"Ich bin ein Berliner..." (Part II)

Our couple of days in Berlin were jam-packed, but we visited the Jewish Museum again, and it is always worth it. The structural pictures below are from the new part of the museum designed by Daniel Libeskind:



There is one portion dedicated to the Holocaust and another dedicated to the history of Jews in Europe. These are pictures from the Holocaust Tower, which is a windowless room (except for one tiny sliver at the top), possible 2-3 stories tall, and completely made of concrete. Quite an experience. (One of the museum workers even offered to watch Sophie outside of the Tower so she wouldn't be scared. We took her in, and she seemed fine as long as she was with one of us.) This pictures are of the ceiling.

We then moved on to the almost-non-Holocaust history section. (There are a few reminders here and there in this section, but the museum does a really good job of highlighting everyday European Jewish life.) There are even a few sections for kids, and Sophie had a good time running around.


Putting Sophie's "wish" on the Wish Tree:


This is one of the Holocaust-related exhibits; it's the floor of Menashe Kadishman's Shalechet (Fallen leaves) installation in the “Void.” It's very a very eerie exhibit because it has a room to itself, and you are encouraged to walk on it, which then makes a sound very much like train tracks.

Sophie had a long day:


But she enjoyed being one of the "big kids":

The next day, we met up with Katie, one of Ian's students who graduated last year and is spending the year near Berlin. She knows my love of Mexican food, so took us to a great burrito place she knew of. It was the best Mexican food I've had in Europe ever. So good, in fact, I took a picture of the front of the place so I would always remember it!


We then went on a hunt for boots for me, which proved unsuccessful, but we did stop at some fun things for Sophie along the way, including posing with one of the famous Berlin bears:


And stopping by a huge department store, KaDeWe, for her to run around the toy section. Man, are we cheap parents or what?! But as you can tell, she thoroughly enjoyed a large stuffed animal section, and hey, it was raining, so we had to go inside somewhere!


The last day in Berlin, we had just enough time to take a walk near the old Synagogue and to a preserved section of the Berlin Wall. This is a World War II memorial called "Missing House" by Christian Boltanski. There used to be an apartment building in this space here, and the old inhabitants' names can be found on markers on the adjacent buildings.


And finally, a preserved portion of the Berlin Wall, taken from the former East. (This is why there is no graffiti on it.)


We wanted a picture of Sophie in front of this monument, but we didn't know how to tell her to act serious in front of a serious place, so here she is, grinning from ear to ear in front of the Berlin Wall.


Near the "Missing House," we found this building/corner called "Sophie's Corner."

This was a fun, but tiring trip. There's always so much to see in Berlin, and I'm sure we'll be back!