Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Berlin - a weekend across times

Last weekend we went to Berlin to meet up with a few good friends. I have not been back to Berlin since the early 90's and to be honest, none of it looked very familiar. Contrary to me, since he has lived here for six years, Nabí knows the city like the back of his hand, a very detailed hand indeed, for such a large city.

One of the things which stayed with me was a story on the wall from the Jewish museum which we visited. Since I was reading William Darylmple´s From the Holy Mountain at the time, I noticed a story about a Jewish family which emigrated to Palestine. Years ago, I would have thought it to be the most natural thing, but since reading the book, I have then realized that some of these ´families´ who have settled in Palestine, have done some of the same atrocious deeds to the Palestinians in the Palestine. I wonder when they will erect a similar museum in Israel for all the Palestinians? I felt my belief system could be so fragile and subjective, I wondered that, in this world, is there a true right or wrong? or is it all limited to who we know and what we know? Is it so important to label everything right or wrong, or do we just need to label everything in order to feel righteous and at ease with ourselves? And if we don´t establish what is right or wrong, how do we learn from our past and from our mistakes?


Hot airballoon behind the Holocaust Monument

Luckily, before I became any more morose, we had plenty of friends to cheer us up by taking us to the happier parts of the city.


beautiful old train station


astounding new-er buildings near the Potsdam Platz


lagging behind, contemplating the meaning of life...not :)

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