Berlin's final show and then on to Poland

The following morning after the World War Two Tour it was time to get in touch with the Cold War. 

I walked from my hostel to the Haptbahnhof where there I reserved a seat to Warsaw. On my way and through a park I happened to sadly discover two grown men passed out on a park bench with beer bottles strewn about everywhere. One man was sitting in a position where he was bent over himself while the other took full advantage of his friend's makeshift pillow by laying on him.  

I had some patato salad after I found out my train left at 6:15 the following morning.  The salad was sub-standard.  Afterwards instead of walking like I had been, I took a cab to where the Berlin Wall once stood. All cabs in Berlin are Mercedes and are comfretable rides to your destination.  The downside is your fare is too overpriced in the end if you have a budget.  I got in and asked the driver to take me to Checkpoint Charlie. 

Checkpoint Charlie used to be the place where East and West Berlin met amidst border patrol and guns. All that's left now are pictures set around a rebuilt guard station furnished with fake US military men. I wanted to see the Berlin Wall on its original foundation to get the real effect.  The knocked down sections of the wall is commemorated by a narrow brickpath in the sidewalk. Around every ten meters is a brass plaquered telling you the wall's beginning and final years like a gravestone.  I did manage to find a portion of the original wall on its original foundation. 

Near Checkpoint Charlie is the Jewish Museum. It's in East Berlin which led to my first sight of great communist architecture.  Giant apartment blocks painted grey with dark sunk in windows. I almost found that graffiti was appropriate on them. Especially this apartment block that had an entire mural covering at least fifteen storys. 

The Jewish Museum is a monument as well as a museum. A great deal of abstract thinking using modern art went into the design. What you have as the final result is a building shaped into jagged lightening bolt.  That is the best way i can desceibe it.  One interpretation I was told is the museum resembles a broken Star of David.  The whole museum is open to interpretation. Windows inside sometimes peer off into voids between the jagged building.  A room I liked - and this is way out there, very abstract - consisted of nothing but concrete from head to foot and side to side. The only light source was a tiny rectangle at the top of the room's furthest corner. The whole floor was littered with these three pound steel plate faces with cut out eye-holes and a mouth. Once you were in the room you had to walk on them.  As you did the concrete room would scream with the sound of clanking metal. It was impossible to take a step without there being a sound.  I found it very moving, so I took a video. 

From the Jewish Museum I felt it appropriate to walk where souviniers might be found. I was going to my step brother's house in Warsaw in a few hours and I wanted to bring his kids something. Unfortunatly I couldn't find anything worth giving plus it was getting late.  

I ended up following the metro line with stations every few blocks to the main strip of downtown Berlin. It just happened I walked downtown.  All i was doing was keeping my exit train in sight and bouncing from monument to monument as I saw them.  I walked to the spot where Hitler had his book burning rallies. Now in the same square is a center piece where you look down and see empty bookshelves. 

I continued my walk and ended up at a restuarant downtown. There I wrote a blog and ate a sausage. It became dark as I left for the hostel and it is here where I saw and met my very first prostitue. You can spot a prostitue, skanty clothing and ridiculous heels. I snapped a photo of one to prove my witness and told myself that's as far as I get. The problem was they were everywhere on the street. One of them wanted my attention real bad. She walked straight into my path and held out her hand saying, "stop!"  Without thinking all I could say was in German, "I don't speak German, I AM sorry." 

The girl was very pretty. Probably the prettiest I'd seen on the street. She had a great build and was rather young compared to the rest of her street commrads.  Her and her friend standing behind her laughed at my German.  The one who stopped me proceeded then to whip out a single piece of dice. This dye had on it an obscene cartoon. She asked me, "what is this?"  I replied, "It's a cartoon." She said, "looks good? Maybe you come up to my apartment and we talk?"  I replied, "I can't do that."  This upset her, oddly enough. She immediatly couldn't make eye contact with me.  She then asked with bewilderment, "well, why not?!" I took to my left shoulder and darted off. "No more," I thought. 

That was my final taste of Germany, it was time to get a move on.

The next morning I was going to my next country out of many on this trip. My destination was Warsaw, Poland where I went to see my step-brother Derrick's family.  The train from Berlin to Warsaw was not as nice as it had been from Munich to Berlin. I sat in a room with six seats behind a glass sliding door. There was also no air conditioning so when it finally got hot in Europe I felt all of it. Furthermore, I sat with two Polish ladies who would close the only window everytime I opened it.  They told me I was going to get sick. I said I was hot and it's too dang stuffy in the train. They were too persistant for me so I gave up. 

There are six seats in the little space we shared. Three on one side and three more on the other. Not much space between them either. I and the man who sat my opposite invaded eachother's space. Imagine how hot dogs are arranged in an unopened bag from the store.  If you were there, you could have seen that the package of hot dogs looked like the arrangement of our legs.  The order started with my leg, then other guy's leg, then my leg again, then other guy's, followed by polish ladies' leg, and repeated 'till the end of legs. Sleeping was invasive and impossible. 

Seven hours later I arrived in Warsaw. Here's a note I wrote after getting off the train: "My first impression of Warsaw is directly affected by the scale of beautiful women who aren't afraid to stare with a smile as you walk passed them."

Several years ago I recieved a T-shirt from Derrick stating the Top Ten Reasons to Visit Poland. The shirt had ten women's names on it. I know why now. It's no lie. 

Derrick and his family picked me up from the train station and housed me my entire time in Warsaw. The highlight of the trip was seeing his kids Hayden, Samuel, and little Amelia.  The kids and I played games; tossed the basketball around with Derrick; and told me what was going on in their lives. It was enjoyable, every bit of it. I always did like his kids. 

Warsaw itself is a sad story. The city was leveled completely by the end of the Second World War. It's population actually reached zero. Then the Soviets came and rebuilt the city complete with this ghastly Palace of Culture that's a skyscraper in the middle of the city. The communists also built apartment blocks. Just about all of them are still around today. In fact the new skyscrapers like the Marriot look very out of place. It was different to feel the presence of something I only used to read about. 

I got along with everyone of Derrick's family pefectly except with their shitzu Rosa. Rosa and I had an arguement, she wanted to pee on me, I told her she could not. But she did anyway as I was walking up the stairs with her in my arms. I later forgave her for being a dog.

I was able to catch up on some rest while there. But when not resting I sampled Poland. I had the best bread imaginable. They bake it fresh every morning down the street. I saw the Warsaw Uprising museum. The Uprising itself is widly revered in Poland. A monument to the Uprising stands outside of their Supreme Court building. Old town Warsaw was better than I thought for being rebuilt. UNESCO even claimed it as a World Heritage site. Derrick, Samuel, and I even witnessed a film being made in its streets. As we were walking some gunshots were fired and this black armored truck with a swastika on it sped into the streets. Police were putting up their tape to block the crowds as things progressed. I didn't know what was going on and asked Derrick, "Is this safe?!"

After I said goodbye to the family, I was full steam ahead on this: My European Adventure.