Berlin part 2

 

 

Here are some remaining or refurbished buildings we liked.

We do not know why these people were protesting, but they were, they peaceful and surrounded by police. Must have been more police than protesters. But no problems occurred.

Here is the Victory statue that commemorates the 3 victories Germany had before WW I.

So, why did I start by saying this was a hard day? After finishing our full tour, we decided to see the Jewish Museum.

It was the product of one man who wanted to create something that would convey, not only the information, but the emotional impacts of the holocaust as well.

The museum is made up of two separate buildings with no obvious connection.

The buildings are connected by an underground tunnel, with no right angles, down sloping ceilings and upward sloping floors. There are many side corridors at weird angles, all to disorient, to frustrate and create anguish. One way out of the tunnel leads to a “garden” of pillars. The pillars are at a weird angle to the floor, which is at a weird angle to the walkway. It all made us dizzy. Which was expected, per the guide iPod. The picture could not show what it looked like or felt.

Another aspect the architect built into the building, was “voids”. These are spaces, from the bottom of the spaces to the very top, that were left empty. One of these voids is open to the public.

See the “rubble” on the floor? It is not rubble, but individual metal disks with anguished faces on them, each individually made and distinct.

We were encouraged to walk on them. They made clanking noises. A lot of clanking. Arleen responded to this experience as giving voice to the victims. Duane felt differently, as if he was inflicting additional pain to the victims. Either way, it was emotionally disturbing, as was intended.

One of the saving graces was the opportunity to express our own dreams for the future and write them on a card and put the card on a prayer tree.

Both of our cards echoed the same sentiment, peace and respect for every person.

Well, we were pretty used up by then and left to catch our on/off bus. We had traveled about 1 1/2 hours on the return bus when the driver stopped at a prescribed stop and told us he was done. We were VERY far from our hotel. As a matter of fact, we couldn’t really figure out where we were so we could catch a city bus back. The driver was a jerk and didn’t help at all. Fortunately there was a bus from another company at the same stop. We asked if we could board his bus, and he said not if we had a ticket from another company. So we were stranded, trying to find other transportation. It probably wouldn’t have been so bad had we both not been emotionally exhausted. Just when I was ready to cry, the bus driver from the second company let us ride with him to his last stop. It was not that close to our hotel, but we were happy to walk the rest of the way.

We took the whole next day off to recuperate.

Berlin, Germany - June 17 part 1

 

Today was a very hard day.  We chose to take a “hop on/ hop off” bus today.  What they are is a fleet of buses that take a route that includes most of the popular tourist attractions and gives you a guided tour in your language via earphones.  You can get off and then on the next bus as often as you want.  So, we rode the bus for the entire route, 2 1/2 hours, to see everything first and decide what we wanted to visit on our own. 

We chose to see the Jewish Museum.  We figured we had about 2 hours, then we could hop on a bus and go back to the starting point, right across from our hotel.  We knew that the bus tour was over at 6pm.

We travelled with a caravan of busses.  Everyone wants to see the same things.

    sometimes as many as 5 in a row.

 

We saw a sculpture depicting the 4 parts of Berlin, intertwined but broken, during the cold war.

Berlin is a very interesting city.  It has been thru a lot.  After world war II, Germany was divided into 4 parts.  The Russian, the US, the British and the French sectors.  Berlin was in the Russian sector and was itself divided into the same 4 sectors.  As you know, Russia built a wall between their sector and all the other sectors in Berlin.  They also built walls between their sector and other sectors throughout Germany to keep the German citizens from leaving the communist zone.  In 1990 the walls came down and in 1991 Germany was unified. 

Berlin was decimated by allied bombing during the war.   The 3 sectors controlled by the west were rebuilt right after the war.  The Russian sector was not.  When Arleen was there in 1968,  she passed through checkpoint Charlie and went into east Berlin.  It was full of vacant lots covered in rubble.  People were waiting on long lines at the bakery, just to buy bread. 

Not a lot of Berlin buildings were left after the war.  West Berlin was rebuilt, while east Berlin remained mostly untouched.  Now those untouched remaining buildings in the old east Berlin have become historic sites.  The government has taken over fixing up these buildings, along with the communist built troop housing buildings, and are using them for the public good, schools, homes for the elderly and museums.

     Checkpoint Charlie has been left as a reminder of the era along with the sign

                                                                            saying “You are leaving the American Sector” in 4 languages.  Right next door is the Checkpoint Charlie Museum.  We didn’t go there.

Notice a couple of things.  First, there is no wall running in both directions from the checkpoint.  Second, there is no distinction between east and west.  Thirdly, Mc Donalds is right there…..

The Brandenburg Gate was also flanked by the wall.  The huge crowd of people going through the gate are heading for a mass viewing  of the soccer game of Germany against Denmark.  The entire city watched that game.  Even in our room we knew when Germany scored and boy did we know when they won.  Fireworks exploded, cars were blowing their horns and people were cheering loud enough to be heard in hotel rooms.

   Our bus had to wait for this mass of bike riders, who had left their cars elsewhere, and were using their bikes to get to the viewing.

There are still parts of the wall left in place as memorials.  Here are pictures of some.  There is even a small piece in the courtyard of our hotel.

   

As you can see, large pieces of the wall have been taken by “woodpeckers”, that is what they call the scavengers who took souvenirs. 

A long section of the wall was open to renowned painters of the world to use as a canvas.  Here are just some of the results.

   

 

 

Amsterdam to Berlin June 16th

 

It was very hard to leave George and his wonderful family.  I had to watch Duane since I was not 100% sure he was not going to pack Buha, the cute 3 year old, in one of our suitcases.  Thanks to George we were able to leave.  He came with us to our first train change, to make sure we were able to get on all  the trains we needed to get on to go to Berlin.  Using our Eurail pass for the first time is a learning experience.  We will get smarter, we hope. 

Everything went pretty well.  We were worried about there being room on each of the 4 trains we needed to take, but everything worked out OK (even tho we took one wrong train ;-( ) 

So we made our way to the Hotel California.  We made reservations from Amsterdam.  Kind of scary making reservations without seeing the place in person.  We were not able to find any couch surfer hosts in Berlin.  It is not as easy as we had hoped.  Not only that, we needed some alone time.  Even tho it is wonderful to be hosted, it is not the same as resting up on your own.

Well, the hotel is lovely.  It is a very old place that has been updated.  Our room has a very high ceiling with a small bathroom and an added closet.  All is good.  Can’t get a good picture, sorry.

Naarden, Netherlands June 15

 

Today we took a train to a small city outside of Amsterdam.  Naarden has a normal city area, but it also has the old area that started out as one of 7 walled and armed cities protecting Amsterdam.  Walled cities are numerous in Europe, but we hadn’t seen a wall like these….yes these.

Here is a picture of the fortifications.       The red part is the town inside the walls.

Notice the star shape of each row of the walls.                    As we were leaving they fired a canon (filled with batting) scared us good.

 

People still live there  .As a matter of fact, Naarden’s town hall is the most popular place in Holland to get married.  We saw 2 couples on their way to do just that.

    

In the park surrounding the town, (that is what the fortifications have become, a park and a museum) there is a playground built right next to a former munitions bunker.  A much better use of land.

This is one of the most interesting sculptures we have ever seen.  It is the national donor’s monument.  That is nice enough, but look at it.  How is that balanced?  And no, it is not actually sitting on that roof….

On our way back on a train like the one in this picture, we saw a woman with a collapsible bike.  She was able to close it up and just carry it.  We even saw trains with special cars just for people with full size bikes.

Amsterdam June 13–14 with a camera

 

After spending time in Amsterdam on the 12th and buying a phone and sim card (so we can call our hosts from couch surfing) we found our way to George and Hong’s apartment near the arena outside of Amsterdam. 

 

   I’m sure you can tell who is who.  What you cannot tell is that the 3 year old, Buha, runs the house.  Or maybe that last sentence is redundant….We were met with amazing warmth.  We were treated as welcomed guests.  We really needed that after packing and traveling and running around and ….. we needed a rest.  We got that the first day.  After they went to work and school, we went back to sleep.  After another wonderful dinner, we moved from the living room floor to the guest room vacated by the other couple staying with George. 

So today, the 14th, off to Amsterdam we go.  You have not been misled, Amsterdam is a city FULL of bikes.  Everyone rides one, kids, adults, adults with kids, business men and women, old women with long flowing skirts..everyone.

    When people do drive cars or trucks, many of them are this size.

Amsterdam has more canals than Venice.  Yes, that’s true.  The canals are used to drain the land, so it can be kept dry even though it is below sea level.  The dikes today do not made so that a Dutch boy can put a finger in it.  It is as high tech as you can imagine. 

                                                                                               

Did you notice the flags on the right bank of the canal?  No. 

Try this                                    It is playoff time for world soccer and Europe is going crazy.  The Netherlands is playing (and losing) but that does not lower the enthusiasm of the locals.  Orange is everywhere.

OK, not everywhere.  There is, of course red is the most important color in a different part of town.

    

Those are not manikins, they are girls advertising their wares.  Duane was disappointed that they were not advertising more aggressively, ie. unclothed to show all their wares.  They were not giving away anything.

Some beautiful buildings:

    the train station

                      

 

                

 

    some are too big to get in one shot

   You will never guess what this building is…….a mall.

Street artists abound.  This one really has it down.

      Low effort, high reward.

These guys really worked hard.  It took 5 guys to work the doll and one other making music and sounds.  Absolutely amazing.

         

                                                                                       You must see this  !!!!

      

                                                                 

Walking Doll

We really enjoyed Amsterdam.

 

 

Amsterdam, Netherlands June 12

 

Our ship docked early this morning and we finished packing our stuff, which of course was too much, and disembarked for the last time.  Now our real adventure begins.  Even though we have been traveling in relative luxury, we are still tired.  As you’ve seen by the posts, we have been going ashore almost every day.  It’s fun, but it uses us up.

Today we walked with our stuff, 2 duffels, 2 heavy back packs and a couple of extra bags, to the train station.  We then had to figure out how to get our luggage into the lockers.  Then we took a canal boat ride.  We then walked around the area.  We saw a group of people gathered, so of course we went to see what was up.  Well, they were giving away espresso and cappuccino and iced coffees.  We joined in and tried different kinds of coffees from lots of different countries.  We then found out that they were not trying to get us to buy the coffee, but to buy the stock since the company just went public.

Then we went into 3 different churches, not surprised are you.  In one we heard a high school choir, in the second we heard an organ and voice recital.  The third was having a communion service.  It was all great.

Then  we got something to eat and heard a jazz band playing on the street.  Lots of great music.

Where are the pictures, you are thinking.  Well, I said we put our luggage in the lockers.  We put all our luggage in the lockers.

So maybe tomorrow, since the buildings are wonderful.  Tonight we are visiting and staying with George and his lovely wife and daughter.  So more tomorrow.

Kiel Canal, Germany

 

We traversed the canal today.  It is 60 miles long and cuts through farmland.  We woke to flat grazing land and lots of trees.  We had gone into the first lock at 3am, so we never saw that.  We left the canal and entered the Elbe River at about 2pm.  There were lots of people along the way taking pictures and waving, which was fun.  One person was waving an American flag.

When we reached the last lock, there was a band there.

They played while we waited for the water to drain out of the lock so we were the same elevation as the river.  They even played the Marine Hymn.  It was great fun.

It was hazy all the way through the canal, but I hope you get the idea.  It was lovely green.

This is the best picture we have of the lock itself.

Now we have to pack.  Tomorrow we disembark in Amsterdam.  From the dock we will make our way to George’s house (hopefully).  More about George later.

Lubeck and Travemunde, Germany June 10

 

Besides being my sister Debbie’s birthday, it was a wonderful day.  We had planned on just going into Travemunde, which is a resort town, and since it was Sunday, might have some stuff open.  But instead we took the shuttle bus to Lubeck, because it has an old town, and we just love old buildings, we have discovered, and you have, no doubt, noticed.

This part of town is a UNESCO world heritage site.

  

  

This church is bigger than we could photograph well.  And the inside just can’t be captured either.  It might be bigger on the inside.

                                                                          During WW II this church was bombed and mostly destroyed.  The large church bells fell from the belfries and still lay where they landed, as a reminder of the futility of war.  

As rich looking as that church was, the second church we went to was stark. 

Outside the church, Duane poses with his distant relative.  Seeing this picture, you see the family resemblance. 

 

                                       They are sitting on the Devil’s Stone

You just can’t get away from “them”

  This one wouldn’t let us use their internet unless we had a German phone number, which we don’t.

We don’t know what this building is, but the inside was gorgeous. 

  This is the old city gate.

 

Columbines grow in Germany  ….. wow.