EUROPE PART III: BERLIN





this was my first trip to berlin. i came to visit my friends regina and kai. regina is/was a pen friend of mine. before i left the states for taiwan she and kai had come to visit me in seattle. we all had a great time and now it was my turn to visit.

regina kai and i all share a love of certain pop culture icons. the simpsons, south park, hk movies, that sort of thing. so one of the first things we did was watch a good amount of south park episodes.things like south park were things i had missed being in taiwan as our cable company didn't offer the channel that showed lots of english programming in english. i don't even think south park was shown at all though the merchandise was gaining in popularity before i left.

regina and i both love to cd shop. so the first day or so she took me to lots of cd shops. the prices were good so we both ended up blowing a bundle on cds. i think i may of bought nearly if not more cds in berlin than i did in tokyo but at a much better price. i picked up a lot of old favourites: soft cell, nurse with wound, men without hats, russ myer soundtracks,...i even managed to find the english version of p-5's "mon amour tokyo" though to be honest i prefer the japanese version. one of the better shops we went to was called nevergreen in east berlin. we went there near the end of my trip so i had already done considerable damage so i had to control that urge to splurge. and i did...sorta.


after shopping like the fiends we are we decided we should take in some of the more touristy and cultural aspects of berlin. one of the first things that struck me about berlin was how wide and open the city was. lots of wide open streets, and nice squares for people to hang out in.

one of the first places we went to was the victory column (siegessaule). this was featured in the wim wender's film "wings of desire". you can climb up to just below the gold statue that tops the column. it was a windy day the day we were up so it made me a little nervous as heights tend to make me nervous.but from the top you get a nice view of the tiergarten and the rest of the city in the distance.

regina took me to potsdamer platz. another place that is famous becasue it used to be the no man's land between east and west berlin. but now it is full of cranes building new buildings and a shopping mall. berlin is crawling with cranes. construction everywhere. it reminded me of china in that respect.

one day we took the train out of the city into what used to be east germany. we went to oranienburg to sachsenhausen. this is one of the concentration camps left over from WWII. its been turned into a museum of sorts. the day we went there it was a bit overcast and there were very few people there. since it was monday all you could do was walk around. the buildings weren't open and so we could only look in the windows. normally you can go inside and they will show you documentaries about the attrocities committed. in a way maybe it was better they were closed as the camp itself can be disturbing enough as it is. for some reason i expected the camp to be smaller than it is. walking around i could only imagine what it must of been like to live there and i could almost see ghosts of the past still living there.

on a cheerier note one day we went ot visit regina's friend andre. andre and his boyfriend kurt live in the same building as regina's mother. andre is an artist and i had seen some of his paintings on silk at regina's mother's house. so regina suggested we go visit him. their apartment was quite large and andre was really interesting. andre is chinese-indonesian-canadian but he has lived in germany for the last 20 years. we talked about old 60s music and television stars. sandra dee, annette funicello, that sort of thing. we also talked about how it is to be a foreigner living in another country and how in germany no matter how long you live there you will never really be german to some people. in some cases even if you are born there. a problem in no way confined to germany. andre also contrasted people's attitudes in north america with those of germany. and how germany(or at least berlin) isn't all p.c. paranoid so you can discuss certain things without people totally freaking out on you. andre told regina she should take me to have "typical" german food...horsemeat! but we never did it.























one morning we took a train out to sanssouci in potsdam. this is southwest of berlin in what used to be east germany. sanssouci is this wacky castle. i don't know the history of it. but the grounds are huge with different castles or buildings, an old church, even a windmill! not to mention gardens and a mausoleum to someone but i never did figure out who. tons and tons of statues. i took a lot of pictures. we didn't go inside any of the castles though. it cost extra and there were scads of tourists doing that so we were not so inclined to do so. but still it was great to walk around and just admire all the architecture.regina had never been to this castle before and really loved it. when i showed my friend cat the pictures(she had visited berlin years ago) she wished she had gone back then. but of course you cannot do everything. it was nice break from the city to be out in green fields and just relax.



























for some reason the british band depeche mode are huge in germany. every weekend a different club in berlin has a depeche mode party. they are guaranteed a full club if they advertise a depeche mode party. so one night we went to one. this was at some club in east berlin. the club was called kesselhaus. it was basically a warehouse but fun anyways. i got to meet some of regina's friends and see what this club was like. but whenever i go to clubs which is not all that often i always wish they would play better music. though it was a surprise to hear on of my old 80s favourites - anne clark in a club.

on another night we went to see what used to be one of my favourite bands. stereolab. they played at a club called columbia fritz. the club had some sound problems so it didn't make for the best experience. regina had never heard stereolab before but went more because i wanted to. the opening band was some terrible welsh band. in the middle of their set regina turns to me and asks "do they sound anything like stereolab?" and she was relieved to hear me answer "no". stereolab were good but i have seen them 4 or5 times now and i think i prefer their earlier shows. though the final song of the evening made the show for me. really long and noisy. and regina liked it eventhough it isn't the sort of music she normally listens to. :)

one day we hit a bunch of museums. we went to this science museum which is part of the humboldt university. they had on display deformed foetus' as well as intestines and antique medical instruments. all the explanations were in german but regina was kind enough to translate anything i was curious about. a bit disturbing but fascinating at the same time. on the way to the subway station from this museum we passed an art museum so we went in. they were having a show on 20th century art. they had a lot of work by some of my favourite artists as well as artists i had only read about. joseph beuys, anselm kiefer, hans haacke, kurt schwitters, fluxus artists,...that sort of thing. i was very happy to take it in. :)













one of the most moving things i saw in berlin was the checkpoint charlie museum.a museum devoted to the stories of what people did to escape from east to west berlin.and the various protests lodged by various people against the wall over the years until it finally came down. regina said she would take me to see the museum but didn't want to go in as she had seen it too many times already. i didn't really know what she meant until i saw it. its one thing to read stories in the newspapers about what had happened but to see the pictures and to read it here made it much more real and emotionally draining as well. but in a good way. the whole museum is devoted to freedom and has related stories of people fighting for their freedom in other countries as well. but mainly it was about the wall. if you were to do only one thing in berlin i think this would top my list. truly history come to life.



on one of my last days in berlin we went to the reichstag. this is the new head of government in germany.on top of the building is this architectural marvel. i really don't know what to call it. art? tourist attraction? whatever it is called it is really cool. it is a dome on top of the reichstag. inside the dome is a column of mirrors rising to the ceiling. there are ramps that slowly ascend the dome along the walls. and from the top you can look out on the city. at the base of the column of mirrors are windows that look down into the building where you can see politicians at work. my poor description doesn't do it justice. so just look at the pictures to get a better idea.

on one of the last nights before i left berlin for the states we(regina, kai and i) went to kai's office to watch a movie. kai runs an import business. his office is great. lots of space with a ton of fun stuff to look at. when you enter the office a life size cutout of austin powers is there to meet you. in the bathroom are the unfinished beginnings of a tiki/lounge theme. scattered around the office are various lds, dvds, video tapes records and the such. horror movies, hk action movies, old sci-fi movies, monster movies...the list goes on and on...so much to look at. but this is all beside the point. kai has a video projector so we decided to watch the first austin powers movie since i hadn't seen it. so we all found an appropriate chair and took in austin in all his cheesy glory on kai's office wall. a nice ending to my trip and then a few days later i was on a plane to boston...


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europe part one

europe part two