BERLIN BLOG 2009

The Quick-View Website

2009-07-06T21:47:00.002+02:00

The Berlin 2009 Soundslides projects are posted here.

A more complete website will be up later, complete with photos of the students, written text stories and the like.

Last Blast Blog

2009-05-28T10:03:00.005+02:00

It's 10 a.m. on departure day as Jenny sits in the lobby of the Transit Loft hotel. So far it's cloudy, slightly rainy and 52 degrees. From the hotel window, I spotted a man and his guide dog walking in the driveway. Time to call a taxi and head to Tegel airport. Auf Wiedersehen, Berlin!

Hey, Girl, Hey!

2009-05-27T22:00:00.010+02:00

Apparently this title is a reference to current pop culture, but I don't recall its exact origins. However, many students "get it." Abby is relaxing here on the S-Bahn.

Most of the morning during our final full day in Berlin was spent with frantic final edits in Soundslides. Projects were due at noon, but the final piece wasn’t turned in until 3 p.m.

(Lauren, Kelly and Kevin chow down.)
After a quick stop at Fat Tire Bike Tour for T-Shirts, we headed for a lakeside restaurant in the southeast. We enjoyed authentic German food after some complications caused by the lack of an English menu and 15 hungry students. But everyone seemed to leave happy, with ice cream treats and birthday wishes for Allison.

A few of us wandered underneath a tunnel to walk around on the nearby island, where I found a large fly sitting atop a metal fence. The macro close-up function on my point-and-shoot came in handy.

On Thursday morning, almost everyone departs Berlin. A few of the students are heading on to Poland, France, and elsewhere in Germany. Once again, it's been a great group and a great trip. The projects will be posted in a few days, once I return stateside.

The End is Near

2009-05-26T23:45:00.009+02:00

The atmosphere today seemed to be that the end of our 13 days is near. The off-and-on rain did not help. Many of the projects are in the final stages of completion. I set up “office hours” in the hotel lobby to help do final edits and sound checks. Eight students organized a trip on their own to Sachenhausen, a former concentration camp.

(T.V. Tower framed through the World Clock.)

Tonight was the grand finale’ dinner (a day early) at the Telecafe’ restaurant atop the Fernsehturm, also known at the T.V. Tower. It wasn’t as special as in years past. The menu had changed and the service was mediocre. After telling my students to quit posting so many food photos on their blogs, I thought I’d include a shot of my seafood meal. Everyone was treated to a spectacular site while more than 600 feet in the air. A rainbow had formed and both legs of the arch could be seen below us from the observation level. Vince captured the entire rainbow with his ultra-wide angle lens.

Back at ground level, Jessica and Katherine displayed the effectiveness of using the “night snapshot” mode on my Canon point-and-shoot camera to catch the natural light in the background.

Visit to Dr. Pong

2009-05-25T23:59:00.003+02:00

So...I looked at the budget and discovered enough funds for another group dinner. Everyone was tired of the nearby restaurants, so we ventured to Dolores, a Tex-Mex place near the TV Tower. It was a lot like Moe's, but they didn't yell out "Welcome to Dolores!"

Afterwards, many of us took the U2 U-Bahn up to Eberwalderstrasse, where Dr. Pong is located. It's a hole-in-the-wall kind of place, with concrete floors and walls, loud music, beverages, too much smoke, and everyone becomes friends by playing a Round Robin style of Ping-Pong on the only table in the place. When you miss, you sit out until the game ends. The winner bangs on the table three times, and the cycle begins again....

Lives of Others

2009-05-24T11:45:00.004+02:00

After helping a student find her way on the S-Bahn to visit a friend of her mother's sister's cousin's boyfriend in Berlin (something like that), I stopped off in the far east where few tourists go and took in some of the old Berlin that's stayed the same. I found a rusty old houseboat and was surprised to see a man pop off of a hatch for a smoke break. Despite the general disorder, three flower boxes decorated his boat. On that same section of the Spree river, near Treptower Park, a couple was enjoying a kayak in front of newly constructed apartments. For a few moments, their lives were intertwined with the old man along the river.

60th Celebration

2009-05-23T23:55:00.001+02:00

On Saturday, it seemed that most of Berlin gathered at the Brandenburg Gate. It was the site of a major celebration to recognize Germany's 60th anniversary. Today was also election day for the parliment to select a new president. We found flags flying and plenty of sunshine.

Later in the day, Tamara, David and I rode the S-Bahn way to southwest Berlin and took a ferry across the Wannsee Lake. For those who've only seen the metropolitan areas of Berlin, the Wannsee is a welcome relief.

Dom and Dinner

2009-05-22T23:41:00.005+02:00

I walked around the Berliner Dom area today while waiting for my Gainesville friends Tamara and David to arrive. Although the disco-balled T.V. Tower is at least 1,000 yards away, it often appears as part of the Dom. Today was a classic Berlin day: sunshine, five minutes of light rain, a 10-degree drop in the temperature and then back to how it was an hour ago.

After Tamara and David arrived, we walked from the hotel all the way to Amrit, an Indian restaurant across from Tacheles.

Tacheles is a former department store that became a squatter art colony after the fall of the Wall in 1989. It's become more commercialized and permanent during the past few years, but continues to startle visitors with its graffiti-covered hallways, techno music and an ironworks sculpture garden out back. Tacheles is about as Berlin as it gets.

Spiegel & Reichstag

2009-05-21T19:43:00.013+02:00

A small group of us attended an informal meeting with two editors at the offices of Der Spiegel International Online this morning. Daryl Lindsey and Charles Hawley both came to Berlin about 10 years ago and enthusiastically talked about the success of the news magazine, which is Germany's equivalent of TIME. Their offices are located above the Starbucks at the Brandenburg Gate.

Afterwards, Lara, Kevin, Carolyn and I trekked over to Der Reichstag to see the glass dome that sits above the legislative workspace. It's an impressive, futuristic addition to an historic structure. A group of nuns also used the rainy day to check out the city views from above. For one youngster, the day of sightseeing was dragging on way too long. Our group wrapped up the afternoon with dessert and coffee in the Staatsoper Cafe, listening to classical music under gold chandeliers.

Music at Alex

2009-05-20T23:10:00.007+02:00

Tilo Wuensch was one of several musicians playing for tips today in and around Alexanderplatz. However, he abandoned his spot when a Berlin trio, Cultus Ferox, began drowning him out with their bagpipes around the corner. I'm hoping to update this post with a video soon.

"Qi - a Palast Fantasy" was a major hit last night. It literally had something for everyone, ranging from a trapeze act that gave everyone sweaty palms to dancers who were also uber-talented ice skaters to a Cirque Du Soleil "juggler" (a severe understatement). Afterwards the group split up into a few sub-groups, including one that went to help celebrate Jessie's birthday at Dr. Pong. (Disclaimer: That's not us in the linked video).

Biking in Berlin

2009-05-19T17:26:00.004+02:00

Sunny and in the 70s -- what a perfect day for biking in Berlin. Mike Blakely of Fat Tire Bike Tour took the group on a leisurely tour of the former eastern sector of Berlin, including this stop at The Soviet War Memorial. It's far away from the standard tourist sites and is seldom visited. We stopped along the Spree River for a lunch break, then took the beach cruisers along a canal in the predominantly Turkish district, Kreuzberg. Mike is from Tampa and enjoyed the chance to meet with fellow Floridians. He said that many riders have trouble remembering his last name, Blakley, so he also answers to "Bakery," "Barkley," or even "Broccoli."

Tonight's activity is a musical play at the Friedrichstadtpalast, where the show will be like Berlin meets Las Vegas meets New York with a little bit of Cirque Du Soleil thrown in. We'll follow it up with a stroll by the old squatter building Tacheles, full of alternative art shops, artists and musicians.

Walk in the Park

2009-05-18T22:52:00.006+02:00

Our main activity today was having a wonderful guest speaker drop by the hotel for an hour. Franka Bruns is a freelance photojournalist in Berlin with a degree from Ohio University. She often publishes in the daily newspapers and German magazines, and while in college, won the Hearst shoot-out in San Francisco. She discussed the differences between American and German photojournalism and talked about the uniqueness and free-wheeling attitude Berlin has about itself. She accompanied us to the group (Thai) dinner around the corner, where everyone loved their entrees but weren't quite sure about the chocolate and honey-covered fried bananas and pineapple slices. (I liked 'em both!)

Since the sun was nowhere close to setting, I walked over to Friedrichain Volkspark about two blocks from the hotel. It's a giant park that I missed the first three years of these trips. Where weather in the 70s, people are out everywhere.

Sunny Sunday

2009-05-17T23:05:00.002+02:00

Sunday was sunny with brillant blue skies and almost everyone now has sunburned faces. Lisa Geuther-Sharpe from Berlin Original Walks took the group around for about three hours, discussing much of Berlin's history. Standing in front of a 1965 photo of Checkpoint Charlie, she explained a dramatic escape that involved a tiny sports car that successfully snuck underneath the barricades.

Later we went to Potsdamer Platz and the Sony Center to meet Stine and Isabelle, two local sisters who volunteered to help the group find story ideas. When I wandered over to a hillside near a building site, I discovered two people enjoying the great afternoon weather with ice cream cones. They are from the Freie Universitaet Berlin.

Weekend Report

2009-05-16T23:40:00.001+02:00

Saturday started off with rain and 52 degrees, so I cancelled the Bike Tour and instead we went to the gigantic Annie Leibovitz photo exhibit that runs through May 24 at a private gallery. There was a line waiting to get in. Our group of 15 managed to split into two sub-groups for an S-Bahn ride down near the Berlin Zoo where everyone found lunch and took in the Kaiser Wilhelm bombed-out church. A few of us split off in the Tiergarten park and checked out a flea market nearby. This gentleman was playing chess at one of the booths.

A couple of the students picked up bargain beer mugs and assorted goodies. One vendor had some hairless doll heads for sale.

After the groups, sub-groups and Katherine met up again at the hotel, almost everyone headed out on the optional trip to a carnival, where great evening light led to good photo opportunities.

Room with a View

2009-05-15T16:41:00.007+02:00

Everyone has arrived safe and sound. Here is what I see out the window of my room -- the TV Tower is a great landmark.

Later in the afternoon, the weather was pleasant as the group sat at the Friendship Fountain in Alexanderplatz. We went to the train station so a few students could change dollars into Euros. A couple people also had their first authentic Bratwurst. In the evening we took two trams to the Bernauer Wall Exhibit and then ventured over to the Prater biergarten. A walk back to the hotel included a stop for Italian ice cream, a good value at 70-cents a scoop.

Let's Get Going

2009-05-14T18:17:00.000+02:00

So here’s the scene at JFK airport an hour before departure to Berlin. I’m hearing that the Delta plane is overbooked and they are looking for volunteers. Allison, Amanda and Katherine are here with me, waiting to take off at 7 p.m. For a while we had a free T-Mobile internet connection, but it’s spotty.