All Good Things… Sunday, Jun 2 2013

I have been thinking about this last piece since I wrote the first piece; I still have no idea how I am going to put all of my feelings about this trip into one brief piece. I have had some excellent times and some very bad day, highs, lows, and in-betweens if you will.

I think I want to start by talking about where I liked best and why. In order, I liked the cities we visited as follows:

1. Bayeux

2.Copenhagen/Krakow

3. Berlin

4. London

5. Paris

I liked Bayeux best because it was the most peaceful and pastoral. Also the connections with so much history, ranging from the 11th century all the way through WWII was absolutely amazing. I have never been to a place I loved as much as Normandy in general and Bayeux specifically. Copenhagen I just adored and I think part of it was it being my first European city. However, the people were fantastically friendly and easy going, even if the prices were a bit high. Krakow just had an unusual vibe to it that I liked, the daily markets on the squares, the low prices, the slightly rude but very attractive women just made Krakow a perfectly unique experience and made me want to return to Poland again. Berlin I liked because it’s a really cool, modern city and Germans are pretty amiable people, and they don’t mind speaking English to you. London was nice, but honestly too expensive. I will be back for a Chelsea match and the British Museum, but probably not anything else. I had a good time in Paris, but the city just feels like a tourist trap and an amusement park. The people were rude, the prices were too high, but I had a good time. I will always cherish the night I went to the top of the Eiffel Tower with my friends and the graduation ceremony there a few days later.

Its funny I promised myself I wouldn’t get emotional about the trip being over, but this morning on my flight to Munich and right now as I’m writing this I am breaking that promise. I have teared up a few times at separating from the great group of students and professors I have been lucky enough to study and travel with this semester. My emotions are most definitely full of sadness, but at the same time there is joy. I have been lucky enough to see many, many wonderful things and made some friends who I will always cherish. If any of you are reading this, all you have to do is call me because I’m here for you. I have had an amazing time on this trip, both before meeting the group in London and for the three weeks after.

So dear reader, as I tear up yet again I’m going to say goodbye. Thank you for coming along on this journey with me, I have had so much fun and I’m glad I had you to share it with. I think the best way to sum all of my emotions up, at coming home, at separating from my friends, at finishing this journal is, in Shakespeare’s words: “Parting is such sweet sorrow.”

Leave a Response »

 

The Last Day Sunday, Jun 2 2013

First, I’m sorry for the delay in posting this, yesterday was busy and today has been a travel day. Yesterday was the last day of our trip through Europe and we spent the morning in Krakow’s old Jewish Quarter, Kazimierz. The quarter was formed as a town by King Kazimierz the Great in the 14th century and in the 15th century, Krakow’s Jews were forcibly moved from old Krakow to Kazimierz. 

We started our visit in a museum that was the original synagogue in the district. Unfortunately the Nazis had turned it into a warehouse and damaged much of its original interior during the occupation of Poland. The synagogue was renovated and turned into a museum regarding the religious practice of Jews in Krakow. It was a lovely museum and some fragments of the original frescoes remain on the walls, and they are beautiful. 

After the synagogue, we walked around the district and saw important historical sites. One of them was the Jewish cemetery, this is one of the cemeteries that the Nazis removed headstones from to pave the roads leading to some of the concentration camps. Most of the other sites were places where Steven Spielberg shot scenes of “Schindler’s List”. 

We then broke for lunch. I went to a Polish place recommended by our local guide and it was delicious. I had pierogi and bigos, a stew made of sauerkraut and sausage, and a beer, only spending about $10 US. One of the things I am most going to miss about Poland is getting really quality food for very, very cheap.

After lunch we were scheduled to visit the museum built at Oskar Schindler’s factory, but due to poor weather it was made an optional visit. I opted out because I was cold and miserable, and walked back to the hostel with a small group. On arriving, I took a nap and did some reading before getting ready for our fairwell dinner.

We had dinner at a small restaurant across from the hostel. This was a nice place, the food was good and it was large enough to support the whole group. I enjoyed having a last meal with my professors and classmates, it helped me realize how much I am going to miss them. I’ll address this more in tomorrow’s post dealing with summing the whole trip up. After a few of us went and had a couple of drinks at a local club as a send off. Then it was off to bed for a couple hours before my 6:40am flight home. 

I’m writing this from Newark-Liberty airport, it’s good to be home but I know I’m going to have some very string emotions as I write the final piece of this tomorrow. 

Leave a Response »

 

Homo Homini Lupus Est (Man is Wolf to Man) Saturday, Jun 1 2013

Today was far and away the most emotional day of the trip. We visited the extermination camp at Auschwitz just an hour from Krakow.

 

A little history on the camp- Auschwitz was actually a complex of three camps located at Oswiecim/Auschwitz, Birkeneau, and Monowitz. The main camp, Auschwitz I, was opened in 1940 as a concentration camp for political prisoners, including communists, priests who spoke out against the Nazis, and Jehovah’s Witnesses. While execution and death through labor were common, the average inmate at Auschwitz I lasted only a few months, this was not yet an extermination camp. In fact, the so called final solution to the Jewish question was not settled until after the war in the East started to turn against the Nazis. Auschwitz III at Monowitz was a forced labor camp attached to the IG Farben chemical plant that was nearby. The most famous of the Auschwitz complex, Auschwitz II-Berkineau, was not built until 1942, and it was purpose built to be an extermination camp, housing four of the five gas chambers and crematoria in the Auschwitz complex. Our visit today was only to camps I and II.

 

The visit started at Auschwitz I, the concentration camp. This is the camp with the famous “Arbeit Macht Frei” gate. The German saying roughly translates to “Work Makes You Free”. This camp now houses a number of displays showing some of the horrors of the Nazi camp system, including piles of shoes, glasses, prosthetic limbs, and everyday house hold items taken from the prisoners interned at the camp. The most painful display for me was a pile of two tons of human hair in one room. The fact that this hair came from only a small fraction of the victims, estimated at about 50,000, but took up about a third of a room that must have covered 500 square feet or more brought home the scale of the atrocities committed at this grisly place. We were also shown various punishment cells in the basement of one barracks; I will not describe the method of punishment because I do not think my words can do justice to what I saw. On this portion of our tour, every single one of us broke into tears at some point, no one was left unmoved by the sadness around us.

 

Our second stop was at Auschwitz II, the extermination camp. The guide told us that in one sixty day stretch, the Nazis eliminated over 400,000 Jews. The reality of that number refuses to set into my mind, I cannot make sense of that much slaughter. The most shocking thing here was seeing firsthand the living conditions of the prisoners, they slept in three level bunks, 5-8 persons to a bunk, and up to 100or more bunks per room. We also viewed the ruins of one of the crematoria at the camp, where people were herded in with the promise of a shower, several hundred at a time, and gassed using a rat poison known as Zyklon B. The camp maintains an eerie feeling to this day, especially since it is surrounded by a beautiful forest and a the small city of Oswiecim.

After returning to Krakow, we were given the afternoon off to recover. I had a large lunch in one of the market squares that consisted of kielbasa, pirogies, fried potatoes, and beer. The food really hit the spot, since I was in need of comfort after seeing a death camp. I wandered around for most of the afternoon and then had dinner with Tyler, Chris, and Teddy. I am retiring a bit early tonight to be ready for a walking tour of Krakow’s old Jewish Quarter and Oskar Schindler’s factory in the morning.

Leave a Response »

 

A Real “Old Town” Thursday, May 30 2013

Today we left Berlin for our last stop- Krakow. The trip was uneventful, even if the airport shuttle driver was trying to kill us with his horrendous driving. The first couple of hours here were free, so I went and had a late breakfast with Katie R, Justina, and Amanda. I had  full English, sans black pudding that I gave to Justina, since I don’t eat blood for religious reasons. We then walked around the main market square and took in the sights as the Polish, a very Catholic people, celebrated he festival of Corpus Christi. I don’t know anything about the festival’s significance but it was interesting to watch all of the people on the square and hear the choir singing plain chants.

When we returned to the hostel, a small group of us set out with the professors on an optional walking tour of the city’s Old Town. When Poland, or any European nation, says old town, they mean it. Krakow has a recorded history going back as far as the 9th century AD. The walk took us past the main square with its lovey clothier’s guild hall, which is now a gift market. As we walked towards the Wawel, the city’s old castle, we were hit with a sudden downpour and had to duck into a restaurant for a few minutes to get away from the rain. We finally did reach the castle, which was absolutely stunning, though it was obviously completed at different times because much of the architecture is in different styles. After I walked back with Dr. Wynn through a very lovely scenic route to the hostel.

For dinner I had pirogi and chicken livers with onions and a wonderful little Polish restaurant. The food was out of this world good, especially my pirogi, which were stuffed with wild mushrooms and sauerkraut. After dinner I walked around with a few of the guys until we finally decided to have a beer in one of the smaller squares and then turn in. Tomorrow is a tour I am both excited about and dreading- Auschwitz.

Leave a Response »

 

Free Day Wednesday, May 29 2013

I was feeling really homesick this morning and not in the mood for a cold breakfast of cereal, yogurt, and fruit so I decided to pay the hostel kitchen for something I would normally eat at home. I ordered two fried eggs and some sausage with a small bottle of orange juice. I was so glad I did, even though the eggs were more cooked than I like them, it really took me home for a minute or two and it was a nice feeling.

After breakfast we set out on what we were promised would be a short day, so we could pack our things for Krakow. We stared along either the longest, or one of the longest, remaining stretches of the Berlin wall, it was interesting to see. We then climbed a near by tower and were able to look at a part of the wall that has been completely maintained as a memorial, though without barbed wire and landmines. The space between the two walls was probably only about 40 feet, but when you consider that it had guard towers, guns, dogs, mines, and barbed wire it is no stretch to understanding why so few people ever successfully crossed the no man’s land.

After leaving the wall, we were told we could either have the rest of the afternoon and evening to ourselves, or go to another museum dedicated to the wall, I chose to take the day for myself and go see a few of Berlin’s other museums. I walked back towards my hostel and had a couple espresso shots on the way then I decided to go to Museum Island, a complex of four or five museums. I started at the Pergamon, which is dedicated to classical archaeology largely. Their big attractions are the Greek temple entrance and the Gate of Babylon, along with one of the Stela containing the Codex Hammurabi, one of the oldest known law codes. The Gate of Babylon was absolutely stunning, covered in blue tiles with inlaid golden animals, they would have been a true sight to see when first approaching the massive city. On their second floor they had a special exhibit dedicated to the city of Samara under different Arab Caliphates of the middle ages. This collection had some stunning tiles, pottery, and rugs in it. I probably spent more time there than in the entire rest of the museum. While I was there I ran into my friend Monica, who is also a UT student visiting Berlin and whom I have had a difficult time meeting up with the past few days. It was wonderful to finally meet up, even if it was completely by accident, so we decided to go to a couple of the other museums together.

Our next stop was the Egyptian collection at the Neues museum. I love Egyptian art and sculpture. The highlight was the bust of Queen Nefertiti, the colors were absolutely stunning. We only spent about a half hour here, though Monica brought out that much of the jewelry would still look good on a modern women. I have to agree, much of it was stunningly beautiful. We also visited the art museum but spent so much time talking that I honestly don’t remember much of what we saw.

After the art museum Monica said she was hungry, so we walked back to my hostel to see what the kitchen had on offer. It turns out that late spring is white asparagus time in Germany and they had a plate of it with potatoes and hollandaise. We each ordered the same plate, I very skeptically since I’m not really a big asparagus fan, and it was fantastic! The flavor of it reminded me of the cabbage in my mom’s corned beef and cabbage , so  I got another nice reminder of home today. After dinner, Monica and I parted ways, but it was really good to see her here!

The group of us said goodbye to a classmate who isn’t traveling with us to Poland and then my roommates and I went for dinner at a Vietnamese place. After dinner we watched a bit of the Germany/Ecuador football match then decided to get packed for our flight to Krakow.

I have absolutely loved Berlin and am going to miss it so very much. The people, the doner kebaps, the sausage, the beer it has all been very wonderful. I’m sure Krakow is going to be fun, and then I’m coming home which is exciting, but I’m going to miss Berlin. I’ll definitely be back to Germany some day and Berlin will be on my list for a second visit with Copenhagen, London, and Normandy.

Leave a Response »

 

Monuments and museums Tuesday, May 28 2013

Today was mostly an inside day, which was nice considering the weather was poor. We started at the German-Soviet War museum in Karlshorst. The building the museum resides in was the headquarters of Soviet General Zhukov during the capture of Berlin, as well as being the place where the Germans signed the unconditional surrender. The museum was interesting. I think I most enjoyed the propaganda posters though, propaganda is one of the most fascinating things in the world to me. How can a person be so easily sold by such a simple message? What was the artist trying to say? What was left unsaid, and why? These are all things I wonder when looking at propaganda. I was also able to snap a few shots of Soviet military hardware outside the museum.

After, we took the train and walked to a Soviet memorial in what was East Berlin that also doubles as one of the many cemeteries for Red Army soldiers. The setting is an idyllic park, verdant and healthy.  It contains several statues dedicated to the memory of the dead, but the  most impressive one for me was the main statue holding the girl he supposedly saved. The scale of this monument makes the viewer feel unimportant, because it towers over you. Interestingly  there are no names in  this memorial, which could either be seen as praise to the people who gave their lives, all of them, or you could see it as a reminder to the viewer they are just small cogs in a machine.

We also visited the Jewish museum, which had some very moving exhibits, including one called Memory Void. The exhibit was a giant empty space meant to symbolize the absence of Jewish culture from German life after WWII. It was very powerful and touching.After,  I had another abortive attempt at dinner with my friend. We just cannot seem to get a break here, we’ll just have to catch up in Austin. Ok I am exhausted currently, it’s bed time so off to sleep

Leave a Response »

 

The march Monday, May 27 2013

Today was another walking tour of Berlin. We started with a walk through the old Jewish quarter, spending a few minutes in what used to be the Jewish cemetery. The plot is now a park/memorial to Nazi persecution. It is fairly odd being in what used to a cemetery but now looks very beautiful and park like.

Next we walked by the Berlin Cathedral on the way to Humboldt University. The cathedral dates from the 18th century and was built to rival Catholic cathedral of its day, Brandenburg-Prussia being a protestant nation. On the square next to the cathedral, Dr Crew chased off a woman who was trying to distract Max so she could pick his pocket with the best shout of “NIEN!” I have ever heard.  The reason for visiting Humboldt was to see the memorial to the books the Nazis took from its library and famously burned. The memorial is set under Plexiglas and is a large number of empty bookshelves, it was a pretty powerful reminder of all the knowledge that was destroyed by Hitler and his ilk.

After a lunch with Dr Crew, we walked up Karl-Marx Alle to see how the communist East Germans had attempted to build on a grand scale in an effort to make the individual feel tiny. After this we split and I took the metro back to the hostel where my plans fell through again. I had a doner kebab and two sausages for dinner because it is all so good!

After coming back to the hostel, we walked to the Reichstag so we could go to the roof for a view of the city. The building is crowned with a glass dome that probably rises 100 feet and gives a great view of the city. While on the roof I had an interesting conversation with Brittney, who is Jewish. She said she felt very uncomfortable in Berlin because it was the heart of all the atrocities, and it felt a little strange for her to be walking the same streets Hitler walked. I agreed that it did indeed feel strange, but that I am enjoying it because of how much other history the city has, we’re also walking the same streets as Bismarck and Wilhelm, and many other important historical figures. It was interesting to get another opinion on the city though.

Upon returning t the hostel, my roommates and I went out for a couple of drinks in Kruezberg. It was a good time, but we missed the last train back and had to hire a cab, which was a bummer, but at least we got back safely.

Leave a Response »

 

Monument Valley Sunday, May 26 2013

So we arrived safely in Berlin last night, though the trip was not without event. First, we had scheduled a bus through our hostel  to pick us up at the airport, but they scheduled it for 9:10am, not 9:10pm and we ended up having to take a taxi to the hostel. While we were sitting in the airport waiting to figure out what we were going to do one of my classmates knocked my shoulder bag off of my suitcase, which wouldn’t have been so bad if my laptop hadn’t been in there. About 15% of my screen is now not working and I have lines on some of the rest of it, but it isn’t completely lost. He was nice enough to offer to help me with repair costs, but I don’t think I’ll bother. For one thing, he didn’t intend to bump my bag, it was an accident.

Anyway, we got in ok and today was a fun day. We took a walk all around Berlin, seeing some of the sights and getting history lectures from Dr. Crew, our German history professor. We walked up Friedrichstrasse, which was and is a very popular shopping district. We walked briefly through the train station on Friedrichstrasse, because the professors wanted to show us one place we can do some shopping.

After that we alked up along the banks of the river Spree to the Reichstag, the German parliament. It is a beautiful old building and we are taking a tour of it tomorrow evening, I can’t wait to see the city from the top. After the Reichstag we walked over to the Branderburg Gate, and I bought a delicious, cheap Bratwurst from a food truck. The gate is impressive and beautiful, I think I prefer it to the Arc d’Triumph. From the gate we walked to see the Soviet memorial to soldiers who died in the capture of Berlin.

From there we spent a few minutes at the memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe. This memorial is a very ipressive structure, made of up of hundreds of stone slabs of various shapes and sizes. As you walk into the center, the sounds of the city fade away to nothing, which creates a very intense atmosphere. The monument feels so vast, sometimes seeming as if its labyrinthine corridors go on forever. It also made me feel very, very small, which is fitting considering I was one man walking in the memorial of six million who died. There are no names carved on any of the stones and I appreciated the anonymity; it seemed to stand for the faceless, namelessness of Jews in Nazi minds and in the facelessness the dead take on when you try to contemplate murder on such a massive scale.  I found the walk very powerful and evocative.

The next memorial we saw was to homosexuals persecuted by the Nazis. It is a simple stone structure with a small window in it. When you look through the window you are confronted with a movie showing same sex couple together, sometimes kissing or embracing and sometimes just enjoying one another’s company. I thought this was interesting ut much less moving and powerful than the Jewish memorial.

From there we walked to Potsdamer Platz for lunch and went by several pieces of the Berlin Wall that were covered in graffiti.

The last stop of the day was a museum built on the site of the Gestapo headquarters, that has some excavation of the torture champers they used. The Gestapo, or Secret State Police, were used by the Nazis to interrogate and terrorize their enemies. The museum itself focused on the history of the regime through images. It was interesting to see some of these iages, though I had seen many of them this semester in Dr. Crew’s class. I found myself analyzing some of them after the fashion that Dr. Crew had us do in class and on two assignments, looking for the message being sent by the picture and also what was not being said. This was a really interesting museum.

After that we walked back to the hostel and I have had to change my evening plans. I was supposed to meet a former classmate who happens to also be visiting Berlin for dinner, but things just didn’t work out for tonight. We rescheduled for tomorrow and I’m going to try to find a local theater so I can watch either Ironman 3 or Star Trek: Into Darkness, neither of which I’ve seen. I’m also going to walk to the local Kebab stand and have doner kebab for dinner.

Leave a Response »

 

On the road Saturday, May 25 2013

6PM, Paris, Charles De Gaulle Airport

We’re about to embark on our flight to Berlin, after having spent these last four days in Paris. I have mixed feelings about this city, but more on that in a little while. Today has been a pretty good day, certainly better than yesterday was, though it didn’t take much to beat yesterday.

We met this morning in front of our hostel at 10:15, after having checked out and stored our luggage in the storage room the hostel provided. A group of seven or eight of us set off with Judy, Dr. Coffin, to walk around in a couple of open air markets. The markets were fantastic, full of sound, and smell, and wonderful items of both food and gift. I bought a couple of small trinkets for my nieces, someone really needs to stop me, I have a problem. How am I supposed to say no to something pretty for my adorable nieces, tell me, HOW? In one of the markets I was accosted by a man who wanted me to take his paper that dealt with some political issue or other, I had to forcefully tell him “Non, monsieur!” several times before he finally gave up, though he then asked me for two euro for a sandwich, which received another “Non, monsieur!” The walk through the markets and the city towards the metro station was lovely, I have discovered that I enjoy Paris most when I am with someone like Judy, who knows and loves the city very, very much.

After our walk around some of the city, we took the metro to the Eiffel Tower, for a second graduation ceremony. There are three of us who graduated, Jenny I, Brittney, and me. Jenny brought a mortarboard and tassel for each of the three of us, mine white for the College of Liberal Arts. This was a really nice ceremony, Judy called out each of our names, we then walked to Dr. Wynn who shook our hand, and then hugged Francoise. We took a number of photos with the tower in the background, both of just the three graduates and of the group as a whole. It really meant a lot to me that the professors took the time to put this together.

The rest of my afternoon was spent running about with Teddy. At one point we walked into a clothing store and I bought a new dress shirt for ten euro, clearly all the female company has ruined me! We then took a shuttle to the airport, where I am currently writing. I did get searched at security, but it was no more than a pat down so it wasn’t really so bad.

As I said, my feelings on Paris are mixed. I have enjoyed the sights and the museums, but the city is huge, dirty, and full of tourists. I think it was worth a visit, but I don’t know that I will come back any time soon. I don’t dislike Paris, in fact I’m pretty sure I like it, but it has been my least favorite stop on this trip so far.

Leave a Response »

 

Bad day Friday, May 24 2013

Today has been the worst of my trip so far, even though I have seen some interesting things.

The morning started alright, I had an espresso in the local cafe and an apricot tart from the bakery, then we took the bus to Invalides to visit the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte. The tomb was as grand and overdone as you would imagine from a man like Napoleon, one doesn;t have to think too hard to imagine why there is a psychological complex named after him.

After leaving I walked to the Orangerie, but unfortunately they would not allow photos of Monet’s Water Lilies, sorry mom. I did get some nice shots of their other Impressionists, including Cezzane and Renoir. I enjoyed then museum, but all day I have been in a bad mood. Eeven my wonderful lunch of steak in the best pepper gravy ever made could not lift my spirits completely. I think part of it is the weather, it rained most of the day and was freezing cold, I’ve never been one to abide bad weather in good spirits. I’m also feeling done with Paris, I’ve seen what I want, the weather is poor, and the people mostly unfriendly. I’m ready for a new adventure and a new city; Paris has been my least favorite stop of this trip. Also, today was the first time I’ve really been homesick at all in the last 18 days, I found myself missing my home, my friends, my family, and, strangely enough, my dogs. All I want right now is to crawl into my bed and cuddle with my sweet Rosie, even though she would grumble the entire time I was hugging her. I’m going to keep this post short, the only thing I’ve left out so far is a visit to the Shoah Memorial and a few hours lying in bed hating myself and the whole world, along with some reading. I’m starting to feel better, but I’m sorry for the brief, poor, sad post; it’s really all I can muster today.

Leave a Response »