U-Bahn to Deutsche Oper

Studious journaling as we make our way to our afternoon tour of the opera house.  

Outside museum

Staatliches Institut für Musikforschung

Museum for musical instruments. Dating back over 300 years, we are seeing a wide range and types of instruments, some of which will be in use at the opera tonight (doubtfully the steel guitar ;)). 

Settling in to Kreuzberg

We walked over 8 kilometers today (around 5 miles), just in Berlin alone (minus travel getting here). This group is quite hardcore - especially with two persons already coming into the travel time with foot injuries :(. 

After smaller groups had dinner at a Mediterranean cafe, sushi bar, and localvore burger joint around Skälitzer and Oranienstraße, by 9pm we've opted to rest up and enjoy our first night of rest since Wednesday. Spirits are high and all luggage is accounted for!

Start of day two prior to sleep

Author of "Lost and Sound" on the Birth of the Techno Scene in Berlin

For Berlin, the destruction of the wall was a bit like the big bang: a single explosive event that had immeasurable influence on everything that came after. In its wake, an utterly unique scenario took shape—desolate streets, warehouse parties, squatters and the feeling that the city and everyone in it was working with a clean slate. "The atmosphere was burning," as Dimitri Hegemann of Tresor said in RA's recent film, Real Scenes: Berlin. Most of the city's unique personality today, not least its techno scene, was born in this moment of upheaval. 

Tobias Rapp was among the many young Germans who moved to Berlin just after the Wall came down, and who moved directly into a squat. He grew up in tandem with the city, from his early days raving in its virtually lawless clubs, to his eventual post as Der Spiegel's pop culture editor, and he saw how the techno scene changed with it. It's a story he tells in his book, Lost and Sound: Berlin, Techno and the EasyJetset, and one he recounted on the back deck of RA's Berlin office earlier this summer. In this personal and analytical account, Rapp recalls the unchecked freedom of early '90s Berlin, and sheds light on how this atmosphere gave birth to what is now the city's "folk music." ....read more

Practice, Practice, Practice!

No matter what, making an effort to engage in speaking and learning some German language will greatly improve your relations and enrich your experiences with people in Berlin. There are many helpful sites and apps you should make use of:

1. The most popular of mobile language apps – Duolingo – is a great way to familiarize yourself with the sound and basics of language learning (available for iOS, Android, and Windows devices)
2. Mango Languages is a much more robust app and is available through Avila’s Library
3. The BBC has Talk German and Basics lessons

Music of Malcolm X

John Cage on Silence

Robot from Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" in the Film and TV museum

Pop Art in Berlin

Kaitlin Gould pondering Warhol's "Mao"

Freitag: Time to Explore

Today is the day set aside for us to spend it as we see fit. Some are going to the major Catholic Church in Berlin - St. Hedwig - while others are going to the art museum Hamburger Hauptbahnhof, the shopping area of Nikolaiviertel, or perusing local museums that are part of our 3-day museum pass. The cultural opportunities of Berlin beyond the musical performances we are hearing are far reaching and in some cases, not to be missed. We had the chance on Friday to visit the Pergamon Museum (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), where amongst other amazing and massive sites within the museum walls, we were able to see the Ishtar Gate (built around 575 BCE under King Nebuchadnezzar II):

Dereik Domerese and Mariah Thompson at the Ishtar Gate