Beating my head against a wall

From Berlin

This is a small section of The Netherlands Proverbs painted by Pieter Bruegel in 1559. I want you to notice the man in the lower left. Yes, that is me, hitting my head against a wall. Why? Because when I went to the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin and saw this painting, indeed when I went to all the places we visited in Berlin the last few days, I did not have my camera! This picture is taken from a post card upon my return. ARggghHH. So all the pictures are taken from postcards, or borrowed from the web.

We had left the house very early in the morning to see Stephen off to the airport. No sleep, no camera. When I realized at the airport that I did not have my camera I just had one moment of regret, then I just relaxed and had a good time. No reason to have a mistake like that ruin the trip.

The train from Dresden to Berlin took just over a few hours. On Rick Steves recommendation we stayed at the Hotel Pension Funk. It was a classic Rick two star-a bit shabby, but clean, with great service, a great breakfast and a really great price.

Berlin feels young. The buildings are bright, shiny and edgy. Couples are making out everywhere, from museums to subways. The city has great food, and great fun. And the city is big. It does not have the theater that makes London so much fun, or Notre Dame that makes Paris so beautiful. In its place are sites of profound beauty and melancholy. Berlin is recreating itself from the rubble and ruin of the last world war, wiping the city clean with a hopeful energy and vision of peace. But it squarely acknowledges the central role it played in the cruelty of the last war. The are so many monuments to the dead, so many places to remember the victims of the last world war.

Two places were particularly poignant:

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

From Berlin

The bombed out shell remains as a place to remember the war. One area of the church has been made into a memorial hall, and the broken spire remains as it was.
Adjacent to the old remains is a new church. The stained glass was made in Chartres to match the blue of the middle ages. The glass was donated by France as an act of reconciliation. The space was breath taking. Pictures of postcards do not do it justice.

From Berlin

The blue encircled you.

From Berlin

to be continued.....