Berlin: Taqueria El Oso

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Pam worked hard to find the best dining options in Berlin. Located in the Markthalle Pfefferberg on Schönhauser Allee 176C, Berlin, Germany, Taqueria El Oso was Pam’s choice for dinner one night. The Markhalle Pferrerberg is a collection of pop up restaurants in a communal hall. The place was packed.

I opted for a simple hot dog with lots of toppings. There was no line for that, so I had my hot dog in hand before Pam decided what she wanted. She stood in this long line to order some tacos. I decided this might offer enough time to get a sketch done, so I let my hot dog sit and I started sketching. An English speaking couple crowded in next to me at the counter top I was sketching from, but they were desperate to get a better table. The couple had found a table before Pam got back.

Pam tried my hot dog and I tried her taco. The taco was a bit greasy for my taste but reviews said it is the best taco joint in Berlin. Some English speaking lady tapped me on my shoulder and said to me “That is amazing.” I thanked her but in my mind there are plenty of faults in the sketch. Did no one in this market speak German?

After we ate, we waited outside for a train back to the hostel. Across the street was a bus stop. A burly looking man stood there. Another smaller man entered the bus stop holding a bag of flowers. He must have gotten too close to the burly guy who started shouting in German, “I am standing here!”  The burly guy kept shouting. The smaller guy backed away. I thought a fist fight might break out, but the German expletives just kept flying. Lesson learned, never get too close to a German in a bus stop.

Berlin Short Film Festival: Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

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The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe was a stop I felt Pam had to see. This maze of grey granite blocks are hip height at the outer edges but get taller as the ground sinks down in the center of this multiple city block memorial.

Pam wandered off to explore the information center while I sketched. The information center was one of the most impressive exhibition we had seen in Berlin.

It was a grey day and it had been raining all morning. Groups of tourists would gather at the outer periphery of the memorial before walking into the stone maze. Green moss has already started to grow on the shady side of the blocks. I limited my view to maybe one eighth of the memorial. When My sketch was done, I texted Pam multiple times but she wasn’t getting reception since she was under ground.

I decided to wander inside the memorial. It was fairly bright as I walked down a single row. I limited myself to the single row so I could walk back and sit under the pine tree which is where Pam would know I was sketching.

Deeper down the row it grew darker. The morning rain left long streaks of moisture dripping down each column. The drops slid downward like tears. Some tourists had run their fingers through the moisture creating horizontal meandering trails. You couldn’t see it others were walking perpendicular to your path so I would pause at each corner and glance down the rows that ran east and west. When I returned to my sketching spot, a family sat beside me. The children ran up and down the aisles playing hide and seek.

Pam found a spot with reception and she suggested I meet her at the information center. The exhibits were brutal and overwhelming. One room was full of the storied of families. A large photo should show the whole family and then there was a panel that showed what happened to each person in the photo. More often than not, the epitaph would read murdered in Treblinka or Dachau or any number of other death camps. A few did survive in hiding or by escaping the country. Their stories were also corroborated with primary sources. The Nazi’s kept precise documentation.

One small boy lost both his parents to disease in a ghetto and then his three brothers and sister were deported and murdered at death camps. The boy had to endure medical experiments but he ultimately survived the torture.

Berlin Short Film Festival: Belushi’s

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Pam and I traveled to Berlin for the Berlin Short Film Festival. Our first stop after a grueling 12 hour flight was the Saint Christopher Hostel which is just a block from the historic Babylon Theater. On the ground floor of the hostel is Belushi’s bar. Several hostel residents were finishing breakfast as we arrived. We wanted to check our bags in early and start exploring the city. There are lockers for bags but the lockers were coin operated and we didn’t have any European currency yet. Pam found a Deutche bank on Google maps and left me in Belushi’s to watch the bags. She was doing me a favor because it was rainy and miserable 0utside.

This became my first opportunity to sketch in Germany. I managed to finish this sketch before Pam got back. International flags lined the walls and a Kansas City neon sign was hidden behind several flags. The Super Bowl would be happening in a couple of days and the bartender was lining the bar with American flags for the occasion. Every night Beluchi’s was packed with drinkers watching large screen TVs that mostly featured soccer matches.

Pam and I went to the DDR Museum on day one. This museum shows what life was like in Eastern Berlin when the Berlin wall was in place. My biggest take away was that they had some very loud wallpaper back in those days. On attraction was a huge elevator that lurched and flickered dark when the button was pushed. Maybe it was just a faulty elevator but it was terrifying. Far worse than the tower of terror. There as also a jail cell, office and basic apartment settings. In the kitchen Pam found that she could print out several recipes, so she might be experimenting with some eastern block food in the coming weeks.

It was raining and cold for every day of our stay. Naked tree limbs were cut, off and the rain made the cold seep deep under every layer of our winter clothes.