To continue our travel phase of the trip, we took a day trip from
Köln to Bonn. The first thing we did was visit the House of History of
Germany. I had taken a field trip to the same museum with my German
History class a couple years ago. It is one of the best museums I have
ever been to. Sadly, the museum is currently under renovation and we
were unable to see the main exhibit.Instead, they had a temporary exhibit on cars. After visiting the museum, we took a walking tour of Bonn and then split up for our free time. The highlights included the Bonn Cathedral, Beethoven’s House and the University. I also had to make a stop at the Haribo store, and stock up on some sweets.
Saturday, we spent the day at a wine tasting in the Ahr Valley. The Ahr valley is one that I didn’t get to explore my last time in Germany. The area is known as a hiking and (red) wine “paradise”, being a popular holiday destination. We went to the Mayschoss Winery, which is a cooperative of wine growers in the region. It claims to be the oldest wine coop in the world, with 149 years of operations.
On Sunday, we made the trip from Köln to Berlin. It took 7 hours by train and was exhausting. I’m not sure how traveling is so tiring when it involves mostly sitting, but I think it might be the lack of fresh air and movement that is draining.
In the evening, we went to the Bundestages and the Brandenburger Tor. The last time I was at the Brandenburger Tor was right after the Paris attacks. At the time, there was a massive memorial on the square and heightened security. The people in the square were mourning and there was an intense atmosphere throughout. Seeing it for a second time, the Tor was vastly different. There was no memorial and the square had a jovial atmosphere with people sitting out on the plazas, biking around and generally enjoying a nice summer evening.
Monday morning, for many of us on the trip, was a time of reflection. As a class, we visited the Topography of Terror museum, which is located where the HQ for the SS, the Secret State Police and the Reich Security were under Hitler. The museum goes into detail about the methods used by the state to intimidate and to eliminate people.
It was very sobering and overwhelming- although I took a German Holocaust class, and have been exposed to it countless times through different classes and books, I can never get past the shock of confronting the atrocities that were committed. It’s even worse knowing that many of the same groups who were marginalized under Hitler continue to face persecution today. But to move onto lighter topics….
We
ate lunch at Lindenbräu am Potsdamer Platz. I have to admit that I went
a bit crazy. After having a massive meal, I decided to try to eat
dessert, too. (It may have been emotional eating, who knows?) I ended up
sharing with another student, but it is some of the best black forest
cake I have ever tasted. Reminded me of the black chocolate cherry cake
that I used to make with one of my uncle’s around the Fourth of July.
After lunch, we went on a boat ride on the Spree, which in German is
“Spreefahrt” (so we had lots of jokes about farting on the Spree)….
continued on the next post… woops.--
Follow Claire on her travels to Germany at https://nutzedentagdot.wordpress.com
Read more about studying German with the University of Arkansas
