HISTORY DAY TO OLAY OLAY!

A little history lesson is how we kicked the day off.  I learned that because of how big of a lost WWII was for Germany that it would have costed millions of dollars for meat and thousands for bread because of how bad the exchange rate became.  Also learned that where our apartments are is the location of Hitler's bunker.

The first visit of our day was to the Topographie Des Terrors which was a memorial where the head quarters of the Gestapo was.  The building on this site was on the line of being material modern and modern.  The landscape was a harsh one but I found it to be quite effective.  All the land was covered in large, sharp rocks which almost made it hard to enjoy, but that was the point.  This memorial was a very personal one.  Specific deals about different families and different ethnic groups were given telling how they were treated and publicly humiliated during Hitler's ruling.  The atmosphere was tense as people walked around and read about the history and the landscape added to it.  This was not a place that you really wanted to enjoy.

Our next site was to the Jewish Museum by the almighty Daniel Libeskind.  I have been looking forward to seeing this building since we were still in school only dreaming about the trip.  The building was originally meant to be the German History Museum and the Jewish history would only be about 20% of the museum but eventually it was changed to being completely about Jewish history.  The plan of the building looks like a lightening bolt with a straight line of voids that cut through it.  The voids stand for the Holocaust and everything that was lost during that time frame.  The museum collection was a little disappointing to me because I feel that a lot of it was geared toward children.  I did love the exterior and the courtyard though!

Later that night we got the opportunity to go to the top of the dome of the Richstag.  Norman Foster did the dome addition.  It was beautiful!!  The building, the city and the sky.  We got there right at nine in the evening which is right before the sun begins to set so when we got to the top the sun was burning up the sky!

Immediately after the visit to the dome we head toward Brandenburg Gate for the second public viewing of Deutschland's  futball game.  There we celebrated their win and sang down the streets with the rest of the German fans.