Berlin: My day continued

Many people have asked why I bothered to visit the Berlin Zoo when there were so many other things I could have done in the city that afternoon. My response was “why not?”

We walked back along Unter den Linden, where I tried “currywurst” from a street vendor. It was actually pretty good. I could have travelled to the top of the Fernsturm, or gone inside Humboldt University, but after the Berlin Wall, I needed an emotional break. We decided as a group that the Berlin Zoo would be a fun, relaxing way to spend the rest of the day, and so we went.

Initially, we decided to walk through the Tiergarten, because the zoo is located inside the park. After about forty-five minutes of walking, we realized the park was gigantic, and it would take hours to figure out where we were going. In front of the Napolean Monument we stumbled across a bicycle taxi, and for €4 each he took us the rest of the way. It was the greatest idea ever, because our driver pointed out interesting sights in the park as we passed by.

The highlight of this little side tour was when we crossed the Rosa Luxembourg Bridge. It is the location were Luxembourg and Karl Liebknecht - both Marxist theorist philosophers – were assassinated in 1919.

After spending a few hours at the zoo, the three of us hopped onto the subway and headed back to the hostel. We knew we needed to get off at the Rosa Luxembourg stop, so it was actually quite a painless ride home.

I would recommend stopping at the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedachtniskirche (Memorial Church), which is right outside the zoo. It was a lovely church that was bombed during the Second World War in 1943. Instead of rebuilding the church – when many other buildings were rebuilt and reconstructed – the ruins were left as they were. A modern glass structure was attached to the ruins, and now the church represents both old and new. There is a square – Breitscheidplatz - around the church, and a subway station nearby. Even though it is off the main beating path, there are restaurants and shops in the surrounding area, and I suggest anyone travelling to Berlin checks it out

The remains of the church. You must check it out if you go to Berlin.

Our group went on an evening walking tour to another area of Berlin where sections of the wall still remained intact. This area was very different, and as our tour guide explained, a section of the wall was built on either side of a local cemetery. Whenever there was a funeral, family members would hang over each side in an attempt to pay their respects and hopefully catch a glimpse of surviving family across the graves. I couldn`t imagine living like that, and seeing the cemetery brought home the fact that families were literally torn in half when the wall went up.

There was also a reconstructed version of what “No Man’s Land” (the space between walls that separated the Allies from the Soviets) looked like, and this was very interesting. But what stuck out for me more than anything was when our tour guide walked us down a street full of apartment buildings.

One side of the street used to be East Berlin, and the other side used to be West Berlin. Even twenty years after the wall came down, it was still easy to discern the differences between communist and capitalist architecture. The East Berlin apartments were dull, simple, ugly, and looked very "stiff." In essence, I was staring at a concrete jungle. The West Berlin apartments looked much friendlier. The paint wasn’t as chipped, the colours were brighter, and each building wasn’t an exact carbon copy of its neighbour.

The area of the city we walked through was also one of the places where Berliners attempted to tunnel underground from one side of the wall to the other. Our tour guide could even point out the exact locations where people died underneath the road.

The Ampelmann is also a reminder of the differences that used to exist between the east and west sides of the city. At intersections, on pedestrian crossing signs, is a little man wearing a hat that tells people when to walk and not walk. As we ventured through the city, we realized that this little man was only featured on some of the signs. When we brought this to our tour guides attention, she explained that it is a Soviet soldier. When the USSR had control of East Berlin, they changed the signs. In West Berlin, they remained the same. Now that the wall is destroyed, it was decided to leave the reminder of what used to be.

The significance of the Ampelmann similar to the double line of bricks in the street in front of Brandenburg Gate. It`s not a blatantly obvious reminder, but a symbol that the past will never be forgotten.

Visiting the Titanic Exhibit

Last week, I went to see the Titanic Exhibit at the MTS Exhibition Hall.

Years ago, when I was in Halifax, I visited a Titanic museum. At the time, I was about 11 or 12 years old and addicted to learning as much about the disaster as possible. My interest began before the movie Titanic hit theatres in 1999, and something about the tragedy has always affected me in a way I can’t explain. So when the opportunity to visit another Titanic exhibit arose, I was all over it.

The Exhibition Hall definitely does a fantastic job of setting up interesting, impactful and effective exhibits that make people stop and think about what they are experiencing. There was lots of information about the tragedy featured on wall plaques, and corresponding artifacts kept under pressure-sensitive glass brought everything home.

A look inside the exhibit. (And no, I didn't take this picture. Photos are NOT allowed and they will kick you out if you try!)

At the beginning of the exhibit, each guest is handed a replica of a 1912 Titanic boarding pass. It contains the name and general information of a person who actually sailed on the ship. At the end of the exhibit, there is a wall with a list of all the passengers and crew. People are divided into their classes, and then further divided by who lived and who perished at sea.

Before leaving the exhibit, each guest can find out if the person on the boarding pass they were handed lived through the tragedy or not. Mine didn’t. He was a second-class male passenger, and I knew without having to look at the wall that his odds weren’t the greatest.

The phrase “women and children first” was used on the Titanic, and became a common practice afterwards. I can’t even imagine the terror the people on board must have felt. Visiting the Titanic Exhibit was definitely a somber and touching experience, and I strongly suggest everyone visits it before it leaves.

* Image taken from Google

My book launch is over…

For the last year, my book has always been on my mind. Ever since I decided to write a full-length novel, there hasn’t been a day that I didn’t think about it.

There was also always something to do. If I wasn’t writing, I was editing. If I wasn’t editing, I was publishing. And then, after publishing, I actually had to start selling the thing.

So many things were happening with school and life that I didn’t really think about my launch until about two weeks beforehand. I owe so much to my mother, because she basically put the entire event together. I also need to give a huge shout out to both Cre8ery Gallery – my venue – and Diversity Catering, the company that provided all of my food for free.

My biggest fear was that no one would show up and I wouldn’t sell very many books. One never knows with an “artsy” event like a book launch. Thankfully, I worried for nothing. Over 85 people attended, and I sold 65 copies of Pieces.

I can honestly say this… My book launch was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. When I stood in front of the microphone and stared out at the loving, supportive faces of my friends and family I was almost reduced to tears on the spot. I cannot express how humbled and grateful I feel for the love and the kindness I received last night, and the launch wouldn’t have been a success without my guests.

Who am I kidding? It wouldn’t have been anything without my guests. You are all amazing.

There will be a video of the book launch ready soon, and I will post it on my blog. I also had an amazing photographer take pictures throughout the night (thank you, Cindy Titus), and I’ve included a few of my favourites below. I hope you enjoy!

Desiree, Jess & Danielle. And food. :)

A few of my fantastic classmates watching the presentation.

One of my lovely table volunteers Kristen shows off my book.

I talk about my book!

Some of my guests. That's Jeff & Ty - my boys - in the front row.

I sign a copy of Pieces.

Berlin: The most important moment

This is a multi-entry blog. For the first part, click here. For the second part, click here.

Next, we walked by the American Embassy. I found two things to be very amusing. First, it was located directly beside Brandenburg Gate. That must be a prime piece of land, and I thought it was hilarious that it belonged to the Americans. To add insult to injury, there was even a Starbucks across the street.

Second, there appeared to be more security at the American Embassy than anywhere else in the city. The military personnel pacing back and forth around the perimeter looked ready for a fight. They appeared to be just waiting for someone to jump onto a bench, pull out a gun, and start screaming. It didn’t happen, but every time I passed by the American Embassy, the men patrolling outside looked like they were ready to rumble.

As I mentioned, the American Embassy was directly beside Brandenburg Gate, and that’s where we went next. We had briefly stopped at the Gate the previous day when we arrived in Berlin, but now we could actually take time to marvel at it. I took as many pictures as humanly possible, then simply sat back and stared.

The entire structure is larger than I imagined it would be, and I felt so small beside it. In front of the gate, on Unter den Linden, is a double line of bricks weaving awkwardly down the street. I asked Katie what the line was, and she explained it is where the Berlin Wall used to be. Even though the wall has almost been completely removed, it is still important to remember where it stood. The wall cut off Brandenburg Gate, and separated the street into two halves. Not very practical, if you ask me.

Brandenburg Gate was a short distance away from the Holocaust Memorial, and that is where we went next. The memorial is fairly new, and it was erected in 2005. I took a number of photos, but I really can’t do this incredible structure justice. It was designed by Peter Eisenman, and takes up 205,000 square feet. Each of the 2711 gray stones are a slightly different shape and size. They seem to wave and undulate when you walk through them, and the floor rises and falls as you work your way into the middle. Eisenman wanted to create a feeling of disorder, and he succeeded.

Officially, the memorial is named the Monument to the Murdered Jews of Europe, and it can be visited anytime – night or day. There is also a subterranean visitor’s centre, where photographs and information is available.

An interesting piece of information is that the company that makes the grey anti-graffiti paint the memorial is painted with is also the same company that produced the Zyklon-B gas used on Jews in concentration camps during the Second World War. Startling and upsetting to be sure, but the company has volunteered to re-paint the memorial free of charge every seven years indefinitely.

We next walked about half a block and arrived at the site of Hitler’s Bunker. There was nothing left, as the Soviets filled in the underground space with cement during the Cold War, but standing on top of it was enough. There is an information billboard set up nearby that explains where everything was, but otherwise the spot just looks like a pile of grass in front of an apartment building. It was intense – to say the least – to be standing on top of the exact spot where Adolph Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide together during the last days of the war.

The second last stop on our walking tour was a large piece of the Berlin Wall. Throughout the walk, I was becoming increasingly emotional, and I was growing concerned that I wouldn’t be able to hold it together when we finally reached the wall. As a history lover, I have studied Germany for years. I wrote essays and reports about each of the locations I visited that day, but this was the first time I had actually visited them all in-person at once.

Thankfully, Jill understood my feelings, and helped me have a moment alone with the wall before the rest of the tour arrived. We ran ahead, and reached the wall when no one else was around. Taking a deep breath, I ran across the street, and Jill started snapping pictures. She managed to capture a photo of me standing in front of the wall, alone and contemplating. It is my absolute favourite photograph from my entire European adventure. You can’t tell in the picture, but I was crying my eyes out the entire time.

The last stop on the tour was Checkpoint Charlie, and it was the most anti-climactic part of the walking tour. There was a museum – which was gigantic and interesting – and also a number of information billboards, but everything was a re-creation. The real Checkpoint Charlie was destroyed years ago. I spent a few moments taking it all in, and then Chris, Jill and I took off on a very important mission. We decided to spend the afternoon exploring the Berlin Zoo.

I think that’s enough information about Berlin for now, so I'll pick up the rest of my tale later...

Auf Wiedersehn for now.

My heart goes out to Japan

As the death toll rises and the damage to property is calculated, I can feel my heart breaking for the poor people in Japan.

I pray that those who are missing are found, and those who lost loved ones can gradually begin to pick up the pieces of their lives.

I've decided not to write blog posts about the disaster because there is already so much coverage. But I'm watching - everyday - and I'm silently praying for the safety of the tiny country halfway around the world.

A successful media advisory

Occasionally, I Google myself.

This isn't a vanity thing. Recently, I have become the "go-to girl" for media advisory creation and distribution. Last week, I sent out about 30 advisories to media outlets around Manitoba that explained what the IPP Presentations at the Convention Centre were all about.

Well, I now know that my advisory worked on at least one media outlet. ChrisD.ca - a local journalist and blogger - pasted my advisory on his website. I don't know how many people read it, but knowing that my efforts actually worked is a fantastic feeling.

If you want to see the post, click here.

And, if you need any kind of media exposure for an event, organization or activity, please hire me :)

Another CreComm milestone is complete

Today I stood up in front of roughly 200 people and talked for 10 minutes about my first book.

I was nervous for about two days prior to the presentation. Earlier today - and especially first thing this morning - I was losing my mind with fear. Normally, I am not afraid of public speaking. But this was one of the most important presentations I have ever made, and I didn't want to ruin it.

Strangely enough, as I sat in the dark theatre waiting for my turn to stand up on the stage, my fears disappeared. I've been working on this book for a year. Of course I want to tell people about it. And beyond that, I want them to buy it and read it.

Overall, I think the presentation went well. I have copied my speech below, in case any of my out-of-town readers are curious what I said.

My aunt and her parents in 1916.

*****

I believe that a person can’t truly understand who they are until they understand their family’s past. The actions of our relatives are a part of our lives forever, whether we want to admit this or not. The woman featured in the book trailer that just played is my late great-aunt Rose. She led a fascinating life, and I chose to make her story the topic of my IPP.

Good afternoon everyone. For the next seven minutes I’m going to tell you all about my first book, Pieces.

• I will discuss where the idea for my book came from
• I will walk you through the process of how I actually wrote the book
• I’ll read a short excerpt that I hope will interest you
• And I’ll talk about the final product.

The idea for what would later become my IPP was first introduced to me in August of 2007.

• My great-aunt Rose – who was living in Armstrong B.C. – called my mother one day and announced that she wanted visitors.
• Rose was 91 years old at the time, and as she told my mom on the phone, she knew that she was going to die soon.
• Mom obliged, and said she would visit Rose, and I opted to tag along.
• We spent a weekend in Armstrong, and our visit quickly turned into a fascinating history lesson.
• In the four days I was there, Rose gradually told me her life story.
• Why she decided to confide in me, I will never know, but thankfully I was smart enough to take notes.
• I left Armstrong with three notebooks filled with information, and a great appreciation for what Rose had been through in her life.

And then, a year later, she died.

• Rose never had children, and most of her relatives besides my immediate family were also dead.
• The way that I saw it was that if I didn’t write her story, no one else would, and there was no way I could ever let that happen.

So, when it became time to pick an IPP topic in the spring of 2010, it was obvious what I would choose. I was going to write about my great-aunt Rose’s life, and that’s exactly what I did.

Once my IPP was approved, I was faced with the daunting task of actually writing the book I had proposed.

• I also had an added difficulty because most of what I was writing had actually happened.
• All of the locations, characters, and incidents were real, which meant I needed to conduct lots of research to ensure I got all the details right.
• To make the writing process easier, I decided to take the summer off - not work - and instead write a complete first draft of Pieces.

The month of May, and part of June, was dedicated to research, and after I finished researching, I started writing.

• Sometimes I suffered from writers block, other times I had insomnia, but gradually, I made progress.

At the end of the summer, when I returned to classes, I had achieved my goal and managed to write a complete, 100,000 word first draft of my book. From September until January I edited and revised the draft in an effort to produce an end result that actually resembled a real book.

Now, I would like to share an excerpt with you from the completed version of Pieces.

The scene I am going to read is from the fifth section of the book.

• Rose has just found out that her mother Olga had been sent to Selkirk Mental Institution in 1939. Rose hasn’t seen her mother in 40 years, but she chooses to visit her inside the walls of the Institution.
• Another character who is mentioned in this scene is Carolyn – Olga’s nurse –and I hope you like it.

To read the excerpt, click here.

That’s only a small excerpt, and if you want to know what happens next, you’ll have to buy the book.

So, where am I now with my IPP? Well, I’m happy to announce that I have received all 150 copies of my book, Pieces, and they are currently available for purchase.

• I will also be having a book launch at cre8ery gallery on Sunday, March 20, and you are all welcome to attend.

I want to take a moment, before l leave you, to thank the one person who made this book possible.

• My great-aunt Rose was an amazing woman, and I am so grateful she was brave enough to tell me her life story.
• At the end of the day - at the end of the school year - this book is really a tribute to her and her life.
• It has been almost three years since she died, but by writing this book I feel that I have ensured her memory and her life will never be forgotten.

Thank you for listening to my presentation, and I hope that what I have shared with you has made you just a little more curious about your own family history.

Berlin: The walking tour continued...

This is the second part of a multi-entry blog. To read the first part, click here.

I won’t go into detail about every single building and monument we visited, and instead I’ll stick to the highlights. We walked down Unter den Linden – an iconic boulevard - in what used to be East Germany. It is named after the lime trees that run down the boulevard. They were removed during the Second World War, because Hitler felt they interrupted the fluidity of his marches, but were replanted in 1951.

This street is very important, because it is down it that Hitler marched during numerous parades. At one end is the Berlin Cathedral, a gorgeous Gothic structure. At the other end is the Brandenburg Gate. Through the gate is the Tiergarten, and down the street is the tall, impressive Napoleon Memorial. The street is a combination of large, important buildings, shops, restaurants, embassies, and hotels. It’s absolutely magnificent.

Gorgeous St. Hedwig's Cathedral. The famous domes are impossible not to stare at.

We passed St. Hedwig’s Cathedral, the Berlin State Opera, the Neue Wache (National War Monument), and stopped at Bebelplatz, a small cobblestone square off Unter den Linden. This square is significant because it was the site of the Nazi book burnings on May 10, 1933. Over 20,000 books were burned. There is a small plaque that marks the spot, but it is in German. If you walk a little bit further into the square, there is a huge sheet of clear glass built into the ground. Underneath the square, a memorial has been constructed. In a large white room are many empty bookshelves. Enough room to house the 20,000 books that were burned.

Across the street from Bebelplatz is Humboldt University. Some of the most famous students and professors include Albert Einstein, Otto von Bismarck, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx, and Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm. The building is still used as a university today, and I hope the students there appreciate the historic place where they go everyday to learn.

Further down the street, we stopped at the Russian Embassy. There wasn’t really much to look at, but Katie wanted to point out that a hammer and sickle is still chiseled above every window and doorway on the building. Even though the USSR officially fell in January of 1991, there are still reminders of the past communist presence everywhere, because for nearly forty years, the Soviets controlled half of the city.

There also used to be a statue of Lenin in front of the embassy, but it was removed to the interior years ago. We could only observe the building through a very high, very imposing metal fence, but I still was glad to have the opportunity to take a look. Imagine all of the people who have walked inside those walls, and conspired behind the security of locked doors and closed windows.

I quickly want to talk about Hotel Adlon. It is located beside the American Embassy, and is about fifty feet from Brandenburg Gate. This hotel is significant because it is where Michael Jackson held his son out the window while paparazzi snapped photographs. When I was in Berlin it was right after Jackson died, and Katie was unsure if she should tell the story or not. We all convinced her to keep sharing the detail with her tours, because it was a legitimate piece of interesting history.

A photo I snapped of Hotel Adlon. I also zoomed in on the balcony...

TO BE CONTINUED...

MY BOOK IS AVAILABLE!

Berlin: The Beginning

I have been saving this travel blog post, because I knew it was going to be very difficult to write. I have wanted to visit Berlin since I was a child. In fact, the reason why my brother Chris and I went on this specific Contiki Tour was because it passed through Berlin. That was my one requirement... I had to see this magical city.

Even twenty years after the Berlin Wall has come down, the city is still rebuilding. There are construction sites, cranes, barriers and workers everywhere. Old, dilapidated buildings are being torn down for new, twenty-first century replacements. Some areas of Berlin look exactly as they must have fifty years ago; others are unbelievably modern. It is truly a surreal experience.

I did a lot of research on Berlin prior to leaving Canada, and I was armed with maps, street names and pictures. I did this for every city, and trust me, planning ahead saved us a few times. Coincidentally, a walking tour of the city had been arranged previously for our Contiki group, and it was an exact match to the route I had planned to take. We were to set out first thing in the morning, and would spend half of the day wandering around Berlin. I couldn’t wait.

Before I start talking about the sightseeing we did, I have to talk briefly about our hostel. Wombat’s Hostel. It was one of the better hostels we stayed in, and was definitely the cleanest. The rooms themselves are on the smaller side, especially because we had to cram in five girls, but the building is spectacular.

There is a bar on the seventh floor, a large dining room, an Internet station, laundry, and telephones. The walls are painted funky, bright purples and greens. The lights in the entire building work on motion sensors – to be more eco-friendly – and one can only enter their floor with a key card (which ensures everyone is safe and supposed to be there). We also had the most amazing view, as you can see from the picture below. Not only could we see some very interesting graffiti, but we could see the Fernsehturm - the television tower – in the background.

The view from my hostel window. Gorgeous.

One other great thing about our hostel was its location. We were thirty seconds away from the Rosa Luxembourg subway station, and about ten minutes from Alexanderplatz. This meant that we could easily walk to the city centre, and easily find our way home if we got lost.

We met our tour guide – Katie, an American – at the statues of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. She took a moment to explain their significance, but I already knew the background. Marx and Engels were Germans, and co-wrote The Communist Manifesto, a book that would become very significant throughout the world. Vladimir Lenin, a Russian, took the theories in the Manifesto and applied them to what later became the Bolshevik Party. The statues stand near Alexanderplatz, and are one of many reminders of the past.

Marx & Engels immortalized.

TO BE CONTINUED...