Day 22   6/25/12

Back in berlin, we started off our day with a ride on the s-bahn followed by a walk to meet a man about a building. En route, we passed the Olympic stadium from the 1936 Berlin olypmics. Back to the building, it was one of the Unite de Habitation. Buildings by this name were part of a modernist residential housing design principle developed by Le Corbusier. The concept revolved around making the building a sort of neighborhood. Each floor was designed with a long hallway down the center called ‘streets’, and there was a market or grocery on the top floor. The other unique attribute was the versatility and functionality of the apartments. The apartment building was essentially constructed of a multitude of cubes and the owner could buy as many blocks as he was able and tear down walls and remodel and recombine any number of rooms to create a unique space.

We then walked around the Hansaviertel interbau, a quarter of Berlin that was rebuilt by the West and which became a center of prosperity and featured some interesting modern architecture; pictured here is the St. Laurentius Kirche.

In the afternoon we went to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church; the two-spired church was damaged heavily in the allied air raids during the war, resulting in the destruction of one spire and damage to the other. The building has not been sufficiently repaired, but retains its damaged façade as a testament to the devastation of war. A new belfry with attached chapel was built in the 60’s designed by Egon Eiermann.

Day 23   6/26/12

The first stop of the day was at the Dutch Embassy located overlooking the Spree. It is an architecturally interesting building that defies the rigid building guidelines of the city while still adhering to their requirements. A spiraling walkway, often with glass floors, loops around the entire building. This walkway combined with the architect’s plan to have every department open and looking into another department was designed to show the openness of the Netherlands. A final element to note is the ‘diagonal void’ through the building, added so that the TV tower, a symbol of Berlin, could always be seen from the park by the Spree.

That afternoon we passed by the Red Rauhous on our way to the Karl-Marx-Allee, the socialist urban planning response to the West’s Hansaviertel. In a way the area symbolized the socialist regime, with elegant facades masking poor quality buildings.  We continued on to Treptower Park, the location of the giant Soviet memorial.

The statue of the soviat soldier dominated the landscape, holding a child in one arm, a sword in the other and crushing a swastika beneath his boot

Day 24   6/27/12

Today we did Checkpoint Charlie. The museum focused mostly on the oppression of the GDR, the Berlin wall, and the bids for freedom made by the East German people. While an interesting place, it was also one of the most tourist-packed places we went in Berlin. 

However, about halfway through the museum there is a small double staircase that for some reason most people do not perceive. It contains a good half of the museum, and, going up it I was happy to find some breathing room. This section of the museum contained a Ronald Reagan room (where I watched the entirety of his speech at the Berlin Wall) and rooms documenting the modern Berlin situation up to the last few years. Also in this ‘secret’ section of the museum were the original Checkpoint Charlie sign and a segment of concrete where one of the first white lines was painted indicating where the Berlin Wall would later stand.

That afternoon we walked to the nearby Berlin Wall Memorial & Documentation Center. This area retains a well-preserved area of the East-West boundary as well as stone paths marking where those famous escape tunnels lied underground.

Day 29   7/2/12

Today we met briefly to look at the smaller Soviet monument located in the Tiergarten; this monument, while smaller, was built immediately after the Soviets seized Berlin at the end of the war and used stones torn from Hitler’s Chancellery.

After that, we were dismissed to wander the city on our last day in Berlin.

Excursion Part 2:

Day 16   6/19/12

The first visit of the morning was the Fuggerei Township in Augsberg, one of the world’s oldest social settlements (dating back to the 1500. It was started by the Jakob Fugger, a wealthy merchant, who started the housing project as an act of philanthropy for the impoverished Catholics of Augsberg. Still operating today, the settlement continues to provide charming homes for the low rent of 0.88 € a year to those in need.  An interesting thing to note is that the picturesque township was once home to the grandfather of Mozart. One more quirk to mention is the uniqueness of the doorbells; each house had a different handle for their doorbell pulls, supposedly because when originally built the streets were unlit at night so the inhabitants often ‘felt’ their way home by finding their own personal doorbell pull.

  After leaving Augsberg, we went to the Disney Castle. Or at least the one it’s modeled after. Never have I seen such a ‘perfect’ story-book castle.  

The Hohenzollern Castle, considered the ancestral seat of the Hohenzollern family, was originally constructed in the 11^th century; the version standing today (the 3^rd castle at that location) was constructed in the 19^th century for Frederick William IV of Prussia (Frederick the Great).  The inside of the castle was brilliant. The walls of the opening room were covered in a massive family tree that followed the generations of the family back for centuries.  The treasury held the Hohenzollern crown jewels and many personal effects of Frederick the Great, including the snuff box that stopped a bullet and saved his life.  





Under the castle is a network of cellars, passageways, and tunnels that had fallen into disrepair over the years; some of the tunnels have yet to be excavated and no one alive knows where they lead. The castle itself was beautiful, second only to the view seen from its battlements.

There were statues of various members of the Hohenzollern family, tombstones, towers, and two churches, a catholic and a protestant church on the grounds (because the family split and converted at various points during the existence of the castle.

We then drove to Stuttgart and went to the Mercedes Benz Museum, which turned out to be cooler than I expected. The museum was constructed as a double downward spiral, with one side following Mercedes Benz history chronologically and the other following the cars by type. There were lots of very nifty vehicles and interesting information about the company and the technology behind the progression of automobiles.

Now those.

Are some beautiful.

Cars.

They also had some other vehicles that were specifically cool. Here are two excessively exciting busses. Also, they had a Popemobile. And Ringo's car.

Day 17   6/20/12

The first cathedral of the day was the Aachen Cathedral and treasury, built originally by Charlemagne in the 8^th century and later remodeled in the byzantine fashion. The cathedral has the tallest stained glass windows south of the river. Or maybe north of it. I don’t recall. Neither do I recall which river. All I know is that there were lots of very tall stained glass windows and they are specifically a few meters taller than those found in the Cologne Cathedral, despite its larger general size. 

The cathedral had all things Charlemagne. Present was Charlemagne’s throne, which was the coronation seat for German monarchs for 600 years. The Aachen Cathedral was also the final resting place of the great king, and (most) of his bones are still present. Also present was a casket that is opened every seven years. Inside are four anchient pieces of cloth believed to be Mary’s birthing skirt, Jesus’s swaddling clothes, his waist-cloth from the crucifixion, and something of John the Baptists—the death blanket, I think. All of which have been dated from 0 to 200 AD.  

Following our extensive, detailed, and awesome tour of the cathedral, we proceeded to visit the Treasury, one of the largest in the world. There was an anatomically correct bust of Charlemagne. As in, there was a piece of his skull in the proper location on the head of the bust. They also had other reliquaries with some of his other bones.  And many other things. It was a really cool place.

We then made our way to the Cologne Cathedral (Kolner Dom). It was very tall. Possibly the most tall. 

We climbed to the top and again had an impressive view of a city skyline (below). Above is the view from the platform looking up the side of the spire. 

The Cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and the administration of the archdiocese. Construction of the colossal 515 ft tall church began in the middle of the 13th century, and lasted hundreds of years.

Look at them buttresses!


 One of the large stained glass windows (on the south side, I believe) was shattered during the war. Instead of replacing or reconstructing the old designs, the stained glass was redone with a pattern of pixelized colors to imitate the same lighting and mood but not recreate the imagery.

Day 18   6/21/12

On the final day of the excursion, while mostly a driving day, we visited the Magdeburg Cathedral.

 We received an extensive tour and were some of the only tourists there. They were setting up for some sort of musical event.  This cathedral had a different feel from most. Firstly, it was a protestant cathedral, which is rather odd. Secondly, all the stained glass windows were ruined in the war and, lacking the funding to replace them, were replaced with regular windowpanes. Finally, the white marble of the inside was largely unmarked. These attributes combined to make a rather different aura from most cathedrals. It was very light and unadorned and rather more bright and peaceful than is common. 

There was a small chapel located in a gazebo-type structure in the middle of the church. Inside is a statue of man and a woman; no one knows who these two are, but they’re believed to be Charlemagne and his wife.  Of the many sculptures, tombs, and significant relics, the anti-war monument in the southwest corner of the cathedral stood out. Constructed after WW1 representing a German, a French, and a Soviet soldier standing together and morning the devastation of war, it somehow escaped being torn down by the Nazi regime. 

Also, they had an elephant tusk. Or maybe a whale bone. I think they called it the tusk of Nazareth. Do not take my word for it.

Then we went home and the excursion was at a close.