Berlin

So so angry

We’ve unpacked.  We’ve fired up the eco wood pellet oven in our rented digs.  We’ve politely moved aside our landlady’s dresser drawers full of wristwatches and silk swatches from Korea and piled in our socks and underwear.  We’ve explored the neighborhood and located the closest grocery stores and laundromat with named washers and dryers (names as in Fritz the washer and Hanna the dryer).   We’ve found the best falafel shop in the neighborhood.  We’ve sampled the ANGRY CHICKEN. (so so angry) . We’ve located someone’s unlocked internet connection.  We’re good. It’s a bit of a shock after 47 Park in London ( complete luxury) and Paris but we’re adjusting.

Furious Chicken!

We’re in the Kreuzberg section of Berlin.  It’s kind of like the east village in NYC.  With a lot more graffiti.  And t-shirt shops.   It’s funky.  And relatively cheap.  We had a full meal for the 4 of us that was 12.50 Euros. 

Yesterday we took a long walk around the neighborhood with our friend Veronika.  She’s the one responsible for Blake’s directing gig at The English Theatre of Berlin.  She’s got quite a life story.  Actress, director, film instructor, she escaped East Berlin in the trunk of a car.  And that was after she had been caught once before and was imprisoned.  Not something she shares off the bat but it shows the scope of her life.  She led us across a canal and showed us the East Side Gallery.  This is a long stretch of the wall that has been left standing w/ the ubiquitous graffiti and murals on one side.  It was a great afternoon.

Veronika

Dec in front of the wall

Today we had a bit of school and then we took a subway ride to the Potsdamer Platz and the Brandenburg Gate.  On the way we followed the footprint of the wall and encountered the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.  A controversial project, this is an entire city block filled with grey concrete slabs that are various heights and placed at different angles.  The path though them is uneven as well, and we found it quite moving.  Cal and Dec could experience it from a purely emotional level as a monument and a testament to the past. I’m sure we will encounter more as we move through the city.