and buying the obligatory Franzbrötchen (a pastry with cinnamon that is probably my favorite pastry, and unfortunately is only available in northern Germany), we went to the Brahms museum, which I had discovered a few weeks before.  It is not his real house, because that was destroyed in the 1943 bombing, but it is in the neighborhood of where he grew up.  It was a nice little museum, and had a library with a bunch of books about him and other similar composers, as well as a collection of all of his works.  The highlight was when the docent told me I could play a piano that Brahms had previously used when teaching lessons.  That was a minor challenge due to the fact that pretty much everything that I have memorized is from Les Miserables, and I have never seriously played a Brahms piece, but I was able to fake my way through some of the Moonlight Sonata so that I didn't feel too guilty about my song choice.

After that, we went to the aquarium, since we had already seen most of the major sites last time.  It was somewhat interesting because there was a large selection of non-aquatic animals.  For example, lemurs:

Baby lemur!

Obligatory picture of a trumpetfish

Well, hello, Mr. Porcupinefish

It turns out that, not particularly surprisingly, my camera has difficulty taking good pictures of animals moving through relatively dark water behind a pane of glass.

Unfortunately, when we got back downtown, it was the sort of time where you have too much time to do nothing, but it is too late to actually go to anything like a museum.  As a result we wandered around downtown for a few hours.

Then, we met up with my friend Ava for dinner.  My family had hosted Ava for a semester 5 years ago, and we've remained somewhat in touch since.  It was nice to see her again.

The next morning, Samuel and I were thought about going to one of the art museums, but it didn't open until 10, which didn't work, considering I had a train at about 11:30.  So, we continued wandering.  One interesting thing we found was the remains of a giant gothic church that had been destroyed in the bombing, then had been left in that condition as a memorial rather than being rebuilt.

After a little bit, we went back to the train station and said goodbye, and I picked up 2 more Frantzbrötchen (don't judge, they're really good) and got on the train for the next part of my journey.

Sorry about the last four weeks

So I realize that I haven't posted anything here for a long time.  I admit that the main reason is not that I don't have much to say, but rather that I have spent too little time in Dresden (as well as some level of procrastination).  This weekend is the first one I'm spending entirely in Dresden since April, and only my second since March.  So I suppose I might as well start with a summary of what I have done since my last post.

I had my second weeklong break from May 23-31 (I think it was celebrating the Pentecost holidays).  To start, I went back to Leipzig on the 23rd.  This was mostly motivated by my desire to go to a performance at the Thomaskirche by the boy's chorus Bach used to lead when he was cantor for 25 years (something I knew from a brief comment made by our tour guide when I went with the group).  Originally, I planned to go for the entire day, but as a result of a Skype conversation that lasted until 3 am, I didn't get there until shortly after noon.

After wandering around a bit trying to figure out what to do (and dealing with large crowds of people who looked like they had come for a Goth convention), I saw a sign for the Mendelssohn house, so I decided to check it out.  Apparently he spent the last few years of his life in Leipzig.  They had a decent collection, including stuff like portraits of his family, former pianos and other furniture, and plates representing his many travels.  One thing I found quite amazing is the collection of his watercolor paintings.  It appears that in addition to being one of the most famous composers, he was also a really good artist.

(Note: if that looks familiar, it is because it is the Rheinfalls near Schaffhausen, a place I have been to [see post about Switzerland].)  The visit ended with me going to their virtual conducting room and attempting to conduct the 4th movement of the Reformation Symphony.  It went quite poorly because the system only worked if you kept the baton really close to the display, which is not feasible for my style (see this for an example).

Afterwards, I went to see the Thomanerchor, the boy's chorus that has existed for hundreds of years at the Thomaskirche.  While I was unable to see the chorus, the music was really good, and it was also quite cheap.  Also, it was nice to have a look around the church.

After that, I wandered around trying to figure out what to do for the next few hours, until I saw a sign for the Schumann house and decided to check it out.  Again, they had two pianos, some former possessions, and a lot of copies of manuscripts.  I kind of had to rush through because I got there a half hour before it closed, but it was cool to see his former house.