Berlin: Juxtapositions

Hello from Berlin, Germany,

It's going to be a long summer as far as Internet access goes. I've just found an Internet Café about 15 minutes from home which does not allow smoking and damn right I'm pleased. Too bad I'm leaving Berlin in a couple of weeks...

So, what can I say about this vast metropolis. Well, I was prepared long ago through the words of Henry Rollins, who visited the Berlin Wall many years ago and was staggered at the sight of it. Solid stone walls adorned with barbed wired and armed guards everywhere on patrol with orders to shoot to kill anyone who entered the zone between an inner and outer wall. Inside the zone, with no predators to worry about, were bunnies. Oppression and bunny rabbits. The wall is essentially gone, but the juxtapositions still exist.

Before class today, I went on a tour with my schoolmates at the Goethe Institut of a number of sites along the wall, with our final destination being a checkpoint at the northwest corner of Berlin, the Bornhomer Brücke (Bridge). A remaining section of wall still stands at the right of the photo; the site where I took this picture was where visitors from West Berlin had to pass through East German customs.

Back to juxtapositions... the Soviets built the TV tower at the Alexanderplatz to be the second tallest building in Europe behind only the TV tower in Moscow (how appropriate!), which of course makes for this wonderful shot I took:

In the foreground is the Berlin Marienkirche, which features a monument to Martin Luther, and behind it extending into the sky is the symbol of Communist supremacy, the Berlin TV tower. Unfortunately, the sun wasn't shining on this day, so we can't see what is known as "The Pope's Revenge."

An even better juxtaposition found on this day was the European School of Management and Technology, supported by multinational corporations with courses conducted completely in English. Not that unusual, save for the fact that inside the building is this stained glass display:


Yes, the ESMT is located in the former East German"Staatsrat" (National Council), and the stained glass mural depicts communistic ideals. Parked out front on the Straße den 17. Juni are luxury cars and Trabant Safari taxis.

That's all for now...