Europe Trip, Part 2

January 26, 2014

We ended up spending less time in Potsdam proper than expected, as Nick's interview took quite a long time.

In the end, we left the Institute around 4 PM and made our way back into town. We were disinclined to go straight back to Berlin after having traveled all this way, so instead we took a quick bus to see the nearby castle, Sansoucii. The castle grounds were massive and nearly completely empty at that hour in the late afternoon. The sky darkened quickly, and soon we were wandering in the gloomy twilight, crunching along in the snow. It felt very quiet and lonely, but very beautiful as well.

As it got later, the freezing weather and our hunger drove us back to Berlin, where we feasted in the invitingly warm Tibetan restaurant near Nick's house.

The following day was spent leisurely: sleeping in and visiting the gym. The highlight of the day was going to the nearby paint-your-own ceramics shop for the third installment of my Christmas present. We chose a nested teapot to paint. Nick painted the cup while I painted the pot. On the cup, I added a small otter curled up at the bottom (my animal counterpart), and a slumbering black bear to the teapot (Nick's animal counterpart). We will each take our respective pieces when I leave, and we'll put them back together when we meet next.

I know, we're so unbearably cute I could vomit. <3

The next day was a busy one, and one of the most enjoyable ones so far. We started the day by heading off to a Turkish market for an early lunch. We ate some fabulous falafels, and I couldn't resist a mouth-watering strawberry nutella crepe. After browsing around the market, we then continued on to the Jewish Museum for the rest of the afternoon. That has been my favorite museum so far on the trip. It was fascinating, heartbreaking, solemn, thought-provoking, and beautiful. The exhibits themselves were increible, and the very arcitechture of the building was well worth the visit---elevating it from a simple museum trip to a unique experience. My favorite part of the museum was the Holocaust Tower. It's at the very end of the exhibit on the Holocaust, so you are already in a raw, solemn mood. The “tower” is an austere room with looming, gray walls. The only light is from a slit near the top of the tower, and it is unheated and very bitingly cold after the coming from the warm museum. Sounds from the outside street can be heard, but they are muted and garbled, ghostly noises that seem to come from a long ways away.

The Tower has no express purpose or aim as expressed by the architect, but it was nonetheless undeniably powerful.

After a few hours in the Jewish Museum, we ate a quick dinner and then went to go meet one of Nick's friends from work along with his girlfriend: Philip and Olivia.

Olivia and Nick led us into a fantastic little bar tucked away in the streets of downtown Berlin, called Salon zur Wilden Renate. The decor was Alice in Wonderland meets grunge meets Victorian England. The ceiling was full of old umbrella skeletons laced with flower garlands. Old velvet furniture littered the rooms, with wooden crates acting as tables. Black and white portraits hung from the walls, and a fire burned cheerfully in a wood stove. The whole place was a violent mishmash, and I loved it.

But that wasn't the best part. The best part came a couple hours later in the evening. When we had entered, we had been given a gold coin. They told us not to lose it, but to go and enjoy a few beers. About an hour or so later, a woman came into the room and one by one, she led members of our group away. I was the third to go. In the back of the bar, she put a blindfold around my head and then led me through a door. After a little ways, holding her hands as she guided me, she took the blindfold off and left me in a room all alone, with nothing but a video screen and a small slot that unmistakably read “insert coin here”.

From there started the most bizarre labyrinth I have ever experienced. I wish I could capture it was words, but it was so full of unsettling sights, such a sensory overload, that I know no mere description could possibly do it justice. So I will try to settle for a few snapshots (PREFACE: If you ever want to go to this labyrinth, I would suggest not reading this, because it is much better to go in with zero preconceptions!):

The central room was shaped like an egg, with what seemed like veins or spiderwebs running across the inside surface. Using these, you could climb all over it to reach the many tunnels going out to the rest of the labyrinth.

A pitch black tunnel with stones jutting up out of the ground designed to trip you. The only light was a strobe flash that went off maddeningly sparsely. As you groped your way through the darkness, a quiet rumbling sound became louder and louder, until it roared in your ears. You made your way through the tunnel, only to find that it was a dead end, and you have to creep all the way back.

A short tunnel with thousands of strips of heavy cloth or leather hanging down. As you make your way blindly through, you cannot feel any walls—only that slithery cloth all around you. And then, suddenly, you bump into a strip will bells tied to it, and their high pitched tinkling sends your pulse sky-rocketing.

A gray staircase with slanted, broken, uneven steps. The ceiling is so low that you nearly have to crawl up them.

A room no bigger than a closet, with a small chair seated in front of a ladder leading into darkness.

It was disorienting, creepy, and fabulous. Probably my favorite thing we've done in Berlin so far, and it felt very typically Berlin. I'm hoping to take Lindsay there at the end of the trip.

Speaking of Lindsay, she came in later that night! She arrived as scattered and hair-brained as ever: she had forgotten her purse at the Chinese restaurant where she had eaten dinner, she had missed her stop on the bus, and she hadn't brought enough money for the subsequent cab ride to Nick's apartment. It's good to see some things never change.

We went to bed soon after she arrived, but the next few days since then have been fabulous. WE retrieved her purse from the restaurant the next morning, then spend the day at the aquarium. I also tried my very first currywurst! It was dangerously delicious.

The next day, Lindsay and I ventured out on our own to the Gamaldegallerie, a fabulous art museum that exclusively houses old art from the Byzantine era up to the Renaissance. The collection was extensive, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

From there, it was off to Gottingen! We've been here for two days, and it's been very relaxed—days spent wandering around downtown and the University campus, eating at the mess hall, and getting a little work done while Lindsay is away at class. Even though we haven't been doing a lot of specific activities, being able to spend quality time with Lindsay has been more than I could ask for!

Nick is so proud of his hummus making skills