So your thinking "Christmas markets you say?" What in the world are those, we don't have those in California. Christmas markets are located all throughout Europe but differ depending on where you go. The ones in Berlin consisted of little cottages decorated with Christmas lights all connected together surrounded by Christmas trees and Christmas decorations. In the cottages there are bratwurst, caramelised hazelnuts, chocolate, gingerbread, warm wine, Christmas ornaments, and any other decoration relating to Christmas you could think of. I'll give you my first hand experience with these magnificent little markets:
As I walked into the first Christmas market, I encountered what you might call a sensory overload. First, the smell of fresh pine and peppermint filled my nostrils as I slowly drifted towards a cottage filled with an assortment of candy. Thousands of packages covered the stand filled with different flavored candies ranging from peppermint, caramel, apple, watermelon to black licorice. I continued to walk observing Christmas trees glittering with red and gold decorations lining one side of a wall with a cottage serving warm wine on the other. Continuing through the market a scent caught my nose, then I saw exactly what I had been searching for: the bratwurst. Yes, one of my goals I established upon arriving in Berlin was to try a bratwurst. It was placed in a freshly baked bread roll sticking out about 5 inches on either side. It was positively delicious!
After my bratwurst fiasco my friends and I saw a sign for a ballet so we decided to talk to the woman working at the ticket booth. She informed us that there was a German ballet that night, and if we went to the opera house half an hour early we might be able to get what are called "resting seats" for a very cheap price because we are students. So we did as we were told and made our way to the opera house that night. Luck was on our side that night and we were given 70 euro tickets for 13 euro because we were students! The ballet was called Peer Gynt and was absolutely breathtaking. The dancers floated gracefully across the floor, the extensions of the main ballerina were miraculous. She leaped into the air with full trust that her partner would catch her, without any hesitation in her body language. Grace ran from her toes to the ends of her fingertips. Every dancer in the ballet was extraordinary, we were extremely lucky that we were able to attend the ballet for such a great price.
The following day we roamed Berlin and came across the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This monument was unlike anything I have seen in Europe, especially compared to Rome. It will be easier to see in the pictures, but the monument consists of 19,000 square metres 2,711 concrete slabs arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field. The slabs are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason. As we were wandering around the massive monument, we overheard a tour guide. The tour guide was very charismatic and knowledgable so we decided to ask him if we could join. Next thing we knew we were being informed of the exact place where Hitler committed suicide.
This interested me probably the most out of everything I saw in Berlin. The place he committed suicide was nothing more than a car parking lot. At first I was shocked. Why would a place so historical be hidden with nothing more than a small plaque informing the public about the site. But as the tour guide continued to talk, it became clear. The city of Berlin dynamited the bunker Hitler committed suicide in for the sake of the city and its people. Berlin did not want to commemorate anything that had to do with Hitler, much less establish a place for his followers to remember him. His body was cremated and his ashes were released into a river in order to avoid making a monument for Hitler or give him recognition. In a way, this reminded me of ancient Roman civilization.
Damnatio memoriae is the Latin phrase that literally means "condemnation of memory" in the sense of a judgment that a person must not be remembered. It was a form of dishonor that could be passed by the Roman Senate upon traitors or others who brought discredit to the Roman State. The result is to erase someone from history. In a way, this effort by the city of Berlin to erase Hitler from history related back to this ancient punishment.
Overall, Berlin was an amazing city to visit. I loved the food, Christmas markets, ballet and most importantly the history. Its funny how visiting just one city can make you sit down and think for a little about the past and what other people have gone through. It can definitely put things in perspective and make you appreciate your own day to day life.
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