Walking Man

When Adam was giving us the tour around the city of Berlin he pointed out the walking man. If you notice on each stop light it is not just a light, it is a person. For green you would cross the street and for red you would stop. This was just a little something to bring some joy to people's lives on the east side of Berlin because during the war when things were divided, everything was supposed to conform to the rules on the west but the east was going to riot because they wanted to keep their walking man. I would say it is a symbolic thing even with how small it is.

Municipal Engineering Museum

I thought the municipal engineering museum was interesting. First, they had a giant human hamster wheel that was hooked to a pulley system that lifted a crate, that a person could stand in. There was also models of cars from Poland through the years, two of these cars stood out to me. The first car had the engine in the back and the trunk was in the front. The second car that stood out to me was known as the job chicken catcher. This was because the hinges for the front door was opposite side to what we are used to today. This made it easy to open the door while driving to capture a chicken and grab it.

The Choice Tunnel

The Choice Tunnel at the Shindler Factory was my favorite experience of the day. Our tour guide was very entergentic and eager, which heightened the already intemse emotions of the tour. Chronologically layed out, the tour gave the visitor more and more things to think about as time went on. Towards the close of the tour, our class, in haste to catch up with our impassioned tour guide, found ourselves quickly submerged in a dark tunnel. More surprising than darkness, however we had to shuffle our way along a squishy, uneven path to reach our destinstination, which ended up being a blinding white room in comparison. This room was full of contributions that seemingly average people made to better the lives of others during the time of the holocost.

This striking representation of bringing light and hope in a time of darkness and fear, was very moving to me. I could never say that I could almost relate to how the victims of the holocost felt, but I know that emerging from that tunnel to find an ally would be most comforting. The methophor this tunnel and light stood for was very powerful and unforgettable.

Professor Z

At the Municipal Engineering Museum, we saw numerous cars. There were several prototypes in the motor culture section at the museum. They only way I am to describe these cars are; Imagine you are watching Pixar's Cars 2. Can you hear the car with the Russian accent and one eye glass? His name was professor Z. This is what one of the cars looks like. It opens from the front and people will crawl into the car. It was probably hectic. The second car was similar to the car in the movie Man from U.N.C.L.E. You can see the car in the car vs man chase in the first 20 minutes of the movie. If you haven't seen this movie, I highly recommend watching it! My favorite car was called the chicken catcher. The door opens the opposite way it does today. You would open the car door and catch random chickens in the street. I wish we did this in the United States.

The factory

The Schindler Factory was a very interesting and eye opening experience.  The biggest shock was the fact that most of the factory does not exist and that the tour was mostly about what Poland was like during the pre-war and post occupation area.  During the tour the tour the most intersting part was about the the swastika symbols on the floor.

In the middle of the tour one of the rooms was completely covered with tiles with the swastika symbol on them.  What is interesting to learn was the fact that the tiles could not be made anymore because the swastika symbols can not be produced on objects because of the meaning of it.  It was interesting because if the tiles break they can not replace them.  The factory was a very interesting and impactful site to visit.  

Horse Drawn Tram

Yesterday, our group toured the Museum of Municipal Engineering, in the Kazimierz section of Krakow.  This museum was filled with many amazing artifacts to accurately represent how technology and the way of living in Krakow has changed. One of my favorite examples of this was how transportation has changed.  Beginning in 1882, the first tram way was put in place and running.  The tram cars, like the accompanying photo, were pulled by horses. There were two versions of the tram car for the change of seasons too.  The pictured car was used in the spring and summer to make riding in the tram car more bearable, since temperatures tend to rise during these times.  A fun fact about these cars was your fare price was based on your height! If you were under 130 cm, you paid less.  I assume this is due to the fact those at that size would take up less room and allow for more passengers to ride on the tram. These trams were well utilized until the 1890's, but were then replaced by the electric tram. This was neat to see and a version of transportation I didn't realize was utilized in the past.

 

 

One of the interesting things I learned at the municipal engineering museum was that engineers in Poland had to develop ways to incorporate new technology in cities that had existed since medieval times. Our guide discussed how, rather than destroying an arch that was too low to accommodate trams, engineers lowered the pavement. I noticed that the challenges associated with industrialization are visible in Krakow, such as the small streets that require one to park on the sidewalk, dense housing with highly limited floorspace (as exemplified by our hostel), and the modernization of the insides of buildings that were clearly built in a different era, all while still preserving the status of historically significant sites. It seems that Europeans had to put extra effort into accommodating industrialization, and this city is a great example of the ingenuity required to face such problems.