This weekend I did not have big travel plans like last week in Copenhagen, but I did plan a day trip to Berlin to see some sights I missed out on last time. The general opinion seems to be that it's foolish to go to Berlin for just a day, but I made it work.
I took an early train and arrived in Berlin by 11 AM, but had to meet my travel buddy Rui, who instead took a bus, arriving at the same time but elsewhere in the city. Unlike me, she was planning to stay overnight at a friend's, so after meeting up, we found our way to her friend's flat and briefly relaxed their. For a single dormitory room, her friend's room was really large, with a lot of open floor space. This seemed unusual for a large city. Finally, we were ready to head out, and we eventually found our way to the DDR Museum. This museum of life in East Germany definitely took itself less seriously than most museums, but was still very interesting and fun. I got to sit in a Trabi, see a model East German apartment, pretend to be in an East German jail cell, and sit in a Stasi interrogation room. Here there was a desk with transducer pads, which when you placed your elbows on with your hands over your ears allowed you to hear the sound of interrogating questions (with the vibrations travelling through your arms to your ears). The museum was also filled with everyday objects. Most of it was quite normal, and just outdated, but it was still a neat exhibition of every day life in the communist East Germany. I also was able to listen to some East German music at the museum.
After the museum, we headed towards Kunsthaus Tacheles, an art center which Melissa recommended I visit while in Germany. Of course her recommendation was a good one; there was a lot of neat art here, and we got to see firsthand the after hand of an attempted eviction by the banks. A room on the top floor had been taken over and guarded by the banks between December and May, and the art in the room was completely destroyed. The room was trashed, and while the room has since been reclaimed, the condition has been preserved to show what the bank has done. The Kunsthaus was definitely an interesting cultural center, providing an outlet for an international group of artists to showcase and sell their work. Near the Kunsthaus we also got to see the "New Synagogue" (New meaning built in 1859-1866). Most of the building was destroyed by the end of WWII and had to be rebuilt, but regardless, this was definitely one of the most beautiful synagogues I've seen.
Next we hopped on a train and headed West of the city to the Olympiastadion, which was built by the Nazis for the 1936 Olympics. The 1936 Olympics are famous for the fact that Hitler tried to prove his whole "Aryans are the master race" thing, but a group of black American athletes such as Jesse Owens, and John Woodruff (an alumnus of the University of Pittsburgh), ruined that by stealing numerous gold medals from the Nazis (four in the case of Owens). Jackie Robinson's brother Mack won a silver. I'll have to look for John Woodruff's medal on display at the Hillman Library when I return to Pittsburgh in August.
Behind the stadium there was a tower which provided a great view of Berlin. We were on the far west end of the city, but we were able to see the whole city to the East from the tower, it was a great view.
After visiting the Olympic park, I had just enough time to look for Schloß Charlottenburg, the largest palace in Berlin. While it was too late to go in or even close to the palace, we were able to see it, and found that there was a Duckstein festival right by the palace. We ate some flammkuchen (like a thin pizza) and pommes (french fries), and heard some live music. I had just enough time to visit the four sights I hoped to see in my trip, before heading back to the train station. I've added pictures from Saturday to my previous Berlin album here.
After getting back late from Berlin, I slept in Sunday morning. However, after finally getting up I got a text from Billy, another American that I met in Hamburg at the 4th of July barbecue. He was coming to Lübeck with some friends of his and wanted to meet up. Akshay and I biked downtown and met up with the group. They were finishing lunch when we met them, but after that we showed them a little bit of Lübeck, (the Rathaus (city hall), St. Mary's Church, and Holstentor). After relaxing in the field by Holstentor for a while, we decided to go to the beach in Travemünde (the weather has finally started to become summery here in Lübeck, although it's still not nearly as warm as home). Conrad, an Australian working at Airbus, had a car, and we drove to Travemünde. Once we found a parking spot, we walked to the beach, only to find yet another festival going on (I swear I find at least one every single weekend here in Germany, no matter where I go). This one had something to do with sailing (racing I think). We sat on the beach for a while and enjoyed the sun. While this would have been a mediocre beach day at home (it just wasn't warm enough to be perfect), the weather was about the nicest we've had here, so it was great to be at the beach. Of course in Germany, you can enjoy a beer on the beech too (and I also bought a bratwurst from the festival). I added some more pictures from Sunday to my Lübeck/Travemünde album here.
Tonight was Akshay's last night in Lübeck, so we met up downtown with Rui and bought some falafel and döner to eat by the Holstentor. For the second day in a row, I enjoyed good weather and relaxed by the beautiful medieval Holstentor. Tomorrow morning I'll have to say goodbye to my friend Akshay; it's sad that my friends here are now starting to leave.
I have two more days of work this week (I'm finally starting to get a bit more done, I've been developing a program that simulates a BCI with prerecorded data to control the hand, and hopefully I'll eventually develop one that works while acquiring EEG data in real time), and on Thursday morning I'll head to Dresden for the RISE conference. After the conference on Saturday I'll be heading to Prague for the remainder of the weekend. It's hard to believe, but after this weekend, I'll only have two left in Germany. I haven't started planning much yet, but I think I'll do a weekend trip to Munich in two weeks, and my last weekend I will probably spend here in Lübeck (something I've never done before, I've travelled at least one day every weekend!).
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