Berlin in a Nanosecond

Day 1: Stuck unceremoniously at Heathrow Airport for 8 hours.

Day 2: Berlin, Germany. Half-day train ride to Warsaw, Poland.

We flew British Airways from New York to Berlin, with a layover at London's Heathrow Airport. Nightmare of my life! Our tour company that booked our flights to Berlin decided to be clever and gave us only 1 hour breathing room between connecting flights, so of course we missed it and couldn't get into Berlin until half a day later than expected at 8pm, making Day 1 officially a wash. I can totally empathize now with those travelers stranded in Heathrow because of Eyjafjallajokull. And what's with this EU VAT of 17.5%?! Oh wait, so THAT's what happens with you live in a welfare state!

A note about British Airways -- they have the most peppy and charming flight attendants ever! I do enjoy being called "darling" once in awhile. :) I bought a Longchamp bag on their duty-free shop, which ended up being $75 compared to the normal retail price of $145 in the US. Can someone please explain to me why there's a ~50% price discrepancy here (aside from the currency fluctuation)? I'm sure there's an Ebay arbitrage here, haha.

Because our tour was focused on Eastern Europe, we were only alloted one day in Germany (considered to be part of Western Europe). However, it was a really appropriate starting point to kickoff the tour so we could gain some reference in regards to Nazi Germany and the Soviet iron curtain.

Pariser Platz - where Berlin and Germany's most famous landmark, the Brandenburg Gate, is located. 2010 vs. 1945

What's left of the Berlin Wall. Stupid tour director only gave us brief glimpses as we sped down the road. I'm docking 10 points from Grand Circle Tours. We also got to go to Checkpoint Charlie, a crossing point between East/West Berlin during the Cold War, where you can pose with handsome German boys posing as American soldiers for 1 Euro.

Our tour guide: "To give you some insight as to how we Germans do things, do you see the tags on the trees lining the street? Yes, we've numbered every single tree in the city. That's how we know there's 1 tree per 3 people!" Yes, indeed... no wonder Germany is considered to be the economic engine of Europe.

It was a shame that we couldn't spend more time in Berlin, because I really did enjoy it there. I wish I could have gone to a sports bar there and watched Germany play at the World Cup!! People were flying the German flag EVERYWHERE... the last time I saw something like that here in New York was after 9-11. Anyway, Berlin streets are wide and clean, and I found the architecture to be very creative. They love covering their funky-shaped buildings with splashes of color and a layer of glass. The whole city felt like a well-oiled machine. Some liken Berlin to New York, but I think that there's just too much urban sprawl to make that analogy true, at least in terms of civic planning. Perhaps it's the whole sophisticated feel and busy atmosphere that does the trick though.

Before we knew it, we were swept towards Warsaw on a 6 hour train-ride through the Polish countryside. It was fun, relaxing, and I had my first foray into pierogi in the dinner car, which are really just like Chinese dumplings filled with sauerkraut and minced meat.

Das ist alles.

Addendum: I just read this article and found it really interesting and relevant. Sorry it's not linked (and copy/pasted), I'm too cheap to have a WSJ subscription and so the article expires in 7 days.

Many Germans Would Rather Waive the Flag (WSJ)

by James Angelos

BERLIN—German flags have sprouted like red, black and gold wildflowers across Berlin this summer. They're appearing on balconies, cars, bicycles, storefront windows, even painted on children's cheeks. Few can match Youssef Bassal's.

Eager to show his enthusiasm for Germany's soccer team during the World Cup, Mr. Bassal, a 38-year old Lebanese immigrant, unfurled a 60-by-15-foot German flag a few weeks ago, on the facade of the building that houses his cell-phone store.

Mr. Bassal knew his Fahne, as the Germans call it, would draw onlookers. What he didn't anticipate was the reaction—outrage.

During the flag's first night on exhibit, Mr. Bassal says, two youths tore it down and tried to set it on fire. Mr. Bassal ordered a new flag, and this time hung it so that it was harder to reach from the sidewalk. Shortly thereafter, a masked group of nighttime marauders showed up, and the second flag disappeared, he says.

Police suspect the culprits are members of Berlin's radical leftist scene. For them, the enormous flag is nothing less than a provocation, a repugnant display of German nationalism.

Across Germany, the story of Youssef Bassal's flag has become a sensation. Since the vandalism began, a steady stream of television crews and reporters have shown up at his little store, here on a street nicknamed "Arab Alley" in Berlin's Neukölln neighborhood, known for its large population of Arab and Turkish immigrants.

That a man from Lebanon named Youssef has gone to such lengths to display and defend Germany's flag—a symbol many Germans themselves are ambivalent about—has forced many here to question the stereotypes they harbor about the country's immigrant population. Immigrants are generally referred to in Germany collectively, often derisively, as Ausländer, foreigners.

None of that worries Mr. Bassal.

"I love Germany," he said. "Germany helped us a lot. Germany fed us and clothed us. They gave us everything."

Mr. Bassal and members of his extended family fled to Germany from a war-torn Lebanon two decades ago. He started his business in 2001, and his two children were raised in Germany, including his 6-year-old "soccer addicted" son, who, Mr. Bassal says, aspires to play for the German national soccer team. Though Mr. Bassal isn't technically a German citizen (he said he hasn't gotten around to applying), he calls himself "almost German."

Not all Germans see it that way. That afternoon, a small car adorned with three small German flags pulled up in front of the store. Three elderly passengers emerged to behold Youssef Bassal's flag.

"I wanted to see what it really looked like," said one of them, as she gazed with wide eyes. She said she heard about the giant flag on the news. "When the Turks feel like Germans, I find that beautiful," she said, wrongly assuming the cousins to be Turks, who comprise Germany's largest ethnic minority. "It's good that they feel like us."

Attitudes such as these befuddle Ibrahim Bassal. When one woman stopped by the store and asked him why the Bassals didn't put up a Palestinian flag instead, he answered, "Why would I?" Equally perplexing, said Ibrahim, have been those who accuse the cousins of stoking nationalism.

"Give me one reason why I should take it down?" he said defiantly. "What does football have to do with nationalism?"

Because of Germany's ultranationalist World War II legacy, exhibitions of national pride until recently have been something of a taboo here. That changed rather suddenly in 2006, when Germany hosted the World Cup and Germans began displaying their national colors more freely. Then-President Horst Köhler welcomed the shift as a "returning to normal," though not all Germans remain entirely comfortable with the new expressions of patriotism.

The Bassal cousins say their patriotism has nothing to do with the evils that transpired long before they immigrated to Germany. Rather, they say, the flag is an expression of the good life they've built here.

"Actually, this is the first time that I've had a problem in Germany," said Youssef, as he took a drag from a cigarette. "They destroyed my flag."