Berlin I June 2009

I am frustrated with this blog. I'm having difficulty learning how to do it--it's tricky and I'm lousy at cut and paste. It is taking so much time. I had worked really hard on "Berlin" for days, with many photos and narrative, saving as I go along. I wanted to show Kevin and hit preview and suddenly all disappeared. Nothing I did could get it back. I have no clue what happened. All that work, then Poof! Gone! So here goes again but I am so far behind. It is now 4 July and I am back in June!

Ania and I planned the trip to Berlin last year when I was contacted by a young woman who wanted to show Helen's films and to use her artwork for a Berlin festival in June 2009. However, information has not been forthcoming. When I tried to find out the exact date on which Helen's work would be shown, I was only told that it would be sometime in June. However, I did receive this notice, right before we left--http://www.rustylazer.com/ Maybe Helen's films were shown. I don't know. But the location in Kreuzberg was hard for us to get to and the film viewing seemed to be at 10 o'clock at night! Anyway, as Ania put it, Helen was responsible for our wonderful trip to Berlin!

After a good lunch on Thursday, 18 June, we said goodbye to Kaja and set off from Krakow to Berlin, usually an eight-hour drive. Ania drove, Monica navigated, and I kept the Berlin Journal (Ania's idea and a very good one as we had a lot of fun with it).

Ania is a very good driver. She passed every car but one. and we made it to our hotel, the Golden Tulip Residenz (Kevin and I stayed here several years ago) in a little over four hours!

We celebrated with dinner at Ottenthals--Kevin and I discovered this gem in 2006!

The next morning I was up early--the girls slept later. We went to breakfast. The clerk who had checked us in, with very poor English, had directed us to where to go for breakfast. However, our waitress told us that our room rate did not include the breakfast! But not before Ania had helped herself to eggs, sausage, and bread. Monica and I only had coffee.

We were soon out and about. Monica cleverly figured out the bus schedule; we bought tickets and hopped on Bus 100!

We drove all the way down Kurfurstendamn, through the Tiergarten, where we got off at Alexanderplatz. We had a nice breakfast of cherries and nectarines, called Kaja to wish her Happy Birthday, and then headed over to the Telespargel, or beanpole or toothpick, a television tower that dominates the City skyline. We went up for a great view of the city. We even saw the cafe where we had just breakfasted!

Ania spotted the River Spree and what looked to be a small port so we headed in that direction, walking through the lovely Marienkirche. We glimpsed Marx and Engels through the trees, and Ania rested in a Rose Garden.

We enjoyed our boat ride. The Germans like to imagine they are at the Beach, as they sit in lawn chairs facing the River. They also remember the people from East Berlin who tried to swim across the River to the West during the Cold War. I read one cross that remembered a fifteen year old girl.

After the boat ride, we walked past the Protestant Cathedral, and onto Museum Island where we admired Pergamonmuseum, and other magnificent buildings here. Then we were on the Unter den Linden. These beautiful Lime trees were in full bloom and fragranced the air with a fresh lemony smell. Alas, the beautiful day went cloudy and we ducked under an umbrella and ordered a delicious lunch--Berlin's favorite food, the currywurst. I also had the wheat beer flavored with raspberry cordial, delicious and refreshing, as we waited out the rain.

Berlin is covered with remarkable monuments. One, Neue Wache, is a striking war memorial and inside holds this touching statue Mother with her Dead Son by Berlin artist Kathe Kollwitz, who lost her own son in WWI. Another, near the Reichstag, are slabs naming and remembering those who resisted Hitler.

We continued our walk down the Unter den linden, coming to the US Embassy where we saw some kind of enactment with soldiers, German, American, Israeli, and a Bear! We walked through the Brandenburg Gate.

Berlin has an amazing architectural skyline with the old juxtaposed with the new--a good example in the Reichstag which houses the German Parliament. The amazing cuppola behind it is mirrored and includes a spiral walkway with ear phones that explain the history, the structure, and what can be seen.

Long lines queue up to go in. Monica held our place while Ania and I worked on the Berlin Journal on the Reichstag steps. It was definitely worth the wait and is an amazing spiral up up up! The Bundestag meeting room can be seen through a clear floor/ceiling. We wonder if they see the tourists spiraling up and down over them every day.

You can see us going up, up, up--that's Ania with the two shopping bags!

We were very tired as we headed back to the hotel. We had a nice meal in an Italian restaurant on the same street as our hotel.