Walkabout: Berlin: Last Stop and Reflections on the Journey

Home, well, not quite, but a lot like it. My teen-aged son reported that he liked Berlin, because it reminded him of our home city, San  Francisco. It does feel very similar. This being our last stop after a month on the road in Europe, this was a huge compliment. Though enjoying the adventure, he was more than ready to get home to see the friends he missed.

Berlin is a city that looks forward and backward at the same time with equal force. It's a glimpse of recent, and not so recent history that is surrounded by cranes erecting a growing skyline. This was evident when I occasionally worked in Berlin more than 10 years ago and it's even more evident now. (By the way, the picture of the "You Are Leaving the American Sector" sign is from the lobby of the building that I used to have a part-time office in Berlin years ago. See below!) Berlin is as if someone combined Old Europe with New Singapore in the same city.

On the train from Prague to Berlin, a nice couple returning home from Austria to Berlin told us that there is no city center to Berlin, there are many and you just need to chose the one that fits your mood or your needs for the particular moment. Want to see one of the most modern energy efficient buildings in the world architecture that pushes the limits? Just walk a block to the left. Want to see church that remains bombed out from WWII and serves as an example of the horrors of war? Just walk a block to the right.

Though it's beautiful to see Berlin by foot or by the S-Bahn, a boat tour of the city through its two rivers will give you even more perspective. Like two different card decks that have been shuffled together as one (yes, we played a lot of double solitaire on the train from Prague), Berlin is a mesh of new buildings built right in between the surviving old buildings.

Style and Taste

Berlin is sophisticated and stylish. The locals are easily spotted, because they are often better dressed than the tourists. The stores are primarily upscale and there's a lot more variety than you find in Southern Europe. The food scene is exciting. Sure, if you really want that sausage or pig's leg, you can find it and it's good. But, if you are open to new tastes or familiar tastes from back home, they are there as well. We enjoyed great Thai food for lunch in a restaurant filled with workers from the financial district. At another meal, we enjoyed Berlin's version of fusion, which turned out to be tuna carppacio wrapped around veal tartar followed by venison with wild mushrooms.

Layers of History

You don't have to look far to find yourself in the middle of a history lesson in Berlin. One of the most powerful monuments was a section of the Berlin Wall that either intentionally or unintentionally had been built over the foundation of the headquarters of the Gestapo, Hitler's state police that terrorized the citizens of Berlin and Germany in general prior to and during WWII. Right there, in the space of about 30 meters, you have evil layered on top of evil...the wall that oppressed Berliners under Communism built on top of the foundation of the police that tortured Berliners and hunted for Jewish people during Hitler's time. There is extensive signage that explains what happened on that plot of ground, from pictures of Hitler's police burning books to the remaining section of the wall filled with graffiti. You can't help, but feel a little sick as you view the images that all of this really happened and right where you're standing.

Just down the street is the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. Unfortunately, Checkpoint Charlie has been commercialized a lot since I saw it more than a decade ago. It now has an "American Soldier" (local guy in sort of a uniform with a flag) that is offering pictures of himself next to the guard booth for a price. We couldn't tell if this was a government employee that was part of the exhibit or just some guy who figured he could earn some Euros by dressing up. Given that there is now a McDonald's in the background, it's not a very moving or real picture.

However, just next to it is a museum that shows the history of the wall and, more inspiring, all of the different innovations East Berliners created to go over, under and through the wall. There's even a car with an engine compartment that holds a person inside and an arc welder that can hold a small family inside while still appearing to be a functional welder when the side panels are opened up by guards. In my opinion, this is one of the best museums in the world, on any topic. It really captured the imagination of our teenagers, who lingered at exhibits and then came back to get us to show us what they had found. Sure, it's hot and cramped. But, it's a must see if you are visiting Berlin.

Reflections on Our Journey

I'm back at work now and was greeted by many coworkers that wanted to know what the best part of the trip was. When I thought about it, I realized that the answer is not as simple as a location. Sure, some spots were better than others, but that's not what made the trip great. It was the conversations. I mean real conversations, not texts or emails.

At home, we are lucky to have a meal together once a day if practices, business trips and other activities don't get in the way. When we do, we talk about logistics. "Who needs to be where and when? Who is driving? Who is picking up? What supplies need to be picked up for the latest sports practice? Who is having a sleep over? Who needs a check for the field trip or camp? Are lunches made? Did the dog get fed? Where is the dog, by the way?"

During our trip, we had three meals a day as a family and rarely talked about logistics. We talked about the cool things we had seen and what the kids thought about them. We talked about how the sites we visited linked up to their studies at school. After all, if your teenager is studying the Renaissance in school, for example, then seeing the real deal in Florence turns out to be not only amazing, but has the added benefit of putting them in the expert teaching role. They were telling me things I had long forgotten from school. After a month of this sharing that ultimately led to bigger topics about friends, careers, school, art, etc., I felt lucky to get to know my family on a different level. I feel like I met my kids all over again.

Next summer will be the prelude of our next chapter with our kids. We'll be looking at universities, one of which my daughter will venture to the following summer, and both kids will have full schedules with their high school sports practices. We'll try not to drift apart, but we'll all be a lot busier than we were this summer. It's nice for me to know that we'll always be able to look back to our Summer of 2013 together. Whether it was the expression of my son when he thought his octopus dinner was bonding to his tongue in Lisbon or the sight of crossdressers singing to a sea of gay men in old town Sitges, Spain, we'll have memories that we'll all be able to look back upon and smile. Take that Clark Griswold!

Walkabout: Prague!

What do you call a place where they encourage you to mix dark beer with your regular beer to make it bigger and stronger? What do you call a place where the food is slow cooked using the cheap cuts to make stewed, tender, hearty goodness that's big on flavor? What do you call a place where violence, anger, survival and passion are acted out in much of the artwork you see? What do you call a place where most people get a five-o'clock shadow before lunch? HOME!!! I'm Home, Baby!!! These are my peeps!

Okay, seriously, my roots go back to Hungary, not the Czech Republic, but I have to say the flavors here and the people in general feel pretty familiar to me. This may not be where my family tree is located, but I can certainly see a few branches peeking over the fence from here.

Our trip to get here started yesterday at 4:55 a.m. in Salzburg, Austria. After a dunk in the sink, I was ready to join the family on a scenic, though sleepy, train ride to Munich. We hopped on a Czech Airlines plane (two propellers, two pilots, one flight attendant with a Twuruly Outwageous Accent (and I do mean that as a compliment) and we were in Prague for lunch. We all had delicious variations on goulash, except my son, who was due for a hamburger fix. (For those of you who read "Cascais, Cheeseburger in Paradise", consider today's installment "Cheeseburger in Formerly Communist Paradise.")  Our waiter introduced me to "mixed beer," which adds dark beer to regular draft beer to make it stronger and more flavorful, as if Czech beer needs either of those things to happen. Seriously, it was the right call and all of us were raving about our meals...even those of us who did not have "mixed beer" with theirs.

Was the Goose Communist?

Of course, dinner completely blew our perceptions of Czech food. Our hotel sent us off the beaten path to a place that does modern spins on dishes using local ingredients. At School (www.school.cz), we had foie gras with a red wine reduction, vacuum cooked crispy duck, veal cheeks in a reduction of pan juices and red wine...all with a Monrovian (local) Cabernet that rivaled what we get back in California. It was an impressive meal, for any location, and came in at about 25% of what we would expect to pay for such a meal back in the San Francisco area, if we could even find it. (Foie Gras is now illegal in California.)

But Seriously, Icks-nay about the Ommunist-cay!

Ask a local about life under communist rule, even a tour guide who wasn't even in elementary school when they left, and they are quick to tell you that they will talk about it, but that they'd rather not. It's still too fresh. It's kind of like the joke I was going to tell about our 777 flight back home next week being flown by guest pilots from Asiana Airlines...yup, too soon. The same is true here about Communism. It's too recent and took too much from them. One of the sculptures (see below) we saw was incredibly powerful about this topic. It showed a Czech who literally disintegrated piece by piece under Communist rule as his soul was taken away from him by the Soviets. 

Flower Power Still Rules

One of the coolest things we saw was a wall (see below). Under Soviet occupation, this wall was painted Communist Government Gray every single day. Every single night, however, the wall would be painted by locals with images and poems of hope, unity, peace, friendship and love. Over and over, the Soviets kept painting over the wall to indicate that they were in control. And, over and over, the images and texts of hope and love kept reappearing on the wall every single night. Today, portions of it are still painted over, but only to make room for more messages and paintings, which are still added daily.

The people in Prague sometimes come across as stern due to their accent, but we've found them to be welcoming and genuinely interested in sharing about a city they are rightfully proud of. Prague is real. It's not a Disney version of a European city a la Salzburg or Venice. It's the real deal full of real people and that makes it all the more enjoyable. There are a few edges here and there, but nothing that has detracted from our visit so far. Prague has emerged from communism as a gem. Whether or not it wants to talk about it, Prague is better for its past pain and that makes its present beauty all the more appealing.

 

Walkabout: Salzburg: "We are 16 Going on 50 (Everybody Sing Along!)"

You'd think the Sound of Music was released just yesterday, not in the mid 1960s. The Von Trapps are on bus stops, billboards and, of course, tours, tours, tours. Sure, that Mozart guy was born here and there's his residence and music school and all, but you don't hear a lot of tourists singing the words to his songs...am I right or what?

Salzburg is beautifil with its gardens, music and music school of Mozart and the fortress high above that's best reached by finicular. Still, at times it kind of comes across as a village that was taken over by Disney...or maybe it should be to sort the logistics out a bit. Once you escape the bus traffic and bus parking to get to the old city, what you find in July is throngs of people packed into narrow streets to see "the real Austria," which looks amazingly like "Epcot Center Austria." 

Having just come from Vienna, a large city with a wealth of history and sites to see, I was amazed to find what I thought was going to be a quaint Austrian village so packed with people. Big (Vienna) turned out to be small and relatively free of crowds. Small (Salzburg) turned out to feel big, because parts of it are just so packed with people and their modes of transportation. There are times when the log jam of European and (now that we are up north) Asian tour groups just makes you want to escape back across the river for the quieter streets that aren't of interest to tourists.

Still, there's a lot of charm to Salzburg. It's nice to eat at an outdoor eatery with tables perched on pebbles. The food wasn't as good as we encountered when we got off the beaten path in Vienna, but it was still good. Nearby Hungary has contributed goulash to most menus, so there's a little more flavor to be found if you get tired of breaded, fried meat. The beer, as we continue to move north from Europe's Beer Equator, continues to improve with some very nice Weiss Biers.  

Linguistically Speaking

Okay, we admit, we're confused. After attempting to be polite and say "Please, thank you, check please, beer please, etc." in Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, German and now Czek, we are coming across as a bumbling mass of miss-matched languages. We say "bitte" for please and then go right to the "grazie" for thank you. We are starting to get some concerned looks from the locals. Still, one must press one, however confused we appear to ourselves or to others.