Berlin: Day 2

Violins:

Museum Kloz

My Kloz

Stradivarius violin (right)

Today we spent more time enjoying Berlin.  We visited a musical instrument museum next to the famous (and modern) Berlin Philharmonic Hall.  In the museum, we saw a Stradivarius violin and a violin made by the same family of luthiers as my violin: Kloz.  (I'm sure mine was a lot less expensive!)  We also saw many old pianos, harpsichords, and other stringed instruments.

After that instrument museum we visited an art museum called Museum Berggruen, featuring Pablo Picasso, the creator of cubism.  In addition to his paintings, we saw a few sculptures.  One, called The Crane, was made with forks, a shovel, a basket handle, a wing nut, and some other household objects.  It was interesting to see all of his different styles and subjects.  Later, we went to my mom's cousin's house for dinner, and ate a delicious meal of pork, mashed potatoes, and sauerkraut (a traditional German meal).

Berlin: Day 1

Berlin Wall

German Parliament

Today was our first full day in Berlin.  We drove around the city and saw some of its attractions.  We saw a German government building called the Bundestag (parliament building) and the  Berlin Wall (which separated East and West Berlin during the DDR period).  The part of the wall which we saw (a part which was obviously not torn down) is called the East Side Gallery because it was facing East Berlin.  People have painted murals all over it, and added graffiti on top of that.  After our tour of the city, we got together with my mother's other cousins and talked for a few hours, then we ate a traditional German meal of Kassler (ham steaks), sour kraut, and boiled potatoes.

Travels to Berlin

On the train

Stasi Propaganda in a stadium "friends"

This morning we were in Leipzig, and now we are in Berlin.  Before we left, we saw a museum of the Stasi, the East German secret police.  It showed how they were oppressing the people by spying on them (they would open their mail, listen in on phone conversations, and even plant video cameras in people's apartments). The Stasi also organized propaganda displays all over East Germany.

After that, we went to another museum about the DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik) and what life was like in East Germany between World War II and the late 1980s when the Berlin Wall fell.  This museum showed how life in East Germany was totally controlled by President Erich Honecker and the other communist leaders.

When we needed to get on our train to Berlin, we said goodbye to our friends in Leipzig and got on a train which traveled about 200 km/h.  That's about 124 mph. It took us about an hour to get from Leipzig to Berlin, and when we arrived, we met up with my mother's cousin, his wife, and youngest son.

Leipzig: Day 2

Bach's Church, Saint Thomas

Playing our violins, with Bach's statue behind us

Today we spent a lot of time in downtown Leipzig.  We saw the church (Saint Thomas) where Johann Sebastian Bach worked as cantor and organist.  (JS Bach was a Baroque composer who wrote mostly church music in the early 1700's.)  We listened to a concert (called a Mottet) in the church that included several Bach pieces, and then my brother and I played our violins on the street.  It was a cool experience to play Bach's Concerto for Two Violins in front of his statue, in front of the church where he worked and played for over two decades.

Leipzig: Day 1

Zoo

Church

Today we toured Leipzig, the city where we are staying.  We went to the zoo, and saw animals from all around the world.  There where fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, and some animals that I never knew existed including garden eels which are eels that bury the lower half of their body in the sand and the rest of them sticks out into the water.


After the zoo, we saw downtown Leipzig, and the highlight was Saint Nikolai Church
where, in 1989, the peaceful demonstrations against the socialist government of East Germany began (East Germany was part of the Eastern Block led by the Soviet Union).  The protests spread to the rest of East Germany, which eventually caused the Berlin wall to fall. This symbolized the reunification of East and West Germany.

Dresden

Church

Speed Limit

Today we visited Dresden, a city on the Elba River about an hour east of  Leipzig, which is the capital of Saxony.  First, we saw the Frauenkirche church that had been rebuilt from the bomb damage during the second world war in the same baroque style that the rest of the city had been before the war.  Most of the city was rebuilt after the war in the socialist style (where all the buildings are monotone with rows of similar, small windows) because East Germany was under communist rule.  Fortunately, the center of town was rebuilt in the beautiful baroque style.  Then, we saw an art museum, which is currently being restored.  Part of the outside is still covered in black soot from when East Germany burned coal for heat.

We drove from Leipzig to Dresden on the Autobahn, where there is no speed limit, and reached 204 km/h (127 m/h) in my mom's friend's Mercedes.  Germany is the only country left in the world that has some roads ohne geschwindgkeitsbegrenzung -- without a speed limit.

First Day Adventures

Prague

Prague

Leipzig

Leipzig

Today we landed in Prague (Prag), Czech Republic at around noon.  From there, we enjoyed the city for a few hours while we waited for our train.  We saw the town square (where my brother and I played our violins) and ate at a traditional Czech restaurant and brewery where we tried a creation called "beer cheese".  It had the taste and texture of French camembert, but smelled like a three-year-old gym bag.  This cheese may not have been the highlight of our culinary adventures so far, but it was certainly interesting to try.   We also tried potato dumplings and goulash, two traditional Czech foods.

When it was time to get on our train, we boarded, and headed to Leipzig.  The station where we arrived was Europe's largest end-line train station, meaning that the trains only went in and out one end of it.  In that train station, there was also a Holocaust memorial very similar to the one that students built in Whitwell, Tennessee.  The rails that are part of the memorial where the last rails to carry Jews (169 men, woman, and children) off to concentration camps from Leipzig a few weeks before the end of WWII (1945).  The cars on display, however, where built during the DDR period, following WWII, when East Germany was under Communist rule.

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Trip Summary

We're getting really exited for out trip! We will be leaving next week to Prague, CZE where we immediately take a train to Leipzig, Germany.  We will be staying with my mom's old school friend and his wife and two kids for a few days.  Then we will take another train to Berlin, Germany were my mom's cousin lives.  We'll spend a few more days with him, and then take a third train back to Prague where we will stay for a day to enjoy the beautiful city.  Then we will fly to Belgrade, Serbia where my grandmother lives, and stay with her for a week.  After that, we will fly back to Boston and spend a day or two back at home to repack and do laundry.  Then we will get on another plane and fly through San Francisco and Auckland, New Zealand to Melbourne, Australia where we will be exploring the country for about six weeks.