It’s really not too early for Christmas merchandising is it? I hadn’t realised it was October already. There’s no shame in Berlin’s Christmas game. Traditional decorations are already out at the shops as are a mind boggling array of advent calendars.
I found this range of beauty calendars at dm which appears to be the local version of Priceline.
Speaking of shops. It didn’t take long, did it?
Behold the magnificence of The Mall of Berlin.
But guess what excited me the most?
Discovering the basement grocery stores.
Aldi felt the same as back home. The stoic queues of customers at the checkouts that’s always staffed at 50% capacity now matter how many people are in the queue. I got some Smurf Kinder Surprises for Master SSG.
Edeka seems to have a Woolworths kind of slightly fancy feel to it. This is the cafe at the front of the store and the cakes looked delicious.
Ironically, I found my favourite German chocolates that I usually get at Aldi Australia in Edeka. The satisfaction factor was made even greater because Edeka have the dark chocolate variety which we don’t get anymore in Australia. Also, the packet seems larger. I will compare at home and I should have bought more…
While we have Little Shops and Pixar dominoes, Germany has Schleich animals to collect if you’re a loyal shopper who turns into a child whenever promotions like this launch.
I was also pleasantly surprised to find a LIDL just around the corner from my hotel. I’ve heard that they plan to launch in Australia soon so I took a look around so that I could give you the heads up. You’re welcome.
I have to confirm what day Special Buys are and I’m sure I’ll have an answer by the end of the day because that’s what Berliners are – helpful and polite. But I digress. These organic cotton tank tops were under 3 Euros each.
And I was so excited to find these grapes. They’re from Italy. Berlin itself has limited land to grow produce, it was built on reclaimed swamp land (hence that odour that catches you sometimes as you walk its streets) so lots of things are imported while education is their big export.
I thought I’d write my Berlin posts as one part things I get up to and one part potted history lesson. It’s more fun for me to write this way and I hope it makes my posts less long and tedious. Maybe just less tedious, they’re all quite long at the moment.
Neue Wache is Germany’s central memorial for all who have suffered and died through war and dictatorship. The building dates back to the 1800s and is the definite example of German Greek Revival architecture.
The entrance to the memorial is protected by a sturdy gate but if you look through these, you will see this sculpture that is surprisingly small which conveys the enormity of what individuals experience in times of conflict. It sits under a skylight.The sculpture was created by Kathe Kolwitz, a pacifist and is named ‘Mother with her Dead Son’. The skylight or oculus doesn’t have glass in it so whatever the weather is, mother and son will weather it. A symbol of the human suffering and endurance of wars and conflicts they innocently find themselves enmeshed in.
Humboldt University is the oldest university in Berlin and also one of the most prestigious.
It is considered the ‘mother of all universities’ due to its pioneering educational philosophy, the Humboldtian model higher education.
A view of the university as it sits next to the State Opera and St Hedwigs Cathedral. |
But the university also has a dark chapter in its history. The Bebelplatz which is the square in front of the university was the site of Nazi orchestrated book burnings. Thousands of priceless works were lost.
The quote in this plaque is from a play by Heinrich Heine and in English translates to “That was only a prelude; where they burn books, they will in the end also burn people”. A chilling prediction of what was to come at the hands of the Nazis.