From Praha

June 8, 2010
As we are passing through the countryside through Bavaria to Munich via the rail, my father reminded me that my grandmother died exactly one year ago today. It is because of her that I have been able to make this trip. And, it’s strange because there have been many times, especially during my travels now, that I’ve thought to myself, “I can’t wait to tell grandma…”
Apparently, she and my grandfather (my grandma’s second husband after my dad’s dad passed away), took a train through this same countryside at one point. My dad says she reluctantly said it was beautiful, but felt conflicted about saying anything good about Germany. WW2 was still fresh in her mind. Let us not forget it was even more recent history for her, than it is for me now. I suppose a Jewish woman who lived through that time (in America), might have continued to be weary. I just found it interesting. I’ve been falling in love with Germany, 2 generations later.
We left Praha (Prague) about 4 hours ago. I have to say I liked the city, but often felt frustrated when trying to get around. Yes, I did use a map, and still it wasn’t as easy as other places I’ve been. It looked like a cobblestone maze to me. The buildings were beautiful though. They remained relatively untouched by WW2, which is why most of them are originals from the 18th, 19th, and early 20th century.
About an hour away from Praha, we visited Terezin. This is where the Small Fortress concentration camp and Terezin Ghetto concentration camp were used by the Nazis during WW2. The small fortress was primarily used for political prisoners, but there were many Jews, people of other religions, abilities, etc. who were held there. This was very different from Sachenhausen because most of the buildings were in the original form, and the descriptions of torture went more indepth. At the Samll Fortress, I was able to see the prisoner barracks, as well as the solitary confinement cells, where some prisoners were brutally tortured and kept in cells without daylight for periods of days to months. There were many diseases that spread there too. Typhoid, TB, and others spread by pests and bedbugs. They also had a shooting wall, and places were people were hanged.
The Terezin Ghetto was also very interesting. I did not know this prior to my visit, but people actually live in the small town of Terezin amongst all of the historical barracks and museums. The people of Terezin see it as part of their history, but since the Nazis did not actually build the town, but rather used the existing buildings, like they did at the Small Fortress, the feeling is that the Nazis left, so they got their town back. Anyway, this is where most of the Jews were transported before Auschwitz. I saw a propaganda film that was created for the Red Cross portraying the ghetto as a small Jewish self-governed town where everyone was happy. Obviously, it was quite the contrary. There was slave labor, people being shipped to death camps, and rampant disease. So many people died there everyday that they had mass funerals and had to use cremation, although it went against orthodox beliefs. This “town” was originally set up for about 7,000 people, but was filled past capacity at 58,00 toward the end of the war. Bathing was allowed maybe once a week. Laundry was done every few months. Imagine the hygiene.
At the end of the tour, we were able to see a hidden German synagogue. It was about 8ft long and 5 ft wide. Maybe 6ft tall at the highest of the arches. This went unnoticed until about the late 90’s. Under communist rule, the Holocaust was barely brushed over as part of Czech history, so it is not really much of a surprise that certain things went unnoticed. Now, it is very well taught to this generation as part of Czech history, as the communist rule ended in 89.

update being queer in Berlin

Queer experiences in Berlin.
Still en route to Prague.
My last night in Berlin was amazing. I met a friend of a friend named Sean at the Silverfutur, and very VERY queer bar for those outside the heteronormative world and their friends. My dad came with me to check out the place and have a beer with me, then he headed back to the hotel to get some rest while I decided to stay up ALL night, thinking I would sleep on the 5 hour train ride to Prague. As sleepy as I am, I still can’t sleep.
So, Sean, being the awesome tour guide he is, took me to a couple places for queers. One was a bar called Ficken. Yeah, it does sound like a familiar word in English, doesn’t it? Basically, this place is where the mens cruise each other and meet in the dark basement underneath the dance floor and bar to “make friends.” I honestly find this sort of culture really interesting. There was no real monitoring of the boys down stairs, although there were signs about wearing condoms, from what I could understand, and you could barely see what was going on, which in some cases was preferable. Anyway, was glad to see it and now I have seen the comparison to Eros, which gives me a greater understanding of where these kind of establishments came from.
Next, we reluctantly went to the Bad Girls Club, which was mostly for the queer ladies, but included transmen and friends. Neither Sean nor I tend to go to women’s type events, but he knew some people there and really liked the DJ, so we went. It was awesome. Seriously. We got to play roulette for free drinks. We actually only one a beer, and the chips were free, but still, it made the club that much more fun. Not to mention, the music was good and the people were rad.
I already want to go back, even just to find out more about the Berliner queer community, which is pretty larger. Oh, and fyi, the healthcare system in Berlin covers trans medicine, even surgery. Apparently, some people in the trans community find ways of gaining citizenship so that they can afford to transition in various ways. Rad. Right? Oh that, and there’s gay marriage. All this and really attractive people. I’m so down with that.
Oh and p.s., you can totally drink beer anywhere, even on the tube! So much awesomeness.

Catch up Sachsenhausen

June 6, 2010

En route to Prague.

Leaving Berlin is bittersweet. I pretty much fell in love with that city. The last couple of days have been packed with exploration and drinking beer.

On a serious note, we decided not to go to Ravensbruck because Sachsenhausen was closer and had a much more thorough tour, says our tour guide, Dov. Sachsenhausen was a labor/ death camp that also held the Pathology Building and Cellar Mortuary, in which various medical experiments were done on prisoners. This is also where the Death March started, which ended the lives of about 6,000 people at the end of the war. They were literally marched to death over 100K. As expected, this was a powerful experience. Walking through the main gate, I would not have guessed that this was a site of torture and mass murder. Like, it just felt so quiet. The remains of the camp held evidence to the contrary, telling the story of some of the most inhumane treatment of concentration camp prisoners.

Some things that got to me:

The accounts of medical experimentation on human beings, especially children.

The execution trench where prisoners where shot and hanged then bright directly to the crematorium across the way.

The crematorium and gas chamber remains.

All Over Berlin

One thing about the Hotel Boulevard is that it makes up for the small dorm room size space for the awesome breakfast. So much deliciousness... mmmmm. I am waiting for our driver to Ravensbruck concentration camp right now, so I thought I'd catch people up on my day yesterday.
We started on the Hop On Hop Off Bus Tour. We got off at the Jewish Museum, which was amazing and overwhelming with tons of information and exhibits. I'm still soaking it in. My favorite part was the comic book exhibit connecting Jewish identity, exile, immigration, concentration camp survival and fighting social prejudices. If you read marvel comics, or read Crumb, think of how it might relate to the Jews. I totally appreciate X Men in a different way now.
We also visited the Berlin Wall. This sort of amazes me because of its recent history. I was 5 when they tore it down. I guess it was always expected that it couldn't be done. But it was. Makes me think about what I'm willing to fight for.
Also saw the Topography of Terror, right across from the Wall. It was built on the former 3rd Reich headquarters. It was a brief, but comprehensive exhibit of the way the Nazi party was able to gain support, control the masses and murder millions of people. Some of the images were gut wrenching.
I loved the rest of Berlin. I love that some of these buildings are older than my country. This city is beautiful.

It's early and we are awake.

So, for some reason both my dad and I woke up at 430am, unable to fall back asleep. This doesn't make much sense to me because I assumed I'd be sleeping in today, catching up on my jet lag and adjusting to the 9 hour ahead time difference. Oh well. Almost ready to eat some breakfast.
I'm posting pictures here from last night. We decided to try out the underground metro. It was pretty easy. We ended up at a wine bar where we enjoyed some tapas and really good beer.
Today will be the "hop on hop off" bus tour around the city. We plan on going to the Jewish Museum and drinking more beer.
There's us and beer, of course. And, there's a pic of the really gay looking plane. The other pic is my dad sitting on his bed in our hotel room at Hotel Boulevard.

I got to Berlin

So, fyi, the business class with Swiss Air was AMAZING. Holy crap. I don't even want to know (actually I totally do) what first class is like. The food was surprisingly delicious. I got hella sleep. I watched movies and tv shows. Didn't even pull out my laptop on the flight at all.
Now, I'm at Hotel Boulevard in Berlin. I am sharing a room with my dad. It looks smaller than my freshman year dorm room. This is a 3 star hotel, so I guess it's a hit or miss thing? I dunno, at least we have our own bathroom. That was most important to me. It's like 7pm here. Feels like it's the early afternoon to me, but that's because we are 9 hours ahead here. My dad and I are going to take a walk and attempt to find food. Have to say though, I am still pretty full from all the Swiss Air food. More pictures and useless info to come.

Heading to SFO soonish...

Nope. STILL not in Europe yet. I packed last night. I fit a lot of stuff in that bag. Honestly, even though I still over packed, it's way less stuff than I usually bring for shorter trips. This is a month long thing, so you know, have to be prepared, right? RIGHT? My dad is coming back in two weeks, and I'm sure he has room in his bag to take some of my stuff back with him. lol.
Flying Swiss Air. Didn't know about the controversy until it was a little too late. Here is the link to the plane: http://www.examiner.com/x-27745-SF-Headlines-Examiner~y2010m5d28-Swiss-Air-unveils-new-San-Francisco-plane-today-nonstop-service-to-Zurich-begins-next-week
Real cool right? Well anyway, it's getting me to Berlin. First stop is Zurich. Then I get to Berlin 2 hours later. I'm flying business class. (Luxury right? Damn!). It seems I get to lay down almost all the way. That will serve me well with some Simply Sleep. Hoping that will just make the long ass plane right pass like it never even happened. This is that trip that I get to take after graduating from school. I'm kinda going allllll out. I don't have a job that I have to worry about, nor other really important responsibilities, so this is the time. I'll worry about all that adult stuff when I get back. Stay tuned for more useless updates!