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99 Luftballoons

(this is a paraphrase post of another blog entry I read about 99 Luftballoons. I thought it raised some good points.)

Having been cognizant during the 1980's, you will have end up partying with Nena at some point. The original 99 Luftballoons release appeared in Germany in February 1983, followed up by an English version released the next year. It became one of the 80's better-known pop anthems. The classic anti-war song was written after the band was inspired upon seeing a bunch of balloons rising up on the other side of the Berlin Wall one day. 

Many people don't realise that this song is about the end of the world as a result of a nuclear exchange. This is how it was in the 80s when we all believed the odds were decent that we'd be killed in a Thermonuclear war. It was so ingrained in our thinking that the fluffy pop songs even traded on it.

Potentially this is why Gen Xer's have trouble taking modern music seriously, since "our" catchy tunes concerned global annihilation and human extinction, then went darker and heavier from there. After getting weaned on music in that kettle, you just can't access ditties about relationship drama, gangsta self-love hero bullshit and emo whining about their unfair suburban existences.

So hier ist Nena in all her Deutsch glory.

Hast Du etwas Zeit für mich 
Dann singe ich ein Lied fuer Dich 
Von 99 Luftballons 
Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont 

Denkst Du vielleicht grad' an mich 
Dann singe ich ein Lied fuer Dich 
Von 99 Luftballons 
Und dass sowas von sowas kommt 

99 Luftballons 
Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont 
Hielt man fuer UFOs aus dem All 
Darum schickte ein General 

Eine Fliegerstaffel hinterher 
Alarm zu geben, wenn es so war 
Dabei war da am Horizont 
Nur 99 Luftballons 

99 Duesenjaeger 
Jeder war ein grosser Krieger 
Hielten sich fuer Captain Kirk 
Das gab ein grosses Feuerwerk 

Die Nachbarn haben nichts gerafft 
Und fuehlten sich gleich angemacht 
Dabei schoss man am Horizont 
Auf 99 Luftballons 

99 Kriegsminister 
Streichholz und Benzinkanister 
Hielten sich fuer schlaue Leute 
Witterten schon fette Beute 

Riefen, Krieg und wollten Macht 
Mann, wer haette das gedacht 
Dass es einmal soweit kommt 
Wegen 99 Luftballons 

99 Jahre Krieg 
Liessen keinen Platz fuer Sieger 
Kriegsminister gibt es nicht mehr 
Und auch keine Duesenflieger 

Heute zieh ich meine Runden 
Seh die Welt in Truemmern liegen 
Hab' nen Luftballon gefunden 
Denk' an Dich und lass' ihn fliegen

Gorlitzer Bahnhof: Jay's Historical Archaeology Tour

Gorlitzer Park, from a vantage point I would not be able to get.

"Gorlitzer Bahnhof" is a line stop on the U12 in Berlin's Kreuzberg district. It is two stops from the end of the line at Warschauer Strasse. We pass through Gorlitzer every day riding the train into work. When I bike commute in, I cross through the nearby Gorlitzer Park on my way to the Oberbaumbrucke bridge over the Spree to get to the office. Beyond the parallel mention of Gorlitzer in these two instances I had not given it a second thought.

One day I wondered why the stop was called Gorlitzer "Bahnhof." Bahnhof means "Train Station." Strange that there is no apparent Bahnhof at Gorlitzer Bahnhof. A few days later while riding through the park of that name I spotted a strange relic of half-buried, crumbling concrete in the center of a large bowl situated in the middle of the park.  Why would you lay something like that in the middle of a park?

Now my interest was getting going, so I checked in on Google Maps to have the birdseye view of the area and noticed a curious green swath extending southeast from the park in a gentle curve through residential neighborhoods. It continued mysteriously until dissolving into a green delta at the intersection of the S-Bahn train tracks that form the outer rail ring around the city. Why would there be a broad sweep like this right through neighborhoods filled tightly with apartment blocks, I wondered. One of the wonderful things about Berlin is that anything that looks slightly out of place has a really interesting reason to be this way. So I dove in!

In 1867 Gorlitzer Bahnhof, constructed in the Palazzo style architecture of the Italian Renaissance, opened to the public. It was an immediate hit, carrying 70,000 passengers daily within a few months of its opening. In its first full year of operation it carried 1.5M passengers. Gorlitzer served the industrial areas of Gorlitz to the south of Berlin (hence the name) and the popularity of the line spawned many cafes and other businesses to locate near the station. Because the station was laid out in a general East-West format it tended to disrupt North-South foot traffic through this part of Kreuzberg, so in 1910 a pedestrian tunnel was drilled underneath the station.

Ah but then the war came along. Railheads were easy and obvious targets, so the allied air attacks targeted the stations often. The air attack on 3 February 1945 on this sector of Kreuzberg put the station out of commission, in addition to leaving 119,000 homeless and killing over 3,000. When the Russians arrived, the area was the scene of intense fighting since the railroad bridges over the Landwehr Canal provided a valuable route into the city for the invading Red Army.

Patched up, Gorlitzer continued to offer some level of service after the war, but the problem was that all the southbound trains went into Communist GDR territory. Gorlitzer Bahnhof was inside West Berlin. The GDR did not want trains under its control terminating in a West Berlin station, so they cut off passenger train service in 1951.

With the arrival of the Berlin Wall ten years later, there was even less of a reason to keep the station around, so between 1962 and 1967 much of the historic infrastructure and buildings were leveled. This was a precursor to a Berlin City initiative in the 1970's to clean up the city. This mandate claimed many historical structures.

Cleaning up the grounds in the 80's.

September 2015. The historic goods sheds/warehouses.

After the Wall fell in 1990, the area was turned into a public park. One of the central features of the park was a massive "crater" be built in the center of the green space to form a natural ampitheatre. This feature went right on top of the old pedestrian underpass, so most of the tunnel was excavated out. But they left a partial line of concrete that formed the wall of the tunnel as a nod to history, which is what I spied on the bike that one day.

Pedestrian Underpass, pre-demolition in the 80's.

Same viewpoint today..Buildings changed. Tunnel remnants in center.

Tunnel remnants they left for the spray painters.

Tunnel ruins and ampitheatre.

Today at the north end of the site there still stands a couple goods sheds and an old office building, which has been turned into an artists co-op and biergarten.

At the eastern end of the park there stands one of the old railway bridges over the Landwehr Canal that used to carry passengers out of the city. The mysterious green swatch I noticed on the satellite view of the area is of course the former train tracks and brick aqueduct that carried them. Hidden underneath the trees are the old brick archways of that aqueduct.

Being a curious type, I went out and explored it to see the remains of history that somehow quietly persist amid this bustling, renovating and restoring-everything-in-sight metropolis.

Heading south over the Landwehr Canal, mid-80s. The Wall is visible at left and on tracks.

Same spot today, except tracks over bridge from above picture were removed, leaving just a single set crossing the canal.

Main line bridge over the Landwehr Canal, looking SE. Signal bridge visible amid the trees.

They've dismantled one of the old bridges (you can still see the support platform on each bank of the Canal) and turned the old railroad bed into a raised bike path.

Old railway support platform, looking North over Landwehr Canal.

Looking north, just before the bridge.

A little further out towards the ring railline, this is the bridge over Bouchestrasse, looking Southeast.

The old railway embankment is supported on top of a brick aqueduct that is now mostly obscured by trees and bushes.

Arches have been filled in to deter street-squatter activity (?)

On top of the railway embankment heading out of town. Rail debris.

Bike trail. Here is another street bridge where they dismantled one set of tracks and took down the bridge so that just one remains. This is about the point where a dog started chasing me.

Bridge supports. Dog still chasing me, barking and snarling, making it difficult to take urban explorer pictures.

End of the trail. Dog got bored and took off. Embankment continues out to the S-Bahn ring railline around the city. Eventually I will come at it from that direction and see how much infrastructure is still sitting around beyond the fence. 

That brings us to the end of this edition of Jay's Historical Archaeology Tour of Berlin. Next up: Flak Towers from the WWII defense of the city. Yes they are still here.

For detail nuts, here is the original Bahnhof plans. Engine turntable at lower right is now a hill with a slide.

Cody birthday pics + our first Berlin snowfall

Pithaya Fruit!

What on earth is it?

Jasper helps mommy with her German homework

No, really. He is.

Breakfast of champs

..eat all the frosting off the frosted mini wheats and discard the remains.

Cody rides a bike!

Jasper gives him some tips in the courtyard then at the park he's off! (Watch the video)

Cody's been on his balance bike for some time and today we went up to the pedal bike. Watch the crazy escapades that happen next!!

Prague Weekend

PRAGUE AUTUMN

Finishing out Oktober with a bang, we decided to run down to Prague for the weekend. Neither of us had been on our previous European trips and the place is generally well-regarded by pretty much anyone who visits. Elena, Franco and Luka flew up from Udine and we rented a big AirBnB flat a few blocks from Wenceslas Square in the historic district. 

It is a 3.5 hour drive on the Autobahn between the cities, so we took off at 3pm on Friday afternoon in our Puegot Euro-SUV, and got in around 9. A small detour and a couple Jasper puke sessions delayed us.

Luckily we had sunny weather all weekend, so beautiful light on the monuments that the city is famous for amidst the changing leaves and perfectly chilly days. Still lots of tourist crowds but a fraction of what the place sees in the high summer. Step one: descend into the earth and figure out the underground train system.

Heading downtown. Way down.

Near where a lady yelled at us for letting the kids play too close to the edge of the platform. OK, she had a point.

River spires in the morning haze.

Changing of the guard: Prague Castle.

Gargoyle on the castle cathedral. Rainwater drains out of the mouth.

The Charles Bridge, one of Prague's big landmarks. Crossing the Vltava River since the early 1400's, it is adorned with 30 Baroque-style statues and a large number of guys with charcoal pencils and easels who will sketch your likeness in under 5 minutes. Seriously, they will time themselves. This takes away from the slightly religious experience of crossing the bridge.

Looking down on the non-pious sketch artists.

A slightly less-than-pious bas-relief in town.

Main Square in the old town: Church of Our Lady before Tyn.

Cody helps the bubble lady out. Soap from popped bubbles coats the slick cobbles, which claimed numerous child victims to slips and falls. Whoever fell gets to make their own bubbles! (Cody fell)

Wenceslas Square. "Good King Wenceslas went out..." and got assassinated by his brother due to political intrigues. His brother's name? BOLESLAV THE CRUEL!! Not joking. If I had a brother who had that kind of name, you know I'd be keeping an eye on that SOB.

The Old Jewish Cemetery. The oldest stone dates to 1439, with the last addition coming when America ratified the Constitution in 1787. 

The headstones are packed in tight since they didn't give the Jews very much space to bury their dead. New burials basically had to dig up someone else and put them underneath. In some places there are ten people buried on top of each other. The whole place is strangely mounded the result of dirt piled on top of new burials: there are around 12,000 tombstones but nearly 100,000 burials occurred here.

Jasper and Franco, who are not Jewish, still wear the stylish Yamaka as provided by the caretakers.

Continuing the exploration of the old Jewish quarter, we happen across the Spanish Synagogue, which all agreed was the snazziest.

Jay reprises his role as "Eurail American Traveler" from 1990 with his special edition teal LL Bean Anorak.

Playing matching games with beer coasters in the biergarten.

Cody gets chased by a lethal goose-pack.

Charles Bridge in background. Geese held at bay!

Loved the street signs here - metal bubbled out.

There was lots of walking this weekend. And carrying of Cody.

Fall sunlight on beautiful architecture. And streetcar. Will have to come back here.