October 2015
13 October 2015
Miniature Wonderland (Miniatur Wunderland)
As I have mentioned before Hamburg (Germany’s second largest city) is only a short train ride away. Recently we had friends visit and we went to Hamburg to see the famous Miniature Wonderland. This is like a museum of the world in miniature. There are three floors of scenes from around the world all in miniature.
There are model trains throughout the exhibiton, which showcases many parts of Europe and the USA, and a working airport where planes take off and disappear through a curtain in the wall. An amazing amount of work was done to make these scenes realistic with many moving parts. The days in the museum cycle from day to night every fifteen minutes. When the lights go down tons of little lights in the miniature towns light up.
There are mountains, castles, caves and little people going to work and shopping. In one part of miniature Germany there was a fake fire complete with smoke. Little firetrucks with sirens and lights drove through the city to put it out.
I am trying for the first time to include video in the blog so that you can really get the picture of this place. It was so popular that we had to wait an hour for tickets and it was very crowded. Luckily no matter where you stand there are things to see. The creators hid fun scenes all over the museum such as trains running through a glass panel in the stairs, a small cave with dinosaurs in the wall and a miniature sea with moving boats and real water. There were also many buttons all over, that if pushed made something happen in the scene you were watching. My favorite was when a UFO came down over one scene. This was just a fun place that I wanted to tell you about quickly. Hope the videos work!
4 October 2015
Berlin
Last week we spent some time in Berlin, Germany’s capital and largest city. We were lucky enough to stay downtown, right in the center of things. Berlin holds some important history and is at the leading edge of some new technology.
We took a three-hour train trip to Berlin from Kiel. Once we were there we bought a pass for all public transportation. The city is well set-up for its over three million inhabitants to get around. There is an elevated train above the streets, an underground subway and, on the street, trams and buses. Using all of these modes of transportation it was really easy and fast to get around the city.
Our first stop off the train was to see the Reichstag building, which holds Germany’s parliament. It held the government offices for Germany between 1894 and 1933 when it was damaged in a fire. After WWII, when Berlin was split between East and West, the governments for each side were held in different areas of the city. After reunification in 1990 the building was used once again for the parliament of the new united Germany. Yesterday, on Oct. 3rd, it was the twenty fifth anniversary of the reunification of Berlin and the fall of the wall that separated the two sides for many years. Because of this important anniversary it was a special time to be in Berlin and learn about this history.
Nearby is the famous Brandenburg Gate, one of the most recognizable monuments in Germany. This large gate was built as a series of gates into the city in the 1700s for the Prussian king. Only members of the royal Prussian family were allowed to pass through the center gate. During WWII it was a monument often used by the Nazi party for speeches and gatherings. It was badly damaged during the war but was left standing. I saw incredible pictures of the gate surrounded by rubble at the end of the war with no other building standing.
Brandenburg Gate 1945. From: bundesregierung.de
After the war the gate was located next to the border of the Russian section and British section of Berlin. It was cut off from use being so close to the Berlin Wall. Starting from the gate is a famous street called Unter den Linden. This is a boulevard with linden trees growing along the middle. It is a pretty street that is famous for its shopping and location of many embassies. We would first notice police standing guard and then see that they were guarding an embassy for a country. Many European politicians were in town for talks about the refugee crisis that is happening now in Europe.
The most interesting embassy was the one from Russia. There were many armed guards standing out front and across the street there was a protest of Ukraine citizens asking for the freedom of political prisoners in Russia. Another interesting site was the headquarters of VW and Mercedes Benz. There were showrooms with fancy cars including a Lamborghini!
The street ended at Humbolt University and a bridge crossing the river to Museum Island. This is an island of many history and art museums. The university itself was housed in the old palace for the Germany monarchy! Could you imagine going to class in a palace!?
The museums on Museum Island were very impressive. Because Germany has a long history of higher education there is also a long history of funding archeological expeditions all over the world. These scientists have brought back many artifacts from old civilizations. I was able to see original Greek and Roman statues of the gods and goddesses about which we learn in class.
I also saw the original gate of Babylon! It traveled in pieces to Berlin and was reconstructed inside a museum.
We also traveled outside of the city to Potsdam where there are many castles still standing from the Prussian monarchy.
The castles are beautiful and ornate with many sculptures and columns. The most famous is called the Sanssouci Palace.
The name translates to “no worries.” After seeing it I think if I lived in that palace I wouldn’t have much to worry about either! It is amazing how little damage these palaces suffered during the bombing of WWII. In fact, one of the palaces was used as a meeting place of the four main allies after winning the war to decide the fate of Germany. The palace was chosen because it was one of the only large buildings not ruined by bombs. It is here that they divided Berlin into four sections that soon became the free west and the communist-controlled east.
There are many reminders of the horrors of WWII in Berlin. The people have made an effort not to cover up and forget. Instead they have built reminders of “what insane politics can lead to.” One very powerful place is the bombed Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.
This church is in the center of Berlin. It was badly bombed during the war, losing the top of its tower and most of the lower building. After the war the people decided to not destroy it or completely fix it. This was seen as forgetting the horrors of the war. Instead it was fixed only to make it structurally sound. In the sparkling city of new buildings and restored palaces this ruined church sticks out as a constant reminder.
There is also a large memorial for the “millions of murdered Jewish people of Europe.” It is a maze of hilly ground and large columns close together. It takes up the area of a large building and holds a museum underground with pictures and history of the terrible fate of the Jewish people during WWII.
The history of violence and oppression comes into contact with the more recent history of a divided Germany at the site of the Berlin Wall. One place in particular is a powerful reminder of Germany’s painful past.
Close to Checkpoint Charlie (a border crossing between west and east Berlin, most famous for its many escape attempts and the role the American military had there) there is a section of the Berlin wall left standing. This section of the Berlin wall was left on top of the remains of the Gestapo headquarters during the Nazi regime.
This place has now been turned into a museum called “The Topography of Terror.” This museum included photos and exhibitions about the terror the Nazis inflicted on their own people and how it spread throughout Europe. Unfortunately after the war when the city was split up by the allies the Russian half of the city (the east) would soon know the terror of control again. When the wall was built to prevent travel of East Germans many risked their lives to cross into freedom. Some were smuggled by foreign military personal such as Americans at Checkpoint Charlie.
The wall not only cut off people physically to the rest of the city but stood as a reminder of how they were cut off from outside news sources, clothing, music, education, food and much more. People who lived in East Germany were not allowed to talk negatively about their government for fear of being sent to prison. We learned that if you wanted a new car you had to request one from the government and wait up to fifteen years for the only type of car available to you to be granted to your family. I remember the fall of the Berlin wall when I was young and watching on tv people of the city bring hammers and picks to bring down the wall together from both sides. It was interesting to see where it actually happened.
Berlin is a beatiful city, with many monuments that describe its history, such as the Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral).
Yet, Berlin isn’t just its history. Today it is a metropolis of international people. We ate Japanese and Middle Eastern food. We heard many languages around us. In fact we had gotten so used to not understanding the conversations around us, we were shocked to hear English and Spanish and to understand what was being said! When we were there it was the weekend of the Berlin Marathon. The route went right by where we were staying. We watched the inline skating marathon on Saturday and the wheelchair and runners on Sunday. It was moving to watch the crowds cheer on the runners and those using wheelchairs to complete the route. The winner had an average of running each mile under five minutes! He was a Kenyan runner who recently won the London Marathon as well.
The last day of our trip we spent at the zoo and aquarium. After dragging Ethan through museums and castles he deserved some animals. The day before we went to the natural history museum and saw dinosaur skeletons. But he was ready for some live animals. The Berlin zoo is well known and has many high endangered species. A highlight for me were the white wolves. They were so beautiful laying in the sun. Ethan loved the hippos. Especially the small pygmy hippos.
As you can tell from this long post we saw a lot and really enjoyed our trip! Thank you to all of you who wrote me emails! It has been so good to hear from you and how your school year has been going. I wrote back to everyone. So if you didn’t get a reply to me try sending again because it might have ended up in my junk mail on accident.
