Urban Canals.173
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.
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
Lake Living.31
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.
(so much world, so little time....) 