Yesterday our class had the opportunity to get a tour of the Staatsratsgebaeude, the former seat of the central council of East Germany. It's one of the few East German buildings that hasn't fallen victim to the wrecking ball ...
The exterior includes, as part of the entrance, the balcony of the Prussian City Palace (Stadtschloss) from which Karl Liebknecht declared the Communist Republic at the end of World War I ... the rest of the City Palace was dynamited by the East German regime in 1953.
The building is now an historical landmark, so most of the interior has been preserved as well - with the same furniture and especially the fabulous lighting fixtures!
In the lecture hall there are socialist murals featuring happy women dancing about with flowers. farmers harvesting wheat, and engineers and workers building the industrial communist future.
The emblem of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany, or GDR) is part of the tilework in the council chambers.
Here's an interior view of the balcony, with the silhouette of our tour guide, Marek Dutschke (son of Rudi Dutschke, a very famous student leader from the 1960s). As you can see, right across the street a huge Christmas carnival has been installed. Complete with screaming teenagers on rides.
The building is leased now to a private graduate school for public policy funded by a bunch of rich German corporations. Therefore Erich Honecker's office (he was head of the GDR from 1971 on) is now used as a student lounge.
Tiles for a special, sound-proof room were donated by Mongolia - doves of socialist peace.
I just love this kind of interior design. This is a pair of doors leading to Honecker's office. Aren't they fabulous? I'm so glad this building has been preserved. Across the way they're still hard at work tearing down the Palast der Republik, another relic from the same time period. It breaks my heart that so many examples of this style are being demolished, mainly for political reasons (though no one will say so).
Afterwards a few of us headed across the street for a stroll through the carnival. Ieva decided to have some "Eierpunsch" (egg nog) ...
Left to right: Kellan, KC, me, Sam.
This, I believe, was the source of the teenage screams.
The colors were just amazing. So much sensory input. The music was hilarious too - mostly German "Schlager" Christmas music. Each ride had its own unique soundtrack of cheese.
Kellan had a candy apple - "gooey on the outside and crunchy on the inside." All that Red #5 turned his tongue bright pink.
The sunset and the lights made for really gorgeous color combos. This is, of course, at about 3.45pm.
Later that evening the class dined on fabulous Russian food at a restaurant called Voland. Todd even hired a band to play for us. They did jazzy, folksy tunes - mostly traditional Russian songs - and they were fantastic! In all, a very good day.
Yummy!
On Saturday I had lunch with Kristin at Babel, my favorite Lebanese restaurant. She left on Tuesday back to Washington, but we'll see each other again very soon at Paul's house, where we will once again be roommates! Yay!
... eat some really tasty Turkish food at the restaurant where the Doener was invented! (Doeners are the gyro-like sandwiches consumed so often and so enjoyably here).
... and I saw a really pretty sunset, set off by the lovely silhouette of the Michaelkirche in Kreuzberg. This was at about 4pm. Yes, it is a dark, dark place I live in.
