10 Hours in Dresden

We spent a day on our way from Berlin to Prague in Dresden. 80 percent of the city's buildings were destroyed in Allied firebombing at the end of World War II, and so, like Berlin, reminders of a tragic past are everywhere. Much of the city's architectural and cultural treasures have been rebuilt, and the result is two parts breathtaking, one part disney. The highlight for us was a leisurely late afternoon lunch on the banks of the Elbe River. Happiness is two biers, bockwurst and potatoes, plum cake (delish!), and an excellent view for 11 euros.

xoxo Jessie

auf Wiedersehen

Though we may return to Germany at then end of the week for a brief stint at Oktoberfest, let me take this opportunity to share some things I noticed about Berlin and Germans.

1. Berliners like rules. Pedestrians and bicyclists have separate sections of sidewalk. Unless you are Aaron you do not cross into the wrong section. Pedestrians and bicyclists also have separate traffic signals and unless you are Aaron you do not cross without the appropriate indication. Even if it's 1 am and the street is empty you do not cross.

2. German toilets are frightening. I know this is gross, but you must know that German toilets don't have a bowl full of toilet water like American toilets. Instead the bowl is empty with an opening at one end where whatever you put in the bowl can eventually be flushed. First though you must face whatever you've put in the bowl. It is Aaron's belief that this compulsive self-inspection lead directly to Nazism.

3. Street food in Berlin is fantastic. OK not all street food. Currywursts (hotdogs, sliced and doused in curry powder and ketchup) leave something to be desired. But this was excellent:


4. Grafitti is everywhere but ok, mostly. It's hard to overstate the presence of graffiti in Berlin. Literally no popsicle stand is left untouched.

And it's almost complete coverage of the East Germany Gallery is quite frustrating.

However, in the majority of instances the graffiti is pretty fun stuff.

5. The German word for five is funf, pronounced foonf (I can't figure out the umlaut on this keyboard). I appear to be the only one who finds this a continuing source of hilarity.

xoxo Jessie

Sans Souci sans comma

We spent yesterday in Potsdam, a city southwest of Berlin, strolling through the complex of Prussian palaces built by Fredrick the Great. There is nothing subtle here. The palaces were intended to rival Versailles, and the result is astonishing if not entirely convincing. Behold the first palace, including the music room:

Also, the Chinese tea house:

Sans Souci translates as "without care," which is hilarious, since the whole thing was a meticulous piece of statecraft designed to impress foreign heads of state. On the front of Fredick's palace it is spelled "Sans, Souci." Voltaire lived there for three years as Fredrick's tutor until, apparently, he could stand the king's "excentricities" no longer. It is my personal theory that the excentricity that drove him over the edge was the inexplicably excessive use of commas.

We stayed past closing and had the place to ourselves, and ridiculous or not, when you have them to yourself the grounds are incredible.

Before heading back to Berlin we heard a local troupe perform lieder by Mahler and Schönberg's Transfigured Night in the town church. Feeling very German now.

xoxo Jessie

Danke UCLA

If there were ever any doubts about the value of my very pricey and time consuming education, then they were answered yesterday when my trusty student ID gained me discounted entry into the Pergamon Museum, the Gemäldegalerie, and the Philharmonic. That's right, I sat within spitting distance of the kettle drums of the Berlin Philharmonic for a program including the Eroica for 10 Euros thanks to my BruinCard. So totally worth it. Seriously.


xoxo Jessie

Berlin is Intense

After a second day in the former East Berlin, I'm a little overwhelmed by how messed up the last 50 years have been here. Well probably more. It's just all so extreme: the most over the top baroque vestiges of Fredrick the Great are nestled among, in no particular order, the memorial to the victims of war and tyranny, the memorial to murdered Jews, and the gigantic soviet space needle from which Soviet era propaganda was transmitted.




The Jewish memorial was incredibly moving and terrifying. The museum houses an exhibition that primarily attempts to bringthe 6 million number back into the realm of comprehension. Working through the history of the genocide year by year, city by city, and then eventually family by family makes the enormity of the loss more real somehow. It was incredibly sad.

Fortunately we emerged to find these Chinese toursits posing with twin statues of Mark and Engels, so that cheered us up pretty quickly.


xoxo Jessie

Gutentag

So I've been saying gutentag to people randomly for years, but now it's 6:30 in the morning in Berlin and I can finally say it without sounding like an idiot. GUTENTAG! I still sounded like an idiot, didn't I? Well the first time I typed that I sounded even more idiotic than you think because this keyboard is completely whacked and I initially typed GUBENTAG! Awesome. The keyboard issues are relevant because it took me half an hour to figure out that you type @ by pressing Alt Gr + Shift + Q. So I need to go do other more German things with my day now, like eat cheese danish.

Before I go though: we saw pieces of the Berlin wall yesterday. Our neighborhood, the Prenzlauer Berg was on the western most edge of East Berlin and there are scars of the division everwhere. This church sat on the east side, it's congregation on the west. The original structure (having survived the war time bombings) was demolished, but has been rebuilt in this remarkable form now that the wall is down.

xoxo Jessie

Bon Voyage

Welcome to Tripnic. Aaron and I hope to use this as one way to stay in touch while we travel this year. The inspiration for the name comes from the multiple picnics we're having in California and New York to say farewell to friends and family. Mom and Dad hosted the first "tripnic" at 425. Loveliness all around:



All that's left to do now is arrange a few last minute details like visas, itinerary, moving, and insurance - trivialities really ;o).

xoxo Jessie

Update: The bon voyage picnics in LA and New York were both great send-offs. Thanks to all those who turned out to wish us goodbye (special thanks to the San Diego Kornbergs who travelled far and brought useful parting gifts including the mini flashlight I used this morning to find the calculator/alarm clock).