Normandy Adventures: Berlin Day 3: LSE Northumberland Reunion

Norman:

Today was special in that we did not have any pressure to plan out our day. Rather, we were planning to meet up with some of my friends from my LSE residence. In the morning, we met up with Antonia at a nearby cafe. She took the time from work to come and meet us and it was good to catch up with her. My other friend Christoph was also supposed to meet us around 11:30 AM, but in typical Christoph nature, he arrived super late and we didn't meet him until 12:30 PM. He flew in from London in the morning and was tired, so I guess I will forgive him this time!

Hello Antonia!!

We headed to Chen Che, a nearby Vietnamese restaurant. I had a rice dish, Mandy had a chicken pho and Christoph had a sesame ball. It was good to catch up with Christoph and he acted as our guide for the rest of the day. It is always good to have a local show us around!

Hello Christoph! Food was also not bad

We then went to Hackesche Höfe, which is a outside market that is made of 8 or so different courtyards. The stores there were independent and quaint, and it was cool to see some of the stuff there. One store that I remember clearly is the Ampelmann Store, which is a store dedicated towards the cute traffic light man that signals that pedestrians can cross. Christoph also pointed out the tripping stones, which is purposely there to "trip" pedestrians and when they look down on what they tripped upon, there lies etched a message of previous Jewish people that died during World War II.

One of the courtyards of the Hackesche Hoff Market

Tripping stones detailing lives that were lost in Auschwitz

From then, we started walking towards nearby landmarks, including the unsightly TV tower and the World Clock which is a clock that shows all the time in cities across the world. We also saw the first stop light ever made in Berlin, which also looks very inconspicuous. From then, we started heading back towards the Brandenburg Tor area to see the Holocaust Memorial, which is right beside the US Embassy. When the Holocaust Memorial was first made, there were fears that it could potentially be defaced by anti-Semitic messages, so the stones that make the Memorial are specially designed so that paint and graffiti can be washed off with simply water. It was also cool to see the stones start from such a low level and rise up above as stones get higher and the ground slopes downwards. Interestingly, the Holocaust Memorial was built over Hitler's World War II bunker.

Juxtaposition of the ugly new TV Tower and cool looking church

World Clock

First street light ever made in Berlin

Not as easy to get atop of that stone as it appears to be

Next stop on Christoph's guided tour was Checkpoint Charlie, a part of the war in history where there was a standoff between Russian and US tanks. On the walk there, we saw several pieces of Berlin's street art and enjoyed cool graffiti that adorned Berlin walls. We ended off the journey by going to the new Topography of Terror, which covered the Secret Service Police of the Nazis. It was quite a thorough museum and we learnt much about the Gestapo, the SS, and the injustices that they committed during the war. Though a lot of them ended up being sentenced in international court, it is a shame that too many of them managed to go underground and assume a new alias and did not face justice.

Cool Berlin Art 1

Cool Berlin Art 2

Some graffiti on painted on a piece of the Berlin Wall

Checkpoint Charlie, see if you can read the sign on the left

Berlin wall beside the topography of terror

We ended off the day by going to District Mot, which is the most popular Vietnamese restaurant in Berlin and sister restaurant to the place we went for lunch. The meal was quite delicious. Mandy decided to retire for the evening, but Christoph and I continued to the bar to catch up and reminisce about the good times in London. He has also promised that his next visit will be Canada!