City Views.232
In my second recent post from Berlin last month, I referred to the weight of history I felt while exploring it in detail with my dear brother (and perhaps most consistent reader, “like”-er and commentator), who happens to be a truly distinguished and rather renowned figure in German Studies including much about this very city and that very wall and its history. So I’ve decided to collect many of the photos I took on that trip that express some of the weight of history, pain, division and loss. You’ll see the wall, you’ll see more from the holocaust memorial, you’ll see the DDR-era monument & cemetery for some of the 80,000 or so Soviet soldiers who never returned home to their families after the battle for Berlin in 1945. Since Steve and I first crossed that wall together some time in late 1980 or early 1981, this all felt rather personal and deep for me, especially given all the lived experiences I’ve since had that demonstrate how disastrous wars and violence are for humans, full stop. So, yeah, heavy heart about human (self)-destructiveness, and respect for a city with so much history that keeps on keeping on somehow. Small request, dear Berlin City Government: improve your bike infrastructure and take lanes away from cars. It’s working really well in a lot of other cities – and it’s good for the planet, too! 🙂 
Islands.62
Ah, Royalty.31
Lake Living.30
Above left: the bridge depicted in the movie “Bridge of Spies” along with another view from Steve’s and my cruise on June 1. Below, from Pfaueninsel looking over to the shores of Brandenburg. Back in the day, the W/E German border ran down the middle of that water.
Ah, Royalty.30
Peacock Island (Pfaueninsel) in the Wannsee – Havel lake and canal network in the SW corner of Berlin along the border with Brandenburg. When West Berlin was surrounded by a walled and guarded GDR, this was a lovely natural escape from the city vibe, which I myself first visited with my mother in May 1980. Steve – now a renowned and published scholar in German studies – and I spent a delightful late-May weekend in Berlin recently, during which in addition to fabulous educational narration from him, we did a lovely cruise during which we also stopped off and re-explored this island, a former royal back-to-nature pleasure garden from the 18th Century, complete with peacocks to add to the vibe, and royal dairy built to look like a monastery.
Urban Canals.170
Signs of the City.88
(so much world, so little time....) 