Royal cherubs and their castle and garden, Charlottenburg in Berlin. Who said royalty necessarily meant good taste? Ah, but cuteness is sometimes in style, sometimes not…
The Spree, Berlin’s primary central river and, like the Havel from our last post, also often the border between east and west. The image below is looking pretty much east with the TV tower at Alexanderplatz (very much East Berlin, in the day), and above looking more or less west to where the post-reunification Central Train Station was built. Also in the photo above you’ll notice eight human figures on a sign along the riverfront. These are commemorating eight individual humans killed while trying to cross from east to west in the decades when this border was so deadly. One of them was more or less exactly my age and was killed crossing with her boyfriend, who made to the west alive, during the year I myself was spending an exchange year not far from Hamburg in “the west.” Note to self, be glad of each day you wake up with a chance to help foster more joy in the world.
It’s been back in the news lately with the complicated prisoner swap several nations arranged with Russia: the bridge formerly known as Bridge of Spies. We showed it to you in an earlier post, little knowing it would soon be back in the news. Above & in the gallery below, all remaining shots of it from that lovely visit with Steve end May / early June. Also, all the remaining shots of the lake – river – canal system that we explored on our round trip from Wannsee with views to Potsdam (bottom photo in this post), under this bridge, around past Pfaueninsel and thus back to Wannsee itself on the Havel River and accompanying lakes. Back when the wall was deadly and this a heavily-fortified border, the boat trips of course were not being done, and we’d not have had this opportunity to drink our Berliner Weisse beers in loving tribute to our mother, for whom Berliner Weisse was the only beer she ever even considered drinking.Â
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! 🙂 Â
Above: early Sunday along the Aussenalster (Outer Alster) in Hamburg; below, a view of some of the later swimmers in the Binnenalster (Inner Alster) in the first leg of the HH triathlon. I was just out for a walk before heading for the train home to A’dam after a short visit with family / friends :-). The weather was much more conducive to lovely photos than it was the last time I walked (and showed you) these shores.
Queen Louise of Prussia was very much loved indeed, judging by the many monuments and memorials to her, and the flowers I saw by some of them. Above and below left, in the Tiergarten; below center on an island in Charlottenburg castle gardens and below right her mausoleum in another part of the castle gardens. We’ve got *lots* more fun stuff from those gardens stored up for you…think royal cherubs and such 🙂
It’s been back in the news lately with the complicated prisoner swap several nations arranged with Russia: the bridge formerly known as Bridge of Spies. We showed it to you in an earlier post, little knowing it would soon be back in the news. Above & in the gallery below, all remaining shots of it from that lovely visit with Steve end May / early June. Also, all the remaining shots of the lake – river – canal system that we explored on our round trip from Wannsee with views to Potsdam (bottom photo in this post), under this bridge, around past Pfaueninsel and thus back to Wannsee itself on the Havel River and accompanying lakes. Back when the wall was deadly and this a heavily-fortified border, the boat trips of course were not being done, and we’d not have had this opportunity to drink our Berliner Weisse beers in loving tribute to our mother, for whom Berliner Weisse was the only beer she ever even considered drinking.Â
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! 🙂  
(so much world, so little time....) 