And Outside The Rain Fell...

27.10
The Fourth Incarnation. The Third Reich. SS. Bundelstag. Stasi. GDR. Checkpoint Charlie. The Wall.

Berlin again. Berlin finally. Having been in and out of Berlin twice without having seen the city, this time we were finally here. Berlin. A sea of new. Trying to forget its horrific past. And yet keep it preserved for the future. Berlin was amazing.

At the city only at 12.30, we headed straight for our walking tour. Jack. Irish. In Berlin for 8 years. Our tour guide for today. Walking down Berlin, listening to almost 800 years of enigmatic history. The little quirks in East Berlin that remained. Including the signal lights. Ampelmann.

The Bradenburger Tor, once the symbol separating East and West Germany, continued to stand imposing, with its top surmounted with a four-horse driven chariot with Victoria (the winged goddess of victory) . The gate Overlooked many embassies, including my personal favourite, the Indian. Imagine a long road, flanked with the embassies of the best of the World, the most prestigious hotels and the most revered brands along it. This majestically ended in the Bradenburger Tor. A tour kick started off from there.

We moved on to The Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe was a set of 2711 concrete slabs. Symbolising everything. Yet nothing at all. It could be anything I wanted it to be. Beautiful and stark, I could see a hoard of graves for varying sizes, steps representing the increasing magnitude of torture inflicted upon them, a vastness that told many stories. Walking between these imposing blocks of concrete was cold and eerie at the same time, yet deep in the kind of emotions it brought about.

It would be impossible to write everything about the city the way I heard it. From one of only surviving Nazi building that was massive, called the Ministry of Ministries under the Soviets to the (or in)significance of Charlie's Point, the wealth of information we learnt about the city was immense, and inexplicable.

I particularly loved the Gendarmenmarkt, with the church built by French immigrants almost standing neck in neck to the Deutsche Dom. Identical yet different, these structures flanked an almost Greek neo-classic Concert Hall. It was easy to feel insignificant in the enormity of the square.

The tour went through the city, to Babel Square where the Nazi book burning once happened. It's a different experience, to walk through a city and listen to its history at the same time, it gives you a feeling that you are travelling through time.

The tour soon done, Berlin Hauptbaunoff beckoned, and we travelled to Leipzig for the night. And that's when we had amongst the most sumptuous meal of our European tour, comparable, probably to only the one at Prague. Amazing Naans, an assortment of sabzis cooked in real Punjabi style, it just made so content, so happy. And at "isspecial" student price for students from "apna desh". We couldn't ask for more.

Trip planning, a long message conversation, and hot coffee, I couldn't have asked for a better day.