Aktivity: Today I thought I have to disappoint you because I was actually planning to show you how to listen to classical music for free. But I have a really bad cold and didn't feel like going out for an activity. But I was wrong. Thinking about an alternative I had an idea - it's a bit of an activity indoors with the internet but you need some input from outside.
If you haven't noticed yet - but history is right outside your door! There are (at least) 2 things you can turn your attention to:
1. Do you know why the street you live in is called what it's called?
Maybe you have noticed that some street signs have a little information sign on top giving some information about the street name. In the case of the picture I have "Paul - Lincke - Ufer" - Paul Lincke was a composer and a Berliner. After I checked him out on wikipedia and on youtube I actually figured that I know a very famous song he composed: If you want to listen to it click HERE and you can watch it on youtube.
The song is called "Berliner Luft" from a operetta called "Frau Luna" which premiered in 1899 in Berlin. I should maybe recommend at that occasion that there is also a "Schnaps" called "Berliner Luft" which tastes like peppermint and is also a good Berlin souvenir.
Basically you can do that with the street you live in, the neighbouring street or any street that you want ... I just learned that there were famous battles at Skalitz (Skalitzer Street) and Gitschin (Gitschiner Street) also Alber Fraenkel (Fraenkelufer) was a physician back in the day.
Fraenkelufer - brings me to the second point of interest. This is a bit tough though.
Do you notice this little golden square in front of the door at Fraenkelufer 34? If you gonna take a closer look you are able to see this:
The stone says:
ERICH JOACHIMSTHAL was living here.
Born 1901
Deportetd on the 19.04.1943
Murdered in Auschwitz
I always find it very disturbing when I stop at these so-called "Stolpersteine" (stumble-stones) because I find myself thinking about this guy for example, he was 42 years old when he was deported - that is not very old - what was he thinking when they were actually coming to pick him up? What was he bringing with him, who missed him after he was gone, how did he look like, what did he do for a living, was he a nice person, was he alone, was he freightened, what were his plans, did he have children, wasn't there a possibility to get out, why didn't he leave Berlin, why didn't anyone help him, why did nobody stand up for him, why did this happen????
I think these "Stolpersteine" are a very good project if you click HERE you get to the artist's (Gunter Demnig) website. It says on his website that anyone could sponsor a "Stolperstein" for 120,00€ - couldn't that also be a good alternative to a present for Christmas? Instead of buying something which might be very unpersonal you could help to keep the memory alive. There are already a lot of these stones everywhere in the city which I find is a good thing - to put names to the impersonal number of jews which were killed by the Nazis. On the other hand of course it is very sad, because you can visualize how many people in your neighbourhood were deported and killed. It's a very touching topic and I would like to recommend a book about it (Gudrun Pausewang: Reise im August ( I actually don't know if the book is available in English)) . It's just so unbelievable that people can be that evil. And my personal opinion is that we shall not forget.
Food:
Breakfast: Beans in tomatosauce and toast (I still had some dry white beans and tomato paste and the homemade toastbread.
Lunch: Fruit salad (with the fruit which I just bought on the market)
Dinner: Green salad with lactosefree Feta-cheese which I got from my mother (for free - does that count?) and one homemade frozen pizza
Transportation: Feet
Total spendings today: I went to the market and bought a crate of limes, 2 pineapples and a mango for 3,00€, plus a "Suppengrün" (vegetable mix for soup) a red beet and some ginger for 2,30€.
So, the total spendings today were: 5,30€
If you happen to have the same problem as me at one point - what to do with 50 limes??? You could check out THIS website to share your food instead of throwing it away. I haven't tried it, but going to now - and keep you posted about my experience.
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