On February 27, 1933 the Reichstag which housed the first parliament of the German Empire caught fire.  This event is seen as pivotal in the establishment of Nazi Germany.  Hitler used the power he already had as Chancellor and further helped propel his own interests after the fire.  When a group of people are in fear they typically cling to those in power with answers.  During times of fear, clarity of thought is fogged.  It was almost to easy for Hitler to use fear for own self interest.

Fast forward to 2001.  Can you draw any parallels from the events of history to now?  It’s even scary just to that about that.  But let me ask you, was it all that scary in 1933?  No one would have gone along with him if they thought so.

So let me ask you, how will history tell the story we are currently living?

Train station of Berlin

(Tue, Nov 18 - Mon, Nov 24)
continued from: Out of my element in Deutchland, part 1

Berlin

My first impressions

On Friday morning we boarded a very fancy train to Berlin.  At 4 hours, it was a fairly quick trip, but quite an expensive one — the effect of a lack of planning and traveling day-by-day.  The good news though, was that the train was nice enough to drop us off at the main station (Hauptbahnhof) which was in the center of the city.  Unfortunately Koln’s train did not take on the same role.

After only one day I had already fallen in love with the city.  The people, the beer, the culture, the history.  Berlin has it all. Read the rest of this entry »

(Tue, Nov 18 - Mon, Nov 24)

Köln

Me to lady leading the group: Where are we?
Her: ::shrug::
Me: Uh, where’s the metro?
Her: ::shrug::
Me: WTF! (unfortunately only in my head)

Getting our bearings

WEDNESDAY — We stepped off the bus into what literally felt like another world. I finally felt out of my element. Partly because we were dropped off on the side of the road, probably for convenience to get back on the highway, and partly because the first few people we approached for directions spoke not an ounce of English. Not to worry though, this is what traveling is about.

We took a few minutes to get our bearings. I remember making a mental note of a huge cathedral only a few miles from our bus route. I assumed this to be Kölner Dom, or Cologne Cathedral for us Americans. OK, great.. a starting point!  After spitting out several “sprenken sie deutch?” lines I got one to bite!  She was an extremely friendly (and tall) woman on a bike.  She pointed us in the direction of the metro and we continued walking around this unexplored territory.  METRO! Turns out it was only 10 minutes from the bus stop.  It’s funny though, until you can see the forest from the trees the forest seems unmanageable and neverending.  We grabbed the next train and headed for the city center, Köln Hauptbahnhof (Hpf).  (Hpf denotes the city centers in Germany.)

Dunkel weißen (e.g. dark wheat beer).  One of my favs!

Read the rest of this entry »