Home again home again

We arrived home Tuesday afternoon - always good to be home and especially nice with spring flower

 

 

Leaving Berlin

We've had a great trip! Scenes from our last day in Berlin, a boat ride on the Spree.

 

The Federal Chancellory on the right - I think I saw Angela Merkel hosting a group outside.

The architects who designed the new government buildings provided a connection on both ends of the complex uniting east and west Berlin - very cool architecture not really captured here.

East Berlin's walk figure - shown on all the stoplight pedestrian signals. After reunification they started to standardize on the generic figure used by West Germany until a grassroots campaign brought back this figure. Now this is the standard and a Berlin icon.

The scholar

We went to Pankow, the section of Berlin where the European College of Liberal Arts is located, to see where Eliza has lived since September. She's had a great opportunity over the past year being part of a dedicated learning community.

The view from Eliza's dorm room window.

 

Eliza's dorm was formerly the Egyptian Embassy in the DDR (former East Germany). Picture on right is her neighborhood church.

 

Eliza joined us for Sunday brunch and then we went to a huge flea market.

 

Berlin - Part IV

Street scenes

Photo on left is Checkpoint Charlie - making the world safe for McDonalds!

Photo on right is a bike bar - you climb on board and the bartender not only drives you along, he also pours you a drink!

 

 

 

Berlin - Part III

We have been out and about, seeing the sights. Meeting Eliza's friends was a highlight.

Mary, Agnes, Eliza, Christina (Nicaragua), Signe (Denmark) and Ena (Croatia).

 

We climbed up inside the glass dome of the Reichstag, the German parliament building. Great views from on top.

 

 

We visited the Pergamon Museum, where they have many remnants from the altar at Pergamon and the Gates of Ishtar - all dating from at least 200 BC. We are biased somewhat since we have visited the ruins of Pergamon, in the Turkish city of Bergama, and can't help but want to see them in their original location.

Berlin - Part II

We are loving our time in Berlin - walking all over, taking the great transit system, and seeing amazing things as well as experiencing the everyday life of the city. Our initial observations are that Berlin is a city of young people, with many young families. Lots of bikes, loads of green space, and lots of construction underway. We did a great 3-1/2 hour walking tour on Monday, beginning at the Brandenburg Gate and ending at Museum Isle. The tour guide was well-versed in history, architecture and art - a wonderful mix.

 

 

 

Arrival in Berlin

We have a great place to stay in Berlin for the next 9 days, and are looking forward to exploring its many historic, cultural, and artistic wonders. We are staying in the Mitte section in what was known as East Berlin before reunification. We wandered out of our place headed for a big flea market and instead happened upon a memorial on the wall just 3 blocks away!

Mary on the stairs to our place (our apartment is on the first floor, to Mary's right); view from the bedroom window, and view across the park in front of our building.

 

 

Sometimes the wall's former presence is best seen by the empty spaces it has left.

The Bernauer Strasse was one of the first checkpoints when the wall went up. The memorials set up along this area tell the story of the building of the wall and how it affected city residents on both sides.

Dresden

 

We have been traveling in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) - we grew up knowing it as East Germany - since leaving Nuremberg. Reunification took place 1989-1990 and it is quite amazing to see what has happened in a little over 20 years. The rebuilding of Dresden is especially striking and we were lucky enough to take a walking tour with a guide with first-hand knowledge since sgangs a Dresden native and lived her first 12 years under GDR rule. Dresden was about 90% destroyed during WWII bombing raids in 1945. Some of the facades survived but the roofs (wood structures covered in copper) were the first to burn and melt, and the interiors also burned.

This is a picture taken after WWII of the ruins of the Frauenkirche - the largest sandstone-domed church in the world. The GDR left the rubble as a war memorial but after reunification rebuilding took place. The new church opened in 2005.

 

There was some rebuilding under GDR but a lot of the major historical buildings were left in ruins. The GDR also destroyed some historical buildings that had survived the war. Since reunification the city has been almost completely rebuilt. They used original materials where possible and you can see a combination of old, darkened sandstone next to new sandstone.

The buildings around the Frauenkirche were rebuilt with modern buildings behind host Orin facades. The church steeple on the right is all that remains of an old church that survived the war but was destroyed by the GDR. Our guide shared the strong feelings of many residents - lots of bitterness about what the Russians did in their time there. Evidently Vladimir Putin was head of the KGB in Dresden for 20 years; our guide says that's why he speaks German with a Saxon accent.

More examples of Dresden's past - rebuilt: two different parts of the Zwinger built by Augustus the Strong for the occasion of his son's wedding. The clock chimes are made of porcelain made close to Dresden.

The Semperoper (the opera house named for its famous architect) was rebuilt by the GDR and reopened in 1985. The wall on the right pictures the reign of the ruling family in Saxony - for over 700 years until 1918 - all done in porcelain. It survived the bombing because it was covered.

The wave on the bridge crossing the Elbe River shows the high water mark of the 2002 flood. Amidst all this amazing history, Dresden is full of modern buildings - some behind historic facades but others not.