Week Seven (ii) - Potsdam, Museums, and Running Again!

Sat 23.2.13:

Lulu, Susan, and I visited the Dahlem museum in the morning to see a few of the tribal art exhibits.

Hopi figurine

I thought this was a cool design

We saw lots of Native American art, sculptures and headdresses as well as artifacts - more figurines, boats, and hunting/fishing equipment - from various island cultures, including Lulu's island of Kiribati!

Couldn't help but laugh :)

Lulu with the Kiribati skirmish armor - the weapons are
laced with shark's teeth and stingray spines!

Berlin vor Ort today was a tour of Potsdam. We started at the Grünewald station to see the Track 17 Memorial, which remembers the deportation of Jews from that station and lists the dates, destinations, and number of Jews aboard of trains that departed the station. It was a particularly moving design, bringing us directly to the site of departure, seeing the numbers of deportees, and just imagining from there the conditions.

and this view only shows half of the segments

Each segment is inscribed with these details... 

Offerings left in memory

Then we visited Potsdam and went straight to Sanssouci, Frederick the Great's Rococo-style palace. When we saw the view over the gardens, I was reminded of Versailles, though on a smaller scale of course.

In summer, apparently all the terraces are in full bloom with vineyards!

Gorgeously feathered duckies :)

We caught a glimpse of the Chinese House but didn't see its gorgeous entrance or interior, sadly.

Snow-laden Chinese House

Frederick the Great gets a tribute of... potatoes (he introduced them to Prussia) 

Walking through Potsdam itself felt very relaxing - we saw several official buildings, but Dr. Jander was eager to show us his favorite creperie as well as Gutenberg street and a gorgeously designed cemetery for Soviet soldiers. It was a gorgeous day (considering there's no sun here haha) so we enjoyed the chill air and views of the town, river, and parks.

This street felt particularly European and
quaint, lined with interesting shops

The Soviet military cemetery

Turrets!

Awesome street art, some sort of robotic insectoid

 Afterwards, I decided my heels had recovered enough to try running once more, so I taped them up and set off into the falling snowflakes! Tentatively at first, and then gradually faster as my heels didn't protest, I ran alongside the U-Bahn line, utterly joyful to feel the wind on my face once again :) I kept running longer than I probably should have, given my uncertain heel condition, and when I got back I napped for two hours, had some dinner, and fell back asleep at 10:30 - glorious!

Sun 24.2.13:
Esther, Keziah, Molly, Sarah, Sherri, Susan, and I met up for a leisurely English brunch, featuring some scrumptious scones :) Afterwards, Keziah and I headed to the Topography of Terror. This museum stands on the site of the former SS main buildings used to orchestrate the regime's decrees. The exhibits provide a lot of information and display several pictures of the main SS leaders or events put on by the party.

A staged photo of the liberation of political prisoners

Dissent or noncompliance existed (albeit rarely in public)

Other items on display:
 - charts depicting the SS department's hierarchy and structure
 - a letter ordering the 'accidental' death of political prisoner Georg Elser, Hitler's would-be-assassin
 - extensive descriptions of how the Nazis consolidated power and how daily life changed in Germany
 - details of what happened to the major perpetrators after the war; nearly all were sentenced to death, though we were surprised by the few light sentences, and even one man who lived under an alternate identity until he came forward 30 years later

After a while, we felt overwhelmed, and saved the rest for another day. We walked next door and found an exhibition by Margaret Bourke-White, the first female photographer to work for Life magazine, take pictures in a combat zone, and capture photos of the Soviet Union. All her photographs were the originals, developed on silver (?), and gave fascinating glimpses into the US wartime industry, the Soviet Union wartime life, and Germany during and post-wartime. On display were Bourke-White's correspondences with renowned individuals such as Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Ansel Adams, among others. In one to the Roosevelts, she specifically asked for a print to be given to the electrician, who was always promised photographs by all visiting photographers but never received any, and she wanted to break that trend - how adorable! She also had a memorable picture of Joseph Stalin, with an interesting tale. After trying unsuccessfully to get him to smile warmly, she inadvertently spilled some peanuts on the floor, and apparently Stalin began smiling and/or chuckling at the sight of the secretary and this American photographer/journalist hurriedly snatching them up off the floor. She said she managed to get two photographs of Stalin genuinely smiling before his face turned stony again, and it was as if there was no happiness in those eyes.

Art from the 'informel' movement

Franz Radziwill - speaking against the war and its aftermath

We then visited the Neue National Galerie, featuring 20th century art including some by Picasso, Munch, and Dalí. Other exciting pieces: a video of the Beatles' Yellow Submarine, a room full of circular compositions, abstract sculptures, and pieces utilizing laser lights.

Double Mao, double Marx 

Andy Warhol's Double Elvis

In the 'Light Room' - kaleidoscopic patterns reflect off the walls and cubes 

'The content of this painting is invisible; the character and dimension of
the context are to be kept permanently secret, known only to the artist.'
Very clever, you artist, very clever

A really cool compostion

For dinner, Keziah and I met Sherri at Little Saigon, which has a hilariously translated English menu (one option was 'cervical steak' - later we realized it was probably steak loin). We had some warm, comforting bowls of pho, and then Susan, Iqbal, and I started the E40 homework... and we were still working at 3am :/

Other random snippets:
- we saw several electric Smart cars plugged in and charging
- we passed a wall consisting of tens of small mirrors, so that the reflections kept changing with as the wind blew

Week Seven (i) - Swan Lake and Technikmuseum!

Mon 18.2.13:
I woke up to finish my German journals (naturally), then after class I looked up some additional German companies that I may apply to so that I could talk to Wolf (the Krupp internship coordinator) and hope that, since I had some places in mind, he wouldn't be annoyed at me starting the process so late. In fact, Wolf was fairly receptive to me starting the Krupp process late, but emphasized that I would have a lot of catch-up work to do. So, here's to me potentially working in Germany this summer! After Econ and E40, Shane and I once again grabbed burritos at Dolores and then headed home, where I researched more German companies prior to sleeping rather than do actual work.

Graffiti near my house - a Boo from the Mario games!

Tue 19.2.13:
After our German test (primarily on the book we've been reading, "Oh, wie schön ist Panama," or 'Oh, how beautiful is Panama,' about a bear and a tiger who leave their comfortable house looking for Panama, the land of their dreams, only to return to their house, thinking it is Panama - a very beautiful story!) we had someone come in to discuss Swan Lake, since the program got us all tickets to see it on Wednesday. We chuckled when we noticed the presenter's text slides were word-for-word from Wikipedia, but I was glad for the information. In particular, she informed us of the intricacies of the plot, different interpretations and endings, and the geometric and swan-like movements of the dancers. Afterwards, I (and a significant proportion of the Econ class) worked on our essay at the center; I struggled to choose which prompt to write about and made slow progress at the center so I eventually headed home and made marginal progress there as well - I'll have to be diligent tomorrow!

Wed 20.2.13:
We started reading Hänsel and Gretel for German today, and it was fun to predict words based on our prior knowledge of the story. We also had our Berlin vor Ort field trip today, so after making myself an egg-cheese-pepper-salmon omelette, I met up at Zoologischer Garten/Tiergarten for the tour. We saw a few animals as we walked along the river, but most were hiding from the onslaught of snow pouring down. If I do land an internship here over summer, I'll definitely come back, as the Berlin Zoo has one of the, if not the most, comprehensive arrays of animals in the world! We proceeded to Rosa-Luxemburg Platz, which marks the site of her murder and stands as a memorial to her extensive involvement with the socialist movement in Germany.

Rosa Luxemburg memorial, by the bridge where she was killed

We continued through the Tiergarten, passing the Cafe am Neuen See (the one I've been to twice now) and the Karl Liebknecht memorial (Liebknecht and Luxemburg were the two champions of the socialist movement, and posthumously aided the Marxist cause), and learning that the public flocks to the park in summer for barbecues, even though the Berlin mayor/governor has tried to stop the tradition haha :)
I returned home after the tour and made some progress on my essay before dressing up, grabbing some delicious falafel with Zixiang, and heading to the Deutsche Oper for 'Schwanensee' - hooray! It was my first ballet (I don't count the Nutcracker), and I really enjoyed the costuming, stagecraft, and venue. Now I definitely appreciate the info session from yesterday, as I was on the lookout for the dancers' swan-like motions and definitely noticed similarities. I also really liked the four-swan dance as well as the individual dances and duets by Siegfried and Odette, which I thought were quite exceptional, not to mention the beautiful music by Tchaikovsky. Many of us were shocked, however, to note that several audience members took pictures (sometimes with flash!) during the performance, which seemed blatantly disrespectful. In addition, people applauded much more frequently - after nearly every dance, even the smaller ones, rather than just after each act, or even after each main dance - I guess different locations and productions lend themselves to different expectations.

Our view - close enough to feel included in the performance

Left to right: Rothbart, the conductor, Odette, Siegfried, the Queen, and Benno 

The Deutsche Oper subway station is demarcated with homages
to 20+ composers and musicians such as this one

Following the concert (and exploring the upper floor, which hosts a mini-memorial to Martha Mödl, who had an extensive career playing Shakespearian and Wagnerian roles), I returned home and worked on my essay until bed.

Thu 21.2.13:
Woke up early to continue writing and arrived at school with one page left to write - pretty much everyone was in a similar position haha :) I was able to finish mine shortly after German, leaving me enough time to join another Insanity workout (followed by a sluggish and pitiful attempt at football) before Econ. We did watch lots of videos about bionic robots (dogs, penguins, and jellyfish!), which were cool, and then finished E40 lab relatively quickly - done by 8:45! I headed home, chatted with Diego a while about his Patagonia trip, picked up some falafel for dinner, and slept.

The awkwardness just cracks me up; also, 'Badideen' means
'bathroom ideas,' but I just read it as 'bad ideas' and I agree

Fri 22.2.13:

I arrived at the center 20 minutes before I usually do, and was excited to hang out and chat before class, but as I walked in, Susan asked, "aren't you supposed to be in class?" Shoot! I completely forgot we start an hour earlier on Fridays! I meekly walked into class, apologizing, only to find out Jochen (our professor) had forgotten as well and arrived only five minutes before me.

We played some three-on-three football - a great way to relax after the week ends - and then headed to the Deutsches Technikmuseum, where we saw all manner of transportation, starting with boats on the ground floor and working our way upwards to the airplanes - clever layout! A few highlights:
 - tons of boats in glass bubbles; one was built out of Legos, what a throwback!

 - a gear-oriented light-up contraption

 - a section full of sailboats replete with the history of sailboat racing as well as old medals

 - an area featuring Nemo's Nautilus, with images of krakens and other feared sea creatures

Sarah and Susan by one of the model ships

Paper dragon!

How to get to China: lift off, wait for the world
to rotate enough, and then land - perfect!

Ready for take-off!

 - a wide variety of planes, from wrecked dive bombers to remaining Luftwaffe forces

Standard issue German WWII plane

Massive anti-air flak gun!

 - a prominent plethora of titanic trains

 - an exhibit on jewelry featuring production tools and methods

Kaiser Wilhelm's personal train!

Intricate gold etchings from the workshop

 - learning the inner workings of a beer brewery and seeing the equipment

Instruments in the brewery

Recycled bottles

 - details about the chemical/pharmaceutical industry (cows' and pigs' hormones are used)

Sun peeking through!

Is this camera large enough?

Afterwards, I quickly dropped my backpack at home and then rejoined the others at the Ritter Sport Factory (haha). I couldn't resist temptation - stuff was on sale! - and I departed with a full bag with 3kg of chocolates :D We caught the bus across town to get to Trattoria del Corso, an Italian restaurant recommended to us by Jochen and where we were to celebrate Peter's birthday. Even though more people showed up than our reservation called for, the restaurant patiently accommodated us (we also squeezed multiple people per chair, haha); fortunately, other large groups were there, so we didn't feel too obnoxious as a group of 16 loud Americans.

After all the museum-going, we were pretty hungry, so Peter and I split a Messicana and a Pizza del Corso (labeled "for two people") and finished them, to general astonishment :) Jochen's recommendation proved sound, as the pizzas were extremely delicious and reasonably-priced. We surprised Peter with a tiramisu and some sambuca (a licorice-flavored liquor) and then were pleasantly surprised when the waiter brought all 16 of us complementary shots of sambuca! We thought for sure they were fed up with us!

Keziah had wanted to attend a masquerade dance in some club in Kreuzberg, put on by a group that hosts events like this but only releases the location the afternoon of (it's hipster, not sketchy), so Keziah, Molly, Susan, Peter, and I relocated to my house in the meantime. At the last minute, though, we thought it would be easier to meet up with other groups at a well-known location, so we went back to Club Soda instead. We spent a fun two hours inside (even spending some of our free drink tickets - ladies get three each - on water and apple juice… don't judge) and then left. 

Back at Kotbusser, Molly, Susan, and I saw Iqbal standing with Lulu, who seemed in a bad spot. We ascertained that she and another member of the group had gotten into a heated debate/argument that left her feeling pretty bad, and Iqbal and she eventually left the argument and had relocated here. Ultimately, we brought Lulu with us back to my place and had a massive cuddle and cheering-up session, listening to Lulu recount the night's events and entertaining parts of her life before we all fell asleep. 

Week Six (iii) - Museum Island

Sat 16.2.13:

Susan, Peter, and I began day one of Museum Island at the Bode Museum, which contains an extensive ancient coin collection, medieval sculptures, and Byzantine art. Here are some of my favorite pieces:

In front of the Bode Museum

Princess Diana on a golden stag for the hunt

A 100kg gold coin from Canada

The Mirror Cabinet from Merseburg (1715)

Next we visited the Pergamon Museum, known for classical antiquities, Islamic art, and large-scale replicas of archaeological constructions. Here are the highlights:

 - saw a replica of the Hammurabi Codex (ca. 1790-1750 BCE)

 - impressive architectural feats, such as the Pergamon Altar, the Market Gate of Miletus, and the Ishtar Gate.

 - lots of Egyptian and Mesopotamian stonework and carvings

Entrance and main steps to the ancient Pergamon Altar

The Market Gate of Miletus (built 2nd century CE, destroyed
in 10th/11th century, reconstructed 20th century)

Sphinxes as gatekeepers

Furthermore, the exhibit on Islamic art was particularly interesting because it was so distinct, featuring floor-length carpets and ornately decorated rooms and altarpieces.

That in Aleppo Once...

These rugs have been salvaged and maintained for centuries

Intricate doorway

After a vietnamese lunch, we visited the Alte Nationalgalerie, known for its 19th century art collections, comprising the Impressionist movement, the Romantic movement, and - as far as we could tell - focused exhibitions of Adolph Menzel and Max Liebermann. My favorites: 

Flute Concert of Frederick the Great at Sanssouci (Adolph Menzel, 1875)

The mantel above the stairwell featured numerous contemporary
notables - here we see Goethe, Mozart, Beethoven, etc. 

We actually stumbled into the room with the Impressionist art by sheer happenstance, so we were blown away to see so many famous paintings!

Renoir's Chestnut in Blossom 1881

Monet's View of Vètheuil-sur-Seine 1880

When the museum announced "15 minutes until closing time," we hurriedly tried to rush through the remaining rooms, but the security guards just moved silently in front of us and pointed at the exits haha.

From there, I sadly don't remember what I did but I'm sure it involved good food and friends or a long night of blogging haha. My final laughable pictures:

No ice cream allowed!

So, uh, who shops here?  We did notice, however, that this
store is next to a McDonalds... coincidence?

Sun 17.2.13:

I arose at 9:30 and grabbed some cheese pastries before heading to Museum Island for day two of our museum blitz. Susan, Shane, and I started with the Neue Museum, which contains several Greco-Roman and Egyptian artifacts, including the bust of Nefertiti! Here are a few of the highlights: 

Carvings on an Egyptian stone tomb

The Berlin 'Green Head' (ca. 500 BCE)

King Seti I with Osiris, ca. 1290 BCE 

(Terence, Lindsay, Julian - I was hoping for a Larry the Pharaoh)

Nefertiti in all her glory

We couldn't take pictures in the Nefertiti exhibit, but we did get to see hundreds of ancient artifacts, jewelry, and tools from that era. The Nefertiti bust was in a room all by itself, naturally; sculpted ca. 1340 BCE and discovered nearly intact in 1912, the bust is renowned for how preserved it is, not to mention Nefertiti's reputation.

The 'Bronze Youth'

Celebratory issue coin depicting Charlemagne
for his coronation

Jackal in the crypt room

Colossal Statue of Helios
(from Alexandria, ca. 138-161 CE)

Next up was the Alte Museum, featuring primarily the Collection of Classical Antiquities. Once more, some pictorial favorites/highlights:

Amphora, ca. 530 BCE, shows the mythical wrestling match 

between Herakles and Theseus for the Delphic Tripod

This fish is the showpiece in a room of 

Scythian gold; it likely adorned a shield 

Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, ca. 40 BCE

    "Pair of centaurs fighting cats of prey" (ca. 130 CE) is one
of the most magnificent Roman mosaics. It was acquired
from Emperor Hadrian's palace in Tivoli.

Around 3, Shane and I (Susan had left after the Neue Museum) headed to the Judisches Museum. Designed by Daniel Libeskind, the museum itself is thought-provoking in its design: shaped like a zigzag and intersected by a straight line, the floor plan featuring numerous 'voids' of empty space. Libeskind says of his architecture, "What is important is the experience you get from it. The interpretation is open." 

The unsettling entrance

View of the slanted floor in the Axis of Exile

One begins by descending an uneven staircase, making me at once feel vulnerable and reflect on how this descent mirrors the Jews' ever-worsening conditions in post-WWI Germany. The lower level features three corridors - the Axis of the Holocaust, the Axis of Exile, and the Axis of Continuity - each of which is on a noticeable upwards incline. To me, this design of Libeskind's represented the omnipresent struggle the Jews faced, and really made me pause and think as I read the personalized accounts of Jews set within the walls. 

My most memorable experience came in the Holocaust Tower, Libeskind's so-called "voided void." A 24m-high quadrilateral space, deliberately unheated and lit only by a slit high in the corner, it reflected (as I interpreted it) the sense of enclosure and despair present in the concentration camps. For a long while, I stood alone in the empty void, craning my neck upwards to peer yearningly at the lone source of light. The metal walls whispered with every step, every sound magnified tenfold. Set intermittently within the floor were numerous squares of a different metal, that creaked ominously with every solemn step. But most despairing was the deafening clangor every time the massive metal door swung shut - as others entered and left, the sound echoed loudly throughout the room for a long second before damping out, but during those echoes, I could feel all hope being leeched out of me. Truly, I felt utterly insignificant and hopeless in this chilly and lonesome hole.

View down the Axis of Exile and Axis of the Holocaust

The slanting columns in the Garden of Exile

contribute to the sense of being off-kilter, 

similar to the Holocaust Memorial

The other two main compelling exhibits were 1) the Garden of Exile, similar in appearance to the Holocaust Memorial, with slanting columns and an uneven ground, which further contributes to the sense of being off-balanced and unsettled, and 2) Menashe Kadishman's "Fallen Leaves" installation, featuring over 10,000 faces within an echoing chamber in tribute to those who died or suffered during the Holocaust.

Fallen Leaves - one can walk across the
faces; the resultant clanging resonates
harshly and hollowly

An example of the off-putting architecture

The Axis of Continuity opened into an extensive exhibition of Jewish history, documenting Jewish culture and artifacts such as:

 - a 10th century facsimile of the Decree of the Emperor Constantine 

 - exquisitely embellished rabbinical crowns

 - works by Jacob Abraham and his son Abraham Abramson, who worked as coiners in Frederick the Great's court

 - pictures and artifacts concerning Albert Einstein

 - interactive dialogues from Jews speaking about life during the Holocaust

72 medals coined by Jacob Abraham and
Abraham Abramson

Unbelievably hilarious and cute!

Footsore and overwhelmed by a full day of museum-going, Shane and I decided we deserved Mustafa's, and I splurged and got two delicious durums :) Afterwards, I headed home, did some work, and slept.