Travelogue 1993 / Episode Seven

Travelogue Deutschland 1993 / Episode Seven

Exhibition Day
We awakened to the sound of trucks and echoing voices. Being curious, I got up and looked out the window. In the parking lot behind the apartment building I saw several men standing in a lot surrounded by about forty yellow trucks. It turned out to be Berlins Public Works parking lot.

After we both became semi-conscious, Martin paid a visit to a neighborhood Eduscho, which is a popular German coffee shop. A few minutes later, he returned with ground coffee and German pastries for breakfast. We spent several minutes eating breakfast, then washed our dishes and packed a few items to take along to the exhibition.

Our destination for today was a computer driven machine exhibition, Northeast of Berlin in the town of Hennigsdorf. The exhibition was to be presented by the company Martin had spent his summer working at.

Somehow we found our way through the maze of city streets to an Autobahn on-ramp. I was surprised that traffic was light, especially since it was a Friday morningright around rush-hour. We drove for thirty minutes, before exiting the Autobahn for Hennigsdorf. Signs at the end of the off-ramp directed us to the town on smaller federal roads. Within several, minutes we rolled into the small town of Velten.

The car was low on fuel, so we made a stop at a gas station. An older man, whom we assumed was the attendant, strolled up to Martin's window and asked him how much fuel he wanted. Martin told him the amount, and he moved to the gas pump and begin his work.

It was humorous for me to see this throwback to the fifties in America. That was a time when friendly attendants filled your tank, washed your windshield and checked your oil. The service he gave was a bit shaky he didnt wash the windshield or check the oil, and somehow managed to switch our locking gas cap with another customers. Of course we didnt find out about the swapped cap surprise until Sunday, but fortunately for us the cap that he put on didnt have a lock. I felt sorry for the poor soul that received Martin's locking cap.

the ADIRO Show We left the service station and continued on through town. A few minutes later, Martin pulled into the gravel driveway of what appeared to be a factory complex, surrounded by tall, barbed wire fencing. As we rolled into the parking lot, we saw five or six students hanging around by the parked cars. We guessed that they must have been on a break between classes.

From the outside, the school looked more like an old weather-beaten factory. We walked around to one of the side doors and entered the building. Inside, the newness of the facility was accentuated by the scent of fresh paint that filled the room full of hi-tech, computer driven robots and equipment. One of Martin's co- workers met us, and led us down a hallway of new lockers to a large room.

Martin had worked for the company ADIRO in Esslingen during his second practical term. ADIRO specializes in creating high tech computer driven machinery designed and built for student use. The idea behind their equipment was to provide machines that students could set up and program, providing practical experience in a classroom setting. ADIRO was sponsoring this particular exhibition specifically designed to demonstrate their machinery to engineering teachers from the Eastern part of Germany. Schools in the East are prime candidates, since some funding is still available to help train their students in the latest engineering techniques.

Wolfgang, the owner of ADIRO mentioned that funding which was once abundant had become more limited lately. Many of the adjustments ADIRO had been making were simplifications to reduce costs, so that schools would be able to continue purchasing ADIROs products.

After Martin demonstrated several machines and described their purpose, we took a break. Martin, his co-workers, and I stepped outside and talked about the exhibition, their machines and my impressions of Germany. Thirty minutes later, Martin and I wished his co-workers good luck with the show, and prepared for the journey back to Berlin.

Back in Berlin
The Ku-damm by day was very much like Chicagos Michigan Avenue. There were a variety of shops and cafes that lined either side of the street, which pulsed with a constant flow of shoppers.

It was getting late, I had my heart set on visiting the Bauhaus museum while in Berlin. We thought that the Bauhaus archive was not very far away, so we began to walk in the direction of the museum.

Well the museum turned out to be farther away than we had originally estimated so we spent about an hour and fifteen minutes walking to the museum instead of twenty-five.

It was nearly five oclock when we arrived, so I had just enough time to peek into one end of the museum exhibit hall for a brief look. With the few remaining moments before closing, I was able to purchase a book and poster.

Just in the nick of time
It was a bit more than an hour and a half walk back to the car, due to some creative detouring through Berlin. We just closed the car doors as dark clouds appeared, darkening the sky above the old church. From our vantage point inside the car, we watched as shoppers scurried for cover while street vendors hurriedly closed up their shops. Moments later, sheets of rain came down, soaking those who were not fortunate enough to find shelter.

Water rolled down the car windows as Martin pulled out some prepackaged sausages. Combined with some bread we enjoyed our late lunch. The rhythm of the rain played on the car roof as we ate our meal. After lunch, we left the Ku-damm and drove back to the apartment.

While Martin and Heidi prepared dinner, I began reading my new Bauhaus book. Dinner was excellent, and we spent some time afterward talking about the last week of our adventure. Martin wanted me to see the Brandenburg gate and the Reichstag more closely tonight, and visit the House of World Culture, a government sponsored performing and visual art center.

On the road again
Leaving the apartment, we found our way back through the city to the Brandenburg gate. We parked the car and continued our exploration on foot.

The Brandenburg Gate or Brandenburger Tur as it is known in German, was built by Kaiser-Wilhelm in the late eighteenth century. Under the gate, East and West Berlin met on top of the Berlin wall on November 9th , 1989. Four years later, there is only an open stretch of land that stands as a reminder of where the Eastern and Western walls, and the dead mans zone between them, once stood.

Near the gate was the Reichstag, the former Hall of the People that was once used for parliamentary meetings between German region-states. Behind this building was a memorial to those who had been killed attempting to escape to the West, during the period of East German communist rule.

There were a number of names on the monument, each name painted in black letters on white wooden boards. Flowers adorned the monument, probably placed there by friends and relatives.

Exploring old East Berlin
Venturing Eastward, we drove to the giant radio tower that had once broadcast communist radio and TV signals for the GDR. Martin told me a story about the Communists who had a problem with the aesthetics of the tower.

Three quarters of the way up the tower, is a giant silver ball. For whatever reason, the surface reflected an image of a Christian cross. The GDR tried several things to try and eliminate the image, including painting the ball, but could not remove the reflection.

It seemed that this story is a running joke in West Berlin at that time, about the Communist partys ability to remove God from their ideology while they could not remove the image of the Cross from their own massive radio tower.

The House of World Culture
The next stop was back on the West side of the Brandenburg gate, called House of World Culture. We walked into the building and down the steps to the lower level, where African musicians were playing to a standing room only crowd. After a few numbers they took a break, allowing us some time to visit the upper level art gallery.

On display were a collection of works created by African artists. We spent several minutes viewing the display of artwork. Venturing outside, we walked around to the back of the building and found a skylight that allowed us to watch as the musicians began playing again. We watched the band play for probably ten minutes before walking back to the car. Within several minutes we were back in Heidi's apartment.

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