Highlights of the Last Full Week

Sorry about the lack of post this week, but our apartment has had wifi problems and I was only able to get on briefly to check email. Here are some of the things I've done this past week though.

The Unite de Habitation by Le Corbusier, was a housing project and living community project that including housing, common spaces, a grocery, and a park area around it. Instead of floors, each level is called a strasse (street). We got a tour from a guy that lived there and who owned a few apartments and rented some out and they are cool, and you get a great view from pretty much any of them, because they are lifted off the ground.

We did have a special tour of the Reichstag by Norman Foster. My favorite part about that was that he didn't try to hide the old building, he just added on. When the Soviets took over the building the wrote all over the walls talking about various things relating to the war, and you can still see everything that was written, except two comments were removed due to what they said. (Even though I highly doubt many people can even read them).

The Dutch Embassy by Rem Koolhaas was my favorite embassy that we visited. I loved the glass floors, and the fact that you can see into another space from every room. Also from the outside of the building you can look straight through and see the tv tower, and the actually own the 'air' rights so no one can build anything to block the view.

Treptower Park is where the giant Soviet War Memorial is.

I just came across this picture and thought it was funny. Me trying to dry my clothes after washing them at Sarah and Rebecca's apartment, since we don't have a washing machine. Then it rained and my windows were open and the got wet again, such an ordeal.

Checkpoint Charlie was interesting to say the least. I enjoyed the museum there, that had all the different ways people tried to escape from inside the wall. Some people had special parts in there car that others squeezed into for hours sometimes, until they made it out safe. One little boy was stuffed into a shopping bag, and his mom walked across. In another case, two families built a hot air balloon to fly to safety. There was just so many interesting little things that you never heard of, or that you didn't think about, that the museum explained. It was also cool to see the guards still standing at the post, although I'm not sure they were real guards.

Berlin Wall Memorial and Documentation Center was pretty much just as it sounds. It was a memorial to the wall and things pertaining to the wall. You could also see the escape tunnels that were near the wall marked on the ground which was cool. They weren't very long, but the fact that people actually took the time to make secret tunnels and they worked, was pretty cool. When they worked and people found out, they had about a day to get as many people as they could out, because in some cases the police found out, and shot them in the tunnels. They also had a preserved stretch of 'No Man's Land' which was a lot bigger gap than I had thought, and I couldn't imagine trying to cross that without being spotted and shot at.