My last meal in Berlin was as fitting as my first. Our entire group ventured out to a Bier Garten on the water for traditional German food and, of course, drink. I got a Radler, a concoction that’s part beer and part lemonade. To me it tasted like a very smooth wheat beer with a clean, lemon-y finish. Definitely my beer of choice while in Berlin. 

Light play in Berlin. 

I couldn’t come to Germany without visiting a concentration camp and, with some free time at my disposal, I did just that on my last day in the city- the coldest and most overcast one since my arrival. Sachsenhausen was a considerable train ride outside Berlin’s center, but what struck me was how ordinary and unsuspecting the surrounding town was. There were homes that practically backed up to the walls of the camp, a living situation that, to me, is unthinkable. Inside Sachsenhausen, the walls and floors have been scrubbed and everything original removed to make way for walkways and museum information inside what remains of its original structures. But the experience was nonetheless impacting- terror and restlessness still permeates the buildings and I felt especially nauseous and unsettled every time I entered an area used to house corpses or perform “autopsies.” Scanning through the log of the officially recorded deaths from Sachsenhausen, many last names were the same as my own and, though it is a common Jewish name, I couldn’t help but reflect on my own family history and the importance of maintaining spaces like these as historical and emotional records. 

Taking note of details around the city. 

Graffiti in Berlin, Part 6. 

Berlin’s TV Tower, by day and by night. 

Tonight we dined in the revolving restaurant within the top of the iconic Berlin TV tower, built by the former German Democratic Republic administration as a symbol of the success of socialism (never mind that they actually had to recruit Swedish architects to finish the thing). The tower remains an impressive landmark in Berlin today and its swanky restaurant eventually gives patrons a 360 degree view of the city. Not a bad way to watch the sun go down. 

Repeated patterns in Berlin, Part 3: Window into the City Edition