After a long day of travel, we arrived in Berlin on the evening of January 9th. Due to an issue with the plane in SeaTac, we missed our planned group dinner at Hofbräu Wirtshaus, though I was exhausted and happy to get to sleep. After breakfast on the morning of the 10th, we walked to the Lustgarten (pleasure garden) on Museum Island to meet up with our tour guide, Jesse. During the walk, I was struck by the amazing architecture surrounding me. One of the first buildings to catch my eye was the synagogue across the street from the hostel. We later learned from Jesse, who works there, that the Neue Synagoge (New Synagogue) is home to the Centrum Judicaum, a museum and information center for Jewish tradition. The original building had been heavily damaged during Kristallnacht, and then almost entirely destroyed by the end of WWII. In addition to the Neue Synagoge, the Berliner Dom cut an impressive figure and served as a waypoint for the duration of our stay. With Jesse, we walked all around Berlin-Mitte; the Neue Wache--a memorial for victims of war, Humbolt University--the site of a book burning organized by students in 1933, Brandenburger Tor (the Brandenburg gate), and then across the line marking where the Berlin Wall once stood to the Reichstagsgebäude (parliament building). We then crossed back over the Berlin Wall line and went to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Walking through the memorial was a somber and contemplative experience, one that I'll not soon forget. We then walked to the area of Hitler's bunker, where he and his wife committed suicide. After that, we went to the Topography of Terror, a museum on the site of what was the Gestapo headquarters dedicated to documenting the rise of Nazism and the horrific acts committed from 1933 to 1945. After spending around 2.5 hours there, I walked with some friends back to the hostel, and we did a bit of souvenir shopping on the way. As a group, we then went to Hofbräu Wirtshaus, and I had an excellent potato soup and tried wheat beer for the first time.
On Wednesday morning, we went to the Pergamon Museum. While one of the highlights of the Pergamon, the Pergamon altar, was closed to the public, I still had a wonderful time walking down the Processional Way to the Ishtar Gate, wandering around the Market Gate of Miletus, and taking in all that I could about antiquities from Mesopotamia to Babylon and Allepo to Rome. After a brief break for lunch, I went to the Neues Museum. I particularly enjoyed looking at the bust of Nefertiti, which has been on my bucket list since I first learned about it in elementary school, as well as attempting to read the more legible Greek on various bits of papyrus. That evening, we traveled to Deutsche Oper Berlin to see Oceane. The performances were incredible, especially the wonderfully complex title role sung by Jaquelyn Wagner. I also really enjoyed Doris Soffel's Madame Louise and the comedy she brought to an otherwise very tragic story. The set design and costuming worked very well with each other to create the illusion of an ocean on stage, as well as Oceane's ability to "melt" into the water with her sequined dress. While it took my ears a while to adjust to the octatonic score, I grew to like it, and I'm glad to have it be the first in-person opera I've seen since the start of the pandemic.
Thursday the 12th was a less jam-packed day. I was definitely growing sore from all the walking, so I decided to take it easy. I did a quick run to the store to grab a few things that I'd forgotten and then had a delicious falafel salad at a restaurant near the hostel. I spent the rest of the day reading and resting in preparation for the Berlin Philharmonic's performance of Mendelssohn's Elijah at 20:00. While walking up to the concert hall I was struck by how incredible it was that I was about to see the Berlin Phil, in person. As a music student, I've known about the Berlin Phil for as long as I can remember, and dreamed of hearing them live. Now, I can say that I have, and it was truly a life-changing experience. The orchestra was fantastic, the choir was wonderful, and the soloists were exquisite. Seeing Kirill Petrenko conduct was absolutely amazing. I feel so lucky to see such incredible musicianship in person. I only hope to one day be half the musician of any person on stage that night. I don't think I'll ever forget that concert.
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