Been off this for a bit due to travel, lack of internet, and having to get the last assignment due whilst on holidays done, so this is a bit of a reflection on the 3 cities we travelled to after leaving London just over a week ago.
Wien / Vienna
Having left the metropolis that is London (I'll write more on that when we go back,) we arrived in Vienna via plane a week ago. We had decided before we left that we'd only do short stays in our first few cities as we wanted to do the driving thing so Vienna was merely a jumping off point. Historically, the three cities we visited displayed very different characteristics. Vienna manages to make you feel like you've travelled back in time to the 18th century. They seem proud of their Hapsburg heritage, and even prouder of their music. I enjoyed the irony of being annoyed on street corners not by people trying to sell you a fake Rolex, but by people dressed in Classical attire trying to flog off cheap classical music concert tickets. "You come, pay €39, and see this wonderful concert of classical music. All our members are in the Vienna Philharmonic, here is the program. It is the same as the New Years program. for you, because it is Sunday/Monday/AnyDayOfTheWeek you get A tickets for €49 not €59...etc..." I would have liked to have gone to one, just to say I had, but after we'd done a hop-on-hop-off bus for a whole day on the second day in town the thought of listening to more Strauss (played non-stop between the audio commentary) made me want to puke. Still, the city is striking for how they've rebuilt since WWII, when 20% of the buildings were destroyed by Allied bombing. They rebuilt, rather than replaced, and the new buildings match the older facades. This is my favourite part about these areas of Europe.
Praha / Prague
There's a lot of old history in Prague as well, as you look at the castle and Charles bridge, and walk the cobblestones through the squares to see the cathedrals, and I enjoyed this. However, it is the modern side of Prague that intrigued me. In a weird little suite of rooms above a Maccas and next to a Casino is Prague's "Museum of Communism,"a collection of replicas and real items from the period of Soviet control of the old Czechoslovakia. It's less of a museum, and more of a teaching suite, telling the story of Prague and the Czech people under the Soviet rule. From the end of WWII, through the uprisings of the Prague spring and subsequent Soviet invasion to stamp out dissent, it was illuminating to read and watch the stories of a people fighting for their freedom. The fall of communism in Czechoslovakia is called the "Velvet Revolution," due to the speed in which the system failed, and the lack of blood spilt. It took a mere 10 days of mass demonstrations in 1989 for the people of Prague to fell an entire government. As we walked back to the hotel through Wenceles Square, the site where thousands peacefully protested, it is hard to imagine the feelings they must have experienced as they looked at the military and police opposite them, waiting for them to get the order to attack and squash the protesters. Those orders never came...
Berlin
Whilst Vienna is all about old history, and Prague is a mixture of the old and the hurt of communism, to me Berlin is a city that is all about the new. Of course, there are some beautiful old buildings in Berlin, and some important history surrounding the cities place in unification and the Kingdom of Prussia. However, so much of Berlin got destroyed by the Allied bombings in WWII, followed by the Soviet invasion, and the subsequent occupation by the 4 powers, that what is old in Berlin is mostly rebuilt in homage rather than still existing. It is a city under construction, but not like somewhere like Abu Dhabi, where the building is happening for the sake of it, rather it is attempting to recover the things that Nazism and Communism stole from it. Berlin is trying to pull itself up from 65 years of division and subjugation. As if the Nazis weren't bad enough, Berlin became the symbol of East vs West throughout the Cold War; literally a city at war with itself. I have a recollection of the Wall coming down, although I was only 10 at the time. But the concept has pervaded my adult life through my studies. Once again, it is difficult for someone like myself, with nothing more than hindsight, to imagine how it must have felt for a Berlin native to see the major landmarks of their city, like the Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag building, surrounded by a concrete monstrosity.
On the east side of the River Spree, in an area of East Berlin that seems to yearn for better days, is a 1.3km section of The Wall called the East Side Gallery. Here, in 1990, artists from all over the world traveled to Berlin to paint the East side of this part of the now broken wall. Their homage to freedom remains, and has been refurbished for renewal, and is a fitting reminder that the actions of people yearning for freedom can change the world.
Thoughts...
It's important to understand the history of these places, and the people that lived there. Without perspective of our past, we can never control our future. This is why I have part of my adult life studying History. What these 3 places have made me think is that perhaps, inherent and basic to all of us, is a need to be free. What that freedom means to each person is naturally different, but a people can not have their freedoms removed without eventually fighting back. I think we are seeing this happen in the Islamic world now. But it isn't easy, and those of us in the "cultured" West need to understand that the fight to be free almost always involves misunderstanding and bloodshed. And usually, it is when the yoke is lifted that people are at their most vulnerable. It's been over 20 years since the Wall came down, but the people of Berlin are still building their new city. However, freedom is never finished. We have to fight for it ever day, as individuals and a people.
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