On Sunday we got up and visited the East Side Gallery, a long portion of the Berlin wall that still stands and has been painted. I have my own opinions on this, but I post the pictures and you can form your own opinions.
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| The Romans strike again! |
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| This view looked very different not that long ago |
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| Pokeball? |
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| More like flew too slow, Rome to Berlin |
On the one hand with the wall, I understand turning a negative symbol into a positive one, or at least one that teaches hope not hate. However, some of those paintings were modern (2004) and below had emails and websites of the artists. It disgusts me to think people could be making money off the Berlin wall. Isn't it swell Berlin was once divided into East and West so that they left a nice canvas for modern artists to make some coin? Mixed feelings about how the wall should be displayed. We left the East Side Gallery and went to one of the big flea markets in Berlin, which was really cool.
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| An old friend |
Left the flee market and made it back to Austin's apartment for mass at 12, then I caught the 2 bus to the airport.
In case I ever get an instagram, I grabbed some classic airplane photos on the flight home
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| Oh hey Tiber |
Then it was back to Rome and bed. And that was the trip. Tomorrow I provide my overall commentary on the trip and Berlin. Like the Keenan review, it'll be censored.
The wall should have been left "as is" so that the starkness between East and West could have been felt. The West side had graffiti as it was not patrolled or manned. The East side was stark and had no graffiti because it was guarded with soldiers, guns and dogs. The West didn't want to go to the East, but many a person tried going to the West and most didn't make it. What they've done is commercialized a point in history that should stand as a remembrance and statement that "this should not happen again!'. But you as an historian know that it surely will.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the written commentary and the verbal commentary when you return home.
Dad