Hello dearest readers! I must first apologize sincerely for the lack of postings, I have my final one from travel week about ready and then I will work on catching you up on my last few weeks in Piter. They have been ridiculously busy, just to give you a preview. I am currently back in the US of A (back in the USS back in the USS back in the US of A just went through my head, not sure what that says about me) but not quite home. My flight from JFK (New York City) to DCA (Washington, D.C.) was cancelled yesterday evening on the account of Reagan National airport being closed because of the ‘blizzard of 2009’ as the Weather Channel was calling it this morning. So instead of heading to DC and my aunt and uncles and getting a pedicure with Katie today, I headed to the hotel that my mom had thankfully booked a few days ago just in case and collapsed to the Wizard of Oz after eating a rather ridiculous amount of New York pizza and watching Mamma Mia. We had booked a Southwest flight today that would (hopefully) get me to Baltimore in time for my original flight from Baltimore to Cleveland. As of this moment, my flight to Baltimore is scheduled for 4:35 – but there is really no telling what will happen since there is still plenty of fallout from the storm.
The blizzard dumped 26 inches on parts of Virginia, Reagan Airport had more than a foot when everything was said and done. More than 800 flights were cancelled in and out of NYC, and more than 1000 in and out of Washington D.C. airports. So we were incredibly grateful when the wheels of our plane from Helsinki hit the ground at JFK. The trip up until then had been uneventful, we stayed out late the night before so I actually slept for about a ½ hour on the first flight from Piter to Helsinki, but then of course couldn’t sleep at all on the next flight. Kelly and I switched with some people so that we could sit next to each other which was great, it makes it so much more comfortable when you’re sitting next to someone you know. Watched 500 Days of Summer, Four Christmases, and parts of Julie & Julia, Up, and Home Alone. Kelly and I also discovered some ‘learn a new language’ game on the entertainment console so Kelly started learning German and I tried to learn some French! It proved quite entertaining, and then we played buzztime trivia – same game as the one at BW3s which I rock at as part of team Taymor with the Newmaners. By then it was time to land, and we got the news that neither of us were going to make it to DC. But both of us got flights for today, and hoped for the best. I tried to stand in line at the American counter and ask about rebooking but by that point mom had told me that there weren’t any seats on the direct flights to Cleveland today on American and I was getting very frustrated at the guy in the front of the line who was trying to tell the American worker how to do their job when clearly he wasn’t going to be able to get where he wanted to go. So mom found the southwest flight, booked it, and I headed to the hotel to crash. Fell asleep pretty early – yay jetlag – and then woke up at 4 am – yay jetlag again – and took a shower with like 0 water pressure (wasn’t in a Marriott unfortunately) and then almost blew up the blow drier when I tried to use it. Oh well, hair is in a braid now instead. Cannot wait until I get to have Erica fix the terrible scene that is my hair on Tuesday. Seriously cannot wait.
Have been very grateful to almost everyone I have come into contact with since arriving in the US, from the airport worker who walked me to where the hotel shuttle would pick me up last night to the front desk worker who made sure I ordered real New York pizza to the shuttle driver this morning who told me where to find the bus to Laguardia from JFK to the Southwest check-in worker who was funny and incredibly helpful in getting my bags checked through to Cleveland to the waiter who DIDN’T CARD ME when I ordered a glass of white wine – despite the fact that my hair is in braids which always makes me look like a 5-year-old. I am also very grateful for the romaine lettuce and croutons that were in my Caesar salad for lunch (don’t laugh dad, haven’t seen real Caesar salad for four months) and the ice that was in my glass of water, and the real ketchup that was served with my French fries (Stef I wish you had been there so I wouldn’t have looked so silly eating a whole bottle of ketchup by myself!) and the friendliness of the wait staff. Maybe its that I’m returning from such an unfriendly and unhelpful place (with the wonderful exceptions of Irina Borisovna and my host mom of course) that I feel much better than I usually do when returning from abroad, or maybe its something else, who knows. I was definitely very frustrated last night regardless, bummed to be missing out on time in DC with my family and also that there was a chance I might not get home for a long time, but today has been much better. If these flights get cancelled my family will come get me, and I absolutely cannot wait until I am decorating the tree with them and my girls, even if its later than we’d planned. Thank you all so much for all the prayers, they have helped me realize I’ll get home eventually and that is what is important. I’m sorry I can’t bring you all the delicious New York pizza I had last night, but hopefully my smiling face will be a consolation prize soon enough ☺ All the very best to you and yours at this beautiful time of the year!
Update! I am now in Baltimore at BWI, where Google has provided free wireless internet through the holidays, until Jan. 15th! Yay! I am just hanging out waiting for my flight now, it has been delayed until 9:35 but as long as it says ‘delayed’ and not ‘cancelled’ after my flight number the time doesn’t really bother me! The bests are still coming over and dad just called while driving to pick up our cheese dip from Cozumel, so as long as this flight doesn’t get pushed back until tomorrow there will be a successful end to this little adventure! Thanks once again for all of the prayers, and keep them coming for all of the travelers still hoping to get on standby and make it home. Much love from Baltimore!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
The Travel Chronicles Part III: Feeling at Home in a New City
Tuesday morning dawned early, though we had decided to allow ourselves a little bit of sleep in time to make up for the very wet nature of the night before. We ate a late breakfast at a cute café across from the hostel and I finished my hot chocolate and Tom his yogurt while we walked towards Bernauer Street, the location of the Berlin Wall Memorial. Like many places in Berlin, the wall on Bernauer Street ran along the sidewalk on one side, separating families, neighbors, and in this case a congregation from its church and a cemetery from the relatives of those buried there. The wall progressed in stages, from bricking in windows to destroying the buildings on the boundary line – including the church. It was ordered destroyed, and all that now remains is the cross from the top, twisted and bent. This is the only place in the city where you can still see how the death strip would have looked, the area between the east and west that was guarded by watch towers, dogs on lines, and rows of trenches or barbed wire. There is a memorial museum across the street, and a platform you can climb to see across the wall and onto the death strip. (You can also see the restoration work they continue to do on the cemetery that was cut by the wall.) Inside the museum are countless documents and photographs from all the different stages of the building of the wall. It was very interesting to be able to compare the foreign coverage with that of East Germany. The museum was very well done, there were even headphones where you could listen to some of the propaganda songs produced by the government, quite ridiculous things about the blue sky over the wall and the glory of the East German government. Was enough to make you sick when the next thing you read were the stories of those who died trying to escape.
From the museum we walked towards Checkpoint Charlie, passing through a great area of restaurants and fun shops. For lunch we got baguettes at one of the million little bakeries, and I had to get a pretzel too. We took pictures at Checkpoint Charlie and spent a while walking up and down reading all of the information on the area, but while I knew I wanted to go in the museum Tom wasn't so sure, so we agreed I would go later in the week and we would head through the center to go up inside the dome of the Reichstag building – Germany's Bundestag is its representative body, and the Reichstag is its home. It was late afternoon, which worked perfectly since we had wanted to go up in the dome when it was dark out. We had to wait for a while, but knew that the free trip up the elevator would be worth it. When we got to the top we were given audio guides, mine in German and Tom's in English of course, and they must have been super-smart-audio-guides or something, because they would tell you to stop and look in one direction, and interrupt themselves to ask you to stop again if you had kept on walking. Quite incredible. The city was beautiful at night, and we were proud of how much of it we had already covered and could recognize. The dome is open at the top, so it was a little chilly, but luckily the rain had relented. I absolutely love the design of the dome, you can see into the chamber below through a system of mirrors in the center, the transparency it represents is a great concept and it also is just very interesting architecture. Next time I am in Berlin I will make it a point to sit in on a session of the Bundestag, definitely. We got a little cold up in the dome, and what better way to warm up than margaritas and nachos?! Even in Germany? We thought we would give it a try. We had been eating at small café-type places so far, and decided we could splurge a little for one dinner after a great couple of days. And the nachos at the Mexican restaurant not far from Potsdamer Platz didn't disappoint at all! Afterwards, we debated going down the giant snow-slide that the Austrian state of SALZBURG (sorry, couldn't resist the capitals) had sent to Berlin, but decided we would rather just watch other people slide screaming down it on inner-tubes. It was late already, and Tom had an early flight to Dublin the next day, so we had a drink at the bar at the hostel and headed to bed.
The next day was Wednesday, and I began the day with a delicious cup of coffee on my way to the Museum on Checkpoint Charlie. The museum was absolutely packed to the brim with papers, photos, artifacts, and videos. It was especially exciting because I could now read many of the signs from East Berlin that had been written in cyrillic, the Russian alphabet. The museum documents the building of the wall, largely from the perspective of the Allies, and then pays special attention to the many different types of escape attempts tried by the citizens of East Berlin. The restriction of freedom of movement is a concept I have often come into contact with in Russia – during the Soviet time you only had a right to free housing in the city in which you were born, and the registration system in this country continues to be absolutely ridiculous, if you are in any city for 3 days you must register with the police – and it was clearly the key issue for those who suddenly found themselves behind the wall. Compartments barely large enough were placed almost anywhere you could think of in all different kinds of cars, one woman sewed two suitcases together than cut a whole in the fabric so she could fit inside, others built a tunnel, and still others tried to fly or swim out of East Germany. Truly incredible. I could have spent all day in the museum, but eventually all of the photos and articles and artifacts become overwhelming and I needed some fresh air. I got a pretzel and wandered around the area for a little while, before deciding to head to the Jewish Museum which I knew was open until late so I'd have plenty of time. It, too, was jammed with artifacts and things to read and learn. It is largely about the history of the Jewish people in Europe, and I learned an incredible amount about their history, culture, and traditions. I loved being able to be a dork and read all of the signs explaining all of the artifacts since I was by myself. Though not expressly about the Holocaust, there is an extensive collection of documents – including many letters and official documents – about that most-infamous period of Jewish history, as well as the Holocaust Tower, a void in the structure lit by a tiny opening at the top. The architect left many 'voids' in the structure, another such space is called the Memory Void where a modern art sculpture stretches to the seeming horizon and the empty space above somehow is incredibly oppressive. I spent almost the whole evening in the museum, and it took almost the whole trip back to the hostel to process everything I had seen and read during the day. I'm not sure there are words to describe my inability to analyze and understand the things I had learned, but I was grateful for the long walk back to the hostel and the opportunity to realize that some things can never be grasped, unless you have experienced them. I was grateful to Berlin, her streets, her museums, and her people, for allowing me a somehow very intimate glimpse into different worlds in which I had no part.
To be continued…
From the museum we walked towards Checkpoint Charlie, passing through a great area of restaurants and fun shops. For lunch we got baguettes at one of the million little bakeries, and I had to get a pretzel too. We took pictures at Checkpoint Charlie and spent a while walking up and down reading all of the information on the area, but while I knew I wanted to go in the museum Tom wasn't so sure, so we agreed I would go later in the week and we would head through the center to go up inside the dome of the Reichstag building – Germany's Bundestag is its representative body, and the Reichstag is its home. It was late afternoon, which worked perfectly since we had wanted to go up in the dome when it was dark out. We had to wait for a while, but knew that the free trip up the elevator would be worth it. When we got to the top we were given audio guides, mine in German and Tom's in English of course, and they must have been super-smart-audio-guides or something, because they would tell you to stop and look in one direction, and interrupt themselves to ask you to stop again if you had kept on walking. Quite incredible. The city was beautiful at night, and we were proud of how much of it we had already covered and could recognize. The dome is open at the top, so it was a little chilly, but luckily the rain had relented. I absolutely love the design of the dome, you can see into the chamber below through a system of mirrors in the center, the transparency it represents is a great concept and it also is just very interesting architecture. Next time I am in Berlin I will make it a point to sit in on a session of the Bundestag, definitely. We got a little cold up in the dome, and what better way to warm up than margaritas and nachos?! Even in Germany? We thought we would give it a try. We had been eating at small café-type places so far, and decided we could splurge a little for one dinner after a great couple of days. And the nachos at the Mexican restaurant not far from Potsdamer Platz didn't disappoint at all! Afterwards, we debated going down the giant snow-slide that the Austrian state of SALZBURG (sorry, couldn't resist the capitals) had sent to Berlin, but decided we would rather just watch other people slide screaming down it on inner-tubes. It was late already, and Tom had an early flight to Dublin the next day, so we had a drink at the bar at the hostel and headed to bed.
The next day was Wednesday, and I began the day with a delicious cup of coffee on my way to the Museum on Checkpoint Charlie. The museum was absolutely packed to the brim with papers, photos, artifacts, and videos. It was especially exciting because I could now read many of the signs from East Berlin that had been written in cyrillic, the Russian alphabet. The museum documents the building of the wall, largely from the perspective of the Allies, and then pays special attention to the many different types of escape attempts tried by the citizens of East Berlin. The restriction of freedom of movement is a concept I have often come into contact with in Russia – during the Soviet time you only had a right to free housing in the city in which you were born, and the registration system in this country continues to be absolutely ridiculous, if you are in any city for 3 days you must register with the police – and it was clearly the key issue for those who suddenly found themselves behind the wall. Compartments barely large enough were placed almost anywhere you could think of in all different kinds of cars, one woman sewed two suitcases together than cut a whole in the fabric so she could fit inside, others built a tunnel, and still others tried to fly or swim out of East Germany. Truly incredible. I could have spent all day in the museum, but eventually all of the photos and articles and artifacts become overwhelming and I needed some fresh air. I got a pretzel and wandered around the area for a little while, before deciding to head to the Jewish Museum which I knew was open until late so I'd have plenty of time. It, too, was jammed with artifacts and things to read and learn. It is largely about the history of the Jewish people in Europe, and I learned an incredible amount about their history, culture, and traditions. I loved being able to be a dork and read all of the signs explaining all of the artifacts since I was by myself. Though not expressly about the Holocaust, there is an extensive collection of documents – including many letters and official documents – about that most-infamous period of Jewish history, as well as the Holocaust Tower, a void in the structure lit by a tiny opening at the top. The architect left many 'voids' in the structure, another such space is called the Memory Void where a modern art sculpture stretches to the seeming horizon and the empty space above somehow is incredibly oppressive. I spent almost the whole evening in the museum, and it took almost the whole trip back to the hostel to process everything I had seen and read during the day. I'm not sure there are words to describe my inability to analyze and understand the things I had learned, but I was grateful for the long walk back to the hostel and the opportunity to realize that some things can never be grasped, unless you have experienced them. I was grateful to Berlin, her streets, her museums, and her people, for allowing me a somehow very intimate glimpse into different worlds in which I had no part.
To be continued…
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