A Fountain and a Meeting Point

Berlin's Lunch Time

Parks never really get old...

I was there!

"Go to Potsdamer Platz. Philharmonie is on fire. Get some great pictures. Stine." is how the text message I got read. I got it while I was at the Tiergarten. 

At first I though maybe a protest was going on--so figuratively speaking "it was on fire!"

But as me and my friends continued to walk though the garden we got to an exit, not the one we went in.

At first when we got to the street, with slow traffic and policemen trying to direct it, I had not realize yet what was happening. We stood there a couple of minutes, and the sound of sirens and fire trucks hint us to the direction of the fire. 

It was literal! A fire at the Berliner Philharmoniker. 

But we did not see it immediately. We were following smoke signs. To be honest, it didn't seem that big of a fire. 

Also, at the moment, to me it was a yellow building on fire--I had not connected the text message and the fire pieces together.

We finally got to the scene. crowded with firemen, officers and people taking pictures--Us included.

We were walking through a cloud of smoke. I almost fell my lungs asphyxiating by the smoke.

But to be honest, what surprised me the most was the kindness of the people there. Firemen and officers were willing to talk to you. Not at any moment were they rude or tried to send you away. 

Instead, they were glad to pose for a picture, or even be in it with you.

This lead me to think that in reality you shouldn't be afraid or really stand back when officers are present, as is the feeling when you approach an officer in the US. Sometimes you may even cringe at the thought of approaching him or her, especially at an event as big as the the fire of the Berliner Philharmoniker.

What would your interpretation be?

Even though its name is The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, the monument, by Jewish-American Peter Eisenman, is said to have many interpretations, which to date are all still debated. 

Among them, my favorite, the absorption of the Nazi Party in the 1930s to early 1940s. This interpretation explains that the squares on the ground, surrounding the actual piece, the stability and relative order of the nation. 

But as time progressed people got more involved with the socialist ideas, which is represented by the floor which starts to acquired a wave design as you go in and through the monument. This is the great instability that started to overwhelm Germany.

Moreover, as you walk through the monument a feeling of claustrophobia may take over you. This is due to the eventual growth of the blocks as you get to the center of the piece. This feeling may represent the feeling of Germany at its peak of the invasion.

Although, not nearly as intense, of course.

The middle of the piece may represent the only direction in which people where able to look in at this chaotic time, the sky. Or hope, most likely.

Finally once you go on through the monument it all turns back to the way it all was before the chaos started--flat ground and very low flat blocks--the present.

This is also known as the Holocaust Memorial.

The varying heights may also represent the diversity of people.

It's all about us?!?!

So, this is basically all we do. We see and interesting sight and we invade it, we attack it. It is almost like hungry lions--we even "compete" with each other over the best shot. For example, on the picture on the right I was shooting the Neue Wache when Andrew decided it would be a fantastic idea to run up to the monument and invade the shooting site. So, he did not only invade my picture, but Jennifer's picture, too. 

At the moment my reaction was "doesn't he notice that we ALL are shooting this picture?" Then he proceeds to pose himself right in front of the camera and Jennifer looked at me with a facial expression that read "WTF?" 

At the sight of this I couldn't help but laugh and I decided to capture the action, instead of the monument alone.

In the next photo we can see the action taking place a little more aggressively.--It's a mass invasion where tourists can't even take a descent shot of the Neue Wache alone because we are just that special!