We were only there for four days (3 nights). We found a lovely pension (bed & breakfast) run by a wonderful older lady, Frau Schwartzer. It was truly like staying with a favourite aunt. The bed was very comfortable, the room was large, the food was great, and it was very close to the city center. It was great! We rented a car, partially because the airport we were flying in and out of was quite a way out of the city. It was very nice to have our own wheels, although we still did a lot of walking!
We arrived 
on Sunday morning after a very early morning flight, which was delayed an hour while they kicked 8 passengers off for making racially offensive comments to a black passenger (although we didn't like the delay, we were glad they took the stand and banned them). We got to the pension and met Frau Swartzer and took a walk around the neighbourhood. We stayed close to the "Blue Church", more formally known as the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, which is very interesting. It is a modern church building built up around the ruins of the old church, which was heavily damaged by bombs during World War II. At first, I didn't like the new building, but it kind of grew on me. Then we went inside - it is breathtaking. The blue glass in all the tiny windows bathes the sanctuary in a blue glow that is somehow warm (which is odd for the colour blue!). Coupled with the sad remnants of the previous church, which must have been quite something, given what is left, it was a moving tribute to the triumph of the human spirit after the devastation of war.
on Sunday morning after a very early morning flight, which was delayed an hour while they kicked 8 passengers off for making racially offensive comments to a black passenger (although we didn't like the delay, we were glad they took the stand and banned them). We got to the pension and met Frau Swartzer and took a walk around the neighbourhood. We stayed close to the "Blue Church", more formally known as the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, which is very interesting. It is a modern church building built up around the ruins of the old church, which was heavily damaged by bombs during World War II. At first, I didn't like the new building, but it kind of grew on me. Then we went inside - it is breathtaking. The blue glass in all the tiny windows bathes the sanctuary in a blue glow that is somehow warm (which is odd for the colour blue!). Coupled with the sad remnants of the previous church, which must have been quite something, given what is left, it was a moving tribute to the triumph of the human spirit after the devastation of war.We did a lot of travelling around and saw a lot of things. Berlin is a fascinating mixture of ancient and recent history. There are still remnants of the division of the city and a lot of things celebrating the coming down of the wall. It sure made us feel old chatting with young people who weren't even born when the wall came down! Barry was stationed here when he was in the British army for three years, leaving in 1982. So this was quite a culture shock for him! He was quite moved to be able to freely walk through the Brandenberg Gate, which was previously walled off into East Berlin. Everywhere there was patches on buildings, fixing bullet damage. We visited where Barry used to live and the base where he used to work in Spandau. The base is mostly fenced off, with a few buildings being used for other things now.
We managed to find a section of the wall that was still up between a road and a river. They had taken part of it away so you could go down to the river. We stopped there to take so
me pictures of the wall, and went along it a little ways to break off our own piece. It was strangely satisfying to be breaking down the wall - as symbolic as it was. I felt that in a very small way we were protesting against injustice and tyranny and bigotry. We drove on a little further and found one of only three or four guard towers left standing. It's now listed (which means it's preserved as a historic site), but it was too late to go inside. The government has installed a double line of paving stones tracing the line of the wall across Berlin, so you can see where it went through buildings and across roads. It's kind of nuts!
We also went to "Checkpoint Charlie", which was the main gate between East and West Berlin. They have a replica guardhouse for tourists and there is a museum onsite that has been there since shortly after the wall went up! It originally was there as a protest against the wall, with photos and information about escapes and escapees, both successful and unsuccessful, as well as some of the actual cars and other methods they used for escape from East Berlin. Since the wall came down, it's been expanded to include the events surrounding that event and exhibitions on other human rights protests and violations around the world, such as Cech Republic and Lech Walesa in Poland. It was very interesting.
me pictures of the wall, and went along it a little ways to break off our own piece. It was strangely satisfying to be breaking down the wall - as symbolic as it was. I felt that in a very small way we were protesting against injustice and tyranny and bigotry. We drove on a little further and found one of only three or four guard towers left standing. It's now listed (which means it's preserved as a historic site), but it was too late to go inside. The government has installed a double line of paving stones tracing the line of the wall across Berlin, so you can see where it went through buildings and across roads. It's kind of nuts!We also went to "Checkpoint Charlie", which was the main gate between East and West Berlin. They have a replica guardhouse for tourists and there is a museum onsite that has been there since shortly after the wall went up! It originally was there as a protest against the wall, with photos and information about escapes and escapees, both successful and unsuccessful, as well as some of the actual cars and other methods they used for escape from East Berlin. Since the wall came down, it's been expanded to include the events surrounding that event and exhibitions on other human rights protests and violations around the world, such as Cech Republic and Lech Walesa in Poland. It was very interesting.
Germany is a beautiful country, and we managed to see a fair bit of it. We took a boat trip down the Wannsee (pronounced "Vanzee") and spent our last day in Postdam. Some of my correspondence course German actually came back, which was good because Barry had forgotten most of his German! We also went to Potsdam, to a huge park there called Sanssouci Park. There were some spec
tacular palaces and houses there. The architecture is amazingly elaborate, as are the gardens. It really puts English stately homes in the shade! One of the palaces, called Neues Palais, had servants quarters opposite that were more beautiful that most places I've seen in England! Apparently, King Frederick didn't want to have ugly buildings outside his windows, but wanted the servants to be close, so he built this amazing servants quarters! Unfortunately they were doing some restoration on it, so you couldn't get the full appreciation of it.
tacular palaces and houses there. The architecture is amazingly elaborate, as are the gardens. It really puts English stately homes in the shade! One of the palaces, called Neues Palais, had servants quarters opposite that were more beautiful that most places I've seen in England! Apparently, King Frederick didn't want to have ugly buildings outside his windows, but wanted the servants to be close, so he built this amazing servants quarters! Unfortunately they were doing some restoration on it, so you couldn't get the full appreciation of it.It was a fantastic trip and we both thoroughly enjoyed it! Now it's back to the grind until our trip to Canada in November. I'm hoping to see everyone then, and introduce Barry to you all. We'll be in Linden and Calgary for about a week and a half, and then out to Toronto to see my brother and his family for a few days before flying back to London.
1 comment:
Wonderful. I need to go on another European vacation. I didn't have time for Berlin when I was there but by the sounds of it I would love it.
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