Berlin Day 2

I went to see what remains of the Berlin wall today (of which about 3/4 of it was under construction - I'm confused, they're rebuilding the wall?) Then I found myself walking around in Kreuzberg (neighbourhood I hadn't yet visited) and could definitely see a difference in the buildings there than where I'm staying. I honestly feel like the area my hostel is in is like North Toronto (Keele-street looking apartment complexes). I'm surrounded by non-descript apartment buildings that for the most part look identical, with lots of green space between them. The thing is that I'm right near one of the busiest areas of the city! So I don't get it... I'm very confused.

Kreuzberg was much more like what I thought Berlin should look like - it's much more 'bohemian' in style. It seems like some of the buildings in this area were older and less like 'apartment buildings'. I really don't know how much of this area got destroyed during the war but it seemed that there were some buildings that were still intact. I liked that area so I walked around there a bit and then decided that it was museum time. I spent the following few hours in the Judisches Museum (Jewish Museum). The contents of the museum were okay. I have to admit that at times I felt like it was pretty repetitive - hello - memories of the Hiroshima museum (but definitely less dramatic.) It was kind of refreshing that it didn't solely focus on the war.

The reason I found myself there for some four hours is that this structure is amazing. It was built by architect Daniel Libeskind. There are no doors into the building and the only windows consist of slits in the metal walls. The building is shaped like a lightning bolt and has numerous 'empty spaces' where you can look through slits into said empty spaces. It's really hard to explain but was really amazing [obviously I took pictures of this building and those will follow eventually.] There was one room that wasn't heated and was just this dark space where you could look up at a tiny slit of light and hear traffic outside, the wind blowing and sound seemed amplified by the walls. Very cool. Also, some of the floors were on angles... as I said, it's hard to explain this museum.

I don't really know what I did for the rest of the day - I walked around in a busier neighbourhood I stumbled on and was going to go to a photography museum but decided to come back to the hostel to rest a bit before I head out again to explore tonight.

So far I actually like Berlin. I've noticed that there seems to be graffiti everywhere except for on art pieces and government offices. Everywhere else seems to be fair game. And it's not crappy tagging graffiti either - it's actually really cool stuff. Also, the train system / transportation system is pretty crazy. Efficient but very confusing. I like it. People here have been pretty good and quickly switch into English once my very limited German runs out and don't seem to mind. Actually, when I was 12 or 13 I decided I wanted to learn German so I picked up one of my dad's German language books and started studying it "Mein tasse ist zu klein." - that's all I remember (my cup is too small. - probably with grammatical errors.)

Overall, first impressions of Berlin are making me think that I would definitely come back - especially when it's warmer!


More pictures from Paris: