Disoriented New Year's & Hamburg Juxtapostion

Well, it’s our last evening in Berlin, and of course we’re spending it on our computers with some warm gluhwein one last time before we leave.  Now, I need to recall the third leg of our trip after returning from Prague.  We’ve gotten to do so much. Thus are rather tired at the end of this trip, but in the best way possible.

When we arrived back in Berlin, it was slightly strange returning from a vacation within a vacation. But I was really grateful to even have a little more time with my family.  On December 30th, I had a great morning just lounging and chatting with the fam while Jake slept in.  Once we finally got out of the house we went to scope out some well-known shopping spots and passed by the New Jewish Synagogue.  Then we wandered over to Nikolaiviertel (Nicholas’ Quarter) to see Nikolaikirche (Nicholas’ Church).  

We arrived back home just in time to meet guests of the Antals, who had been invited over for the afternoon.  These are friends they met through Ian’s Berlin musicals as a kid, and they’ve stayed in touch since.  Mark is a composer, particularly of musicals, and his wife is an actress.  Jake and Mark were sat next to each other so they could chat about composing, and of course I couldn’t help myself but to listen in and contribute to their conversation.  Jake and I have several times since found ourselves coming back to that conversation and reflecting on some things Mark said.  He was very knowledgeable and it was very interesting to hear a little of his experience in and passion for the world of musical composition.  Hopefully we’ll be able to meet him again someday.  This was also a nice time for Sarah and I to get to know each other a little more since we were sitting next to each other.  She is super sweet and easy to talk to.  I look forward to more time with her in the future as well.

Later, after the guests left, we sat down for one more family meal before the Antals left for Lisbon in the morning.  Ariane made a delicious turkey pie with the leftover fixin’s from Christmas and thankfully, there was plenty left over for Jake and I to enjoy later!!  

The next morning everyone was up bright and early to leave for the airport.  Jake and I got up to see everybody off and catch any last instructions necessary for our stay (alone!) in the house.  After they left, I was kind of melancholy already missing the family I don’t get to see too often.  I made Jake sit through about an hour’s worth of memories recalling all the instances my Berlin family came to the states and my love for them regardless of the miles!  I also couldn’t help but reflect how much David, more than ever before, reminded me of my grandpa.  So Jake had to hear another hour’s worth of me retelling stories of my grandpa.  I shared my stories through tears of sweet memories, while my kind husband just looked me in the eyes, patiently listening with sincerity. I apologize for talking so much, and he responds by telling me how much he enjoys it. :) What a winner I have!

Considering this was our 3 year anniversary, we took the liberty to be rather lazy.  After my 2 hours of talking at my husband about family and memories, we went downstairs to make some lunch.  Somehow we sat there and talked for another 3 hours. I love these moments. And fyi... this time I didn't talk the entire time. :)  When we came back upstairs to get ready for the day, Jake encouraged us to write down our individual goals for 2014 while our recent conversation was still fresh.  

We finally got out of the house to do something for New Year’s Eve. (We figured our anniversary celebration was pretty much taken care of in Prague.)  We had read that the Brandenburg Gate held a huge New Year’s Eve party with thousands of people.  So we were intrigued enough to try to check it out, at least for a short while, though we had already made plans to go to Anita’s New Year’s Eve party, which seemed much quainter and preferable. So 30 minutes or so at the Brandenburg Gate to say we were there, and then off to Anita’s party.  Unfortunately, when we got to the Brandenburg area,we saw people getting their bags checked as they tried to enter on Unter den Linden (the main street leading up to the gate).  Jake had a bottle of Gluhwein that we were bringing to the party, so we went around to another street where he dropped the bottle in a bush to be picked up later, and we moved toward another entrance.  Well, looked like we missed our chance to get in because they wouldn’t let anyone in at any other entrances. We walked all they way around the Holocaust Memorial and to Postdamer Platz trying to find an entrance, but had no luck. Apparently, there were already too many people there. So finally we decided to head out to the party.  Of course we had to go back to pick up our gluhwein in the bush.  We got to our drink just in time to snatch it right before some girl ran over to vomit right where we had our bottle stashed. It was only 9:30pm and she was already tossing her cookies.  Happy New Year!

We made it to the party, and Anita greeted us with hugs and introduced us to people.  We chatted it up with Anita and new friends.  It was as we expected, quaint and delightful.  We hadn’t intended to stay too long since we wanted to be home together for the turn of the new year and the fireworks.  However, breaking away from a nice conversation is one of the hardest things for me to do.  So we left a little later that we had anticipated.  But still with enough time to be home right around midnight.  So we thought.

Unfortunately, we got a little confused at the metro stop and ended up taking the U-bahn instead of our familiar S-bahn route.  No biggy… I thought.  This route would just take a bit longer, which unfortunately meant we'd be on the underground train instead of on the balcony at home when the clock struck 12am. Oh well.  We enjoyed the energy and excitement of people on the train, who all rushed out with fireworks in hand, when it turned midnight.  And we even caught the initial fireworks when the train went above ground for awhile.  It was actually really nice. However, when the time came for our stop, we were in for a rude awakening!!

When we came up from the metro at about 12:15am, we felt like we had entered a war zone.  There were fireworks going off in every direction and every second.  There was so much smoke in the air that we could hardly see 10 feet in front of us!  And to make matters worse… we didn’t know where we were.  Nothing looked familiar.  We apparently had gotten off at the wrong stop and we had no idea of we had gone too far or not far enough.  We had forgotten our Berlin map since we hadn’t needed thus far.  We started walking around trying to gain our bearings but no luck.  The loud booms and smoke everywhere were discombobulating enough, not to mention the fireworks be thrown near our feet and in the street and above our heads constantly.  It was quite intense for us, particularly because we weren’t expecting this ruckus of a celebration!  

Jake, in desperation, finally decided to try the GPS on his phone even though we hadn’t been able to use our phones without major roaming fees since leaving Spain.  We didn’t think the data was working here for us.  But thankfully, our location popped up on his screen and we were able to use the GPS to get us back home.  We made it home around 1am, and we had a fantastic laugh over this adventurous New Year’s Eve.  On the flip side… we certainly did not miss the fireworks!

The next day we slept in late and enjoyed being cozy at home.  We eventually got out and went to Postdamer Platz since we saw some fun stuff happening there the night before. Sadly we didn’t do the sledding or the ice skating there since we weren’t sure it was worth it at this time when our vacation funds were running slim.  But we enjoyed one last Christmas market and another side of the city we hadn’t made it to yet. We also enjoyed a little family time over skype and watching the movie Amadeus in our nice cozy bed.  We found the movie amidst David and Ariane’s DVD’s and we couldn’t help ourselves after being right in the place the movie was filmed just days before.  

On January 2nd, we had one last out-of-town excursion to embark upon, thanks to David, Ariane, and Rachelle for getting us tickets.  We headed out to Hamburg early that morning and arrived around 10:30am.  We had plotted out a walking tour for ourselves the night before.  We got there and headed out to the famous Red Light District, some nice churches, the Harbor Promenade, the Old Warehouse district, and more.  However, we kept saying, “It’s all so modern.”  We were expecting another Berlin and Dresden.  I was getting disappointed thinking I plotted out the wrong tour for us, and we were going to miss everything historical.  Finally at about 3:30pm we made it to one of our stops, the Church of St. Nikolai.  We were instantly taken by this church in ruins with nothing but it’s tall tower and a few of the sanctuary walls left.  It was bombed badly in the war, and never rebuilt.  A captivating, yet eerie place.  We saw for a few euros we could got up to the top of the tower, and also see the exhibit in the church basement.  Desperate to see things more historical on our trip, we bought the tickets.  We started with the tower, expecting to get a bird’s eye view of all the churches and historical buildings that we couldn’t see from our ground view by the port.  Yet again, I was surprised by what I didn’t see.  Most everything still seemed so modern even from this new aerial point of view.  So then we headed down to the exhibit.  The church had been described as a memorial to all the victims of war.  Of course I understood that the place had been bombed, and there were German citizens that had suffered and been displaced from the war taking place on their territory.  But I had no idea what I was about to see.

The exhibit revealed the devastating “Operation Gomorrah” carried out by the Allies.  I had no idea that nearly the entire city was destroyed by a series of air raids and a huge firestorm that burnt the city to a crisp.  I read that nearly 43,000 citizens were killed and 37,000 wounded.  We looked at before and after pictures of the city, and were stunned.  After the bombs and firestorm, the bustling city's houses, churches, factories and other buildings were completely leveled.  Literally nothing left but the foundations.  No wonder everything was so modern!!  The city had to be entirely rebuilt!!  It was such a heavy, intense, yet good exhibit.  We felt a little embarrassed for wandering the city complaining about the lack of historical structures.  But we came out with much more respect, and in a strange way grateful for these jarringly juxtaposed perspective about the city within the margin of an hour or so.  It made it even more impactful.

We wandered a little more hunting for some dinner, but couldn't find what we wanted in time and ended up grabbing a quick at the train station where there were many options!  After 8 hours of walking the train ride home was blissful.  Our day in Hamburg was intensely memorable.

The last couple days in Berlin we felt very comfortable, finally gaining some confidence in getting around.  Of course as always, just in time to depart.  On the 3rd, we went out and walked through Tiergarten and saw the Victory Tower.  We went back to the Brandenburg Gate approaching it from the west side for the first time on our trip, and again relaxed at home.  Today, we got out earlier and got a day pass to Museum Island.  We stood in line for over an hour to get into the Pergamon Museum, but it was worth the wait.  Then we went to the Neues Museum and we were practically overwhelmed by all the artifacts!  It’s rather difficult to take it all in!  Then we got a bite to eat, enjoyed a little concert by a superb street violinist.  (We sat there for 20 minutes listening… and I think we inspired others to stop and do the same.)  Then we headed out to the TV Tower and Alexanderplatz and headed home.

Our trip is sadly over.  But Jake and I are both incredibly amazed by all the things we got to do and see, not to mention all the love and family we got to soak up.  What a perfect way to send off 2013 and welcome 2014.  Tomorrow we’re headed back to Spain with mixed feelings.  Spain feels like home and it also still feels like an extended vacation.  It's strange to return from a vacation to a "longer vacation." However, it is nice that there is a part of us now in Valencia which makes it feel like home. That, we look forward to returning to as we prepare for this next semester and all the new experiences it will bring our way.

Happy New Year and new experiences to all!