First Full Day in Berlin

I was astounded when I woken up to see tha I had slept past 8:30, which even with the time change was later than I've slept the entire time I've been away! Doug and sat on the couch for hours, just talking and catching up! It was wonderful!

After a quick shower, we headed out, taking a train to the city. The first stop was to see a portion of the wall that divided East Berlin from West Berlin which has been left up. It is just amazing to me that this really happened in my lifetime! This was was built the year that I was born! Throughout the city, you can see in the ground a two-brick wide trail of there the was.

From there we walked. Doug knows an amazing amount of the history of the city. As in London, I was kind of overwhelmed with a sadness that I didn't know much of the history at all. I was also humbled, because if I were asked to take someone around in America, I probably couldn't do much better than I can over here! Oh well, no sense in worrying about that now!

The next point of interest was the "Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe." This was a huge memorial that was very unique and yet very powerful. It is made up of over 200 slabs or Stelae as they are called over nearly 5 acres. They are of varying sizes and at different angle. The ground on which they are placed is not even either. There is an information underneath that I didn't visit this day, but determined that I would come back for.


We walked through the Brandenburg Gate (admiring the Quadriga on to) and continued down that street, passing various historic sites, including a memorial to burned books. This consisted of a piece of glass in the ground through which you could seen empty bookshelves. We stopped at the Neue Wach (New Guardhouse). This was a memorial to the victims of "war and tyranny." Inside, there was a statute titled, "Mother and Dead Son."


Julien, who is the director of the Sculpture Collection at the Bode Museum met us and took us into the Pergamon Museum where you can see the Hellenistic Pergamon Alter, the Gate of Ishtar, and the Babylonian Processional Street. I was most fascinated as Julien described that these "works" were delivered in creates in small peoples that had to be put together is some meaningful fashion. I will never allow myself to be intimidated by a jigsaw puzzle again!

From there, we took that S-Baun back to the apartment. Julien walked to the garden to unwind after work (more on that later) and when he returned we went to a lovely Italian restaurant. I had a pasta dish with sausage and mushrooms, which was wonderful! It was fun to discover that there was no sense in overeating because Doug and, moreso, Julien were more than willing to finish it off!

Upon returning home, we enjoyed peppermint tea and Doug's amazing oatmeal chocolate chip cookies! A perfect end to a wonderful day!