freda's world adventures

‘Home’ to The Netherlands: 10 days with cousins; plus 5 days in Berlin – May 2019 July 8, 2019

Posted by freda in Uncategorized.
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I arrived in Amsterdam on Tuesday morning, May 14th, and was met at the airport by my cousin Annelien.  Before we even left the airport, because she is a glass blower, and knows I love the glass art of Dale Chihuly, she showed me the Schiphol airport display by Chihuly:

Then we were off, to her and her husband, Willem’s, home in Voorburg, a suburb of The Hague.  We sat on their patio for refreshments and then lunch. After that great pick-me-up, I showered and settled into my room.  As my method of adjusting to European time is to stay awake (after a bit of sleep on the plane the ‘night’ before), and then go to bed early that first night, we set off on an excursion to keep me awake, to the Delft University Library.  If you’ve read any of my previous blogs, you know I like to visit the beautiful and unique libraries of the world.  Delft University has a great one!  The architectural firm, Mecanoo, of Delft, designed a truly unique space for the university.  I’ve linked a website that shows off the library well, but here are a few of my own pictures:

There was an interesting art display in the library–

and this one struck me–“Two Yawners” by Maja Vucetic, the description board read: “Maja Vucetic is an artist and general practitioner. For this exhibition she wanted to emphasize how unequal access to medicines is worldwide. On the one hand, in developed countries a lot is wasted and abused for doping and other elite spending, while on the other hand – in Africa, among other places – there are major shortages of the most necessary medicines.” Simple and yet fairly evocative, no?

I also admired the stained glass window in the library, a window of books..

Of course there is much more to see in Delft, but I’ve been there before, and we didn’t really have time to wander through town. We made a quick stop along a canal to see what’s still left of what Vermeer painted in his “View of Delft” painting…

…and then it was time to head home for a lovely dinner and some … ‘good’ wine. 🙂

 

On Wednesday, Annelien and I headed to Kuekenhof Gardens, one of the world’s largest flower gardens, in which 7 million flower bulbs are planted annually!  It’s only open for the season, approximately 2 months between late March and May. We were there for the end of the season, but it was still pretty spectacular!  You’ll have to indulge me here; it’s hard to post only a few pictures, so I’m posting just a *tad* more than a few. 😉

I learned some things about tulips, too – they originally came from Turkey!

After several hours (and lunch) at the garden, we stopped in at Annelien’s workshop in Leiden. Annelien used to be a corporate lawyer, but some years ago she packed it in and has since nurtured her creative side. She’s an incredible artist of glass blowing, as well as a unique creation she calls “Sky Trotters.”

And then it was time to get home for dinner with Willem and Annelien’s daughter, Georgina, and her boyfriend, Jason. It was great to see Georgina again- I used to send her books in English, as the children’s book selection in Holland wasn’t so large in translation. Her English is flawless, and no accent, either!

On Thursday, we took the train to Utrecht. Our first stop was the Utrecht University Library, another unique design in mostly black and white, with bamboo etched into the walls and windows.

After eating lunch at the university, we headed back into the city centre and went to the Centraal Museum, which now permanently houses the studio of Dick Bruna, Dutch author, artist, illustrator and graphic designer, best known for his children’s books which he authored and illustrated, numbering over 200. His most notable creation was Miffy (called Nijntje in Dutch), a small rabbit drawn with heavy graphic lines, simple shapes and primary colours. (wikipedia) He died just 2 years ago. He also illustrated over 2000 covers for his family’s publishing company. I always loved the simplicity of his children’s books.

Most fun was across the street, in the “Miffy Museum,” where you pay extra, but worth it!  If I lived in Utrecht and had small children, I might be at this playground of a museum on a daily basis!

From here, we walked to the ‘old’ original University, to check out the library. It turned out to have a lovely reading room, but the rest was rather disappointing. The new library is just much more overall architecturally interesting.

We required a pause that refreshes…

Last, but definitely *not* least, we found this wonderful apartment building mural, which I had read about before leaving home – a reader’s delight!!  The artist, Jan, asked the residents of the building for their favourite book, and he included them all.

Back at home that evening, we had a knitting session, so I could show Annelien how to make the Izzy Dolls I knit for Health Partners International of Canada.

On Friday it was time to move to Amsterdam. Don was arriving in the early afternoon, and we had a hotel booked for two nights in the city.  Annelien and I caught the train to Amsterdam, with our first stop to drop off my luggage at the hotel, conveniently close to the train station.

We took the tram to the Rijksmuseum, to see one of the most beautiful libraries in the world, the Rijksmuseum Research Library. I’ve visited the museum before, but hadn’t seen the library, a grave omission!

From an information board inside: “At his own initiative, the 19th-century architect, Pierre Cuypers, included a library in his plans when commissioned to build the Rijksmuseum. In his view, a reading room was an integral part of a museum.”

And because it’s the Rijksmuseum’s declared “Year of Rembrandt,” 350 years since his death, we took a quick swing past The Night Watch, before we exited the museum and went looking for lunch…

…and then we made our way back to our hotel, to meet up with Don.  The three of us continued wandering through this wonderful city, including a pass through the Friday book fair..

We stopped for a pick-me-up in the beautiful courtyard of the Old Church, (in the red light district!), transformed from the sacristy, which dates from 1571, into a cafe.

We then went to Amsterdam’s Central Library, a lovely public library, with great use of space..

and a jazz trio playing at the library café..

We crossed the IJ by ferry (the body of water, formerly a bay, which is Amsterdam’s waterfront. Its name is from an obsolete Dutch word meaning ‘water,’ pronounced like ‘eye’), and ate dinner at the Restaurant Eye.

After dinner, we walked Annelien to the train station, for her to return home, and we walked to our hotel…

The next morning, Don and I set off to follow Rick Steve’s audio Amsterdam City Walk.  We’ve been to Amsterdam before, but the last time was 17 years ago (with kids), and we’ve never been ‘with’ Rick Steves, who is excellent for taking you down side streets and into courtyards you might never otherwise see.

From his introduction: “Amsterdam, during the Dutch Golden Age, (the 1600’s), was the world’s richest city, an international sea trading port, and the cradle of capitalism. Wealthy democratic burghers built the city almost from scratch. They created a wonderland of canals lined with townhouses, topped with fancy gables. Immigrants, Jews, outcasts and political rebels were drawn here by its tolerant atmosphere, while painters such as Rembrandt captured that atmosphere on canvas.” We started at the Centraal Station, and walked along Damrak (street), leading to Dam Square.

Dam Square is the historic heart of Amsterdam. The city got its start right here in about the year 1250, when fishermen in this marshy delta settled along the built-up banks of the Amstel River. They built a ‘damme,’ blocking the Amstel River, creating a small village called “Amstel-damme.”

Carrying on along Kalverstraat, a pedestrian-only street, we came to “De Papegaai Hidden Church,” a Catholic church which dates from an era when Catholics in Amsterdam were forced to worship in secret. (In the 1500’s Protestant were fighting Catholics all over Europe. While technically illegal, Catholicism was tolerated as long as Catholics practiced in unadvertised places.)  The nickname “papegaai” means parrot.

On the arch of the Museum entrance is Amsterdam’s coat of arms – a red shield with three Xs and a crown. The X-shaped crosses represent the crucifixion of St. Andrew, patron saint of fishermen. They also represent the three virtues of heroism, determination, and mercy – symbolism that was declared by the queen after the Dutch experience in WWII. The crown dates from 1489, when Maximilian I – a Habsburg emperor – also ruled the Low Countries. He paid off a big loan with help from Amsterdam’s city bankers and, as thanks for the cash, gave the city permission to use his prestigious trademark, the Habsburg crown, atop its shield.  Below the coat of arms is a relief (dated 1581) showing boys around a dove, asking for charity, a reminder this building was once an orphanage.

We walked through the museum (which we toured later), along this colourful patchwork carpet, representing all the countries from where Dutch immigrants originated…

…a short cut to a hidden little courtyard, the Behijnhof, lined with houses around a church, which has sheltered a community of Beguines – pious and simple women who have removed themselves from the world at large to dedicated their lives to God – since 1346. The last Beguine died in 1971, but this Begijnof continues to thrive, providing subsidized housing to about 100 single women.

Also in the courtyard, a black wooden house, dating from 1528, the oldest in the city.

From here, past the Munttoren (Mint Tower), which marked the limit of the medieval walled city and served as one of its original gates….

…to the Bloemenmarkt (Flower Market)…

While Rick Steves recommended stopping for raw herring along the way, we politely declined, and instead stopped at Cafe Americain, famous art nouveau brasserie which, since the 1950’s, has been a celeb meeting place. (We didn’t see any…not that we’d know…)

Continuing along, some street views..

We then toured the Amsterdam City Museum – a good overview of the history of Amsterdam…

…and then followed Rick Steves’ Jordaan neighbourhood walk… This is a beautiful area of the city, full of cafes and boutiques, and beautiful strolling streets…

We came to the Homo-Monument, a memorial to homosexuals who lost their lives in WWII, and a commemoration of all those persecuted for their sexuality. It’s a three-part monument: a pink stone triangle that juts into the canal; another triangle flat in the square; a third triangle structure in the square. The pink triangle design reclaims the symbol that the Nazis used to mark homosexuals.

We made our way back to the hotel to take advantage of the lounge food and drink, and to pack up in preparation for our early morning departure.

The next morning, Sunday, we picked up a rental car, and drove to meet Annelien and Willem a little ways out of the city. We were joining them for two nights on the island of Texel, in the north of the country, an area to which we’d never been. (Texel is the first island in an archipelago of islands in the north, that curve towards Germany.) Willem sings with a choir, which was performing Sunday afternoon in an old church on the island.  We drove north, and then took a ferry. Willem grabbed a sandwich as he had a rehearsal as soon as we would arrive.  The seagulls loved it!

Once on the island, Willem went off to rehearse while we headed into the main town of Oudeschild, for lunch and a little wander of the harbour.

The choir performs:

After a very lovely performance, we drove to our hotel, at the north end of the island, where we enjoyed the ‘lounge area’ (space at the end of the dining room), and then dinner.

Monday was cloudy, foggy, windy and cool, but we were on an island with lots of beach, and a lighthouse, and a museum, all waiting to be explored.  And so… to the lighthouse!

watch the foam wiggle in the wind in this very short video..

We next toured the Museum Kaap Skil, in Oudeschild. From the museum’s brochure: From the 15th till the 19th century, Texel was the junction for international shipping. The ships at the world-famous anchorage ‘Roads of Texel’ filled up with supplies and waited for favourable winds to set sail. Despite the protection from the island, many ships perished on the Roads of Texel during bad weather. The century-old shipwrecks have been preserved as time capsules under the sand. Due to erosion, they are being exposed. Numerous unusual finds from the wrecks are on display.

As well, in the Open Air Museum, you can experience life in the fishing village Skil in the early 20th century, including authentically designed fishermen homes and shops, grain mill and forge.

On the ceiling of the museum coffee shop was the most amazing ‘sculpture’ of wool…. a complete map of the island of Texel:

The Tessels Lant is a work by artist Erna Van Sambeek made for Kaap Skil. The work is made entirely by hand. Thirty residents of the island helped by spinning, dyeing, knitting, and felting the more than thirty-five kilos of raw wool used for the work. The wool comes from the Texelaar sheep breed and other sheep grazing on Texel. The spun wool is dyed with extracts of plants growing on Texel such as tansy, elderberry and yarrow. The seaweed for the forest is taken from the beach. It’s a very large piece, hard to tell from the picture, and so perfectly created.

After we ate lunch, Don and I got a lesson in how to create a simple labyrinth.  Willem has been studying, and creating, labyrinths for over 20 years.  As it was low tide in the afternoon, we went to a beach where Willem created a labyrinth and we all took turns walking it. It is quite a unique and reflective experience, more moving than I expected.

Back to our hotel, we rested, changed, and headed out for dinner, and our final evening together.  Don and I left the next morning for Rotterdam.

We arrived at my cousin Marianne and husband Jan’s lovely apartment in Rotterdam in time for lunch.

After lunch we set out to return our rental car and then wander around the city of Rotterdam…

Rotterdam native, Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), was born in a house nearby. This humanist philosopher and satirist grew nervous when his like-minded friend, Thomas More, was beheaded by the English King so, to evade a similar fate, Erasmus traveled far and wide, all around Europe. He forged the notion of being a European – a citizen of the world, not tied to a single nationality. In other words, Erasmus is the intellectual forebear of the European Union, which named its highly successful foreign study program after him. On the pedestal of the statue is an Erasmus quote: “The entire world is your fatherland.” (Rick Steves)

Next to the library are the famous Kubuswoningen “Cube Houses.” In the late 1970s, architect Piet Blom turned urban housing on its ear with this bold design: 39 identical yellow cubes, all tilted up on their corners, and each filled with the residence of a single family. Taken together, the Cube Houses look like dozens of dice in mid-toss. You can tour one of them, which we did 17 years ago, though not this time.

Across from the library and cube houses is a very modern (and new to us) Market Hall. Inside the arch is a food market, and arcing above and around that are 230 apartments – some that have views into the market.

Continuing on to the Oudehaven – Old Harbour – which is mostly a re-creation of what was before the war, with the White House another rare example of a surviving prewar building. When it was built in 1898, it was Europe’s tallest building, at about 140 feet. The harbour is lined with cafes and restaurants, and we stopped at one for a drink, before walking home.

We went out for dinner, and the whole evening turned into a very special event. We first got a water taxi to the restaurant:

this little video, of Don in the back of the water taxi, shows how quickly we were traveling.  Jan and I sat inside!

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We pulled up to this building, what used to be the Holland America shipping company’s head office, and is now a restaurant.

…that overlooked the exact spot where those emigrating to North America would have boarded their ships.  And then Jan presented us with the research he had done on my father!! He had found the passenger manifest list, with my father’s name on it, and the details of the ship on which he traveled!!  This was such a SPECIAL gift!! ❤

We walked home from a lovely dinner – a long walk, much to Jan’s dismay. 😉

The next morning, after breakfast, we set out to wander Delfshaven, a preserved area from Rotterdam’s Golden Age, which originally was a port for Delft (and whose harbour is connected to Delft town centre by six miles of canals.) Jan and Marianne moor their boat here, and it’s so very picturesque, complete with working windmill and home to the Pilgrim Fathers Church, built in 1417, where the Pilgrims prayed the night before setting sail for the New World on August 1, 1620. (Their ship, the Speedwell, had to be swapped out for the Mayflower in England before continuing on to Plymouth Rock.)

We had a last lunch together at the apartment, and then my cousin Corjan arrived to drive us to his and wife Tonny’s home in Weert, a small city in the southeastern corner of Holland. We enjoyed dinner out in town, with their two sons, re-connecting over good food and wine.

The next day, we set off for the city of Maastricht, at the very southeastern end of the country. There was a bookstore there I had read about, housed in what used to be a Dominican church, and given I was on a bit of a library-and-bookstore tour, of course I had put it on my list.  The store did not disappoint!

We wandered a little through the old city centre..

had lunch in a lovely little outdoor courtyard…

…and then, we headed back to Weert, for a surprise Corjan and Tonny had organized… There’s a working mill on the outskirts of Weert, and they arranged for the miller to give us a private tour of how it all works. Of course we have seen windmills, but we’ve never seen how they work that closely, and it was really special to have the very proud miller explain it all to us.  It’s an incredible amount of work to keep it all running!

here’s a short video of the whole process…

20 more seconds of faster grinding…

Time to say goodbye to the miller, with huge thanks to Corjan and Tonny for arranging the private tour, and to the millers for being so welcoming!!  On the way home we stopped at a farm to pick up freshly picked white asparagus for our dinner.  Corjan cooked us a light dinner of fresh asparagus, plus bacon and eggs, just the way his father and our Opa used to make.

The next morning, Friday, Corjan drove us to the Dusseldorf airport so we could fly to Berlin (through Amsterdam…slightly convoluted, but no matter) for our last five days. Tot ziens to my cousins!

We arrived at our hotel, in the Prenzlauer neighbourhood, in the late afternoon, settled in, and then set out to find somewhere for wine and a light meal.

Wandering after dinner, we came to our first encounter with the Berlin Wall memorials that are throughout the city…

We saved the rest of the city for the following days, and headed to our hotel for a good sleep.

We started our day by listening to, and walking along with, Rick Steves’ city introduction walks. He begins at the Reichstag, but first we had to get there. We took the subway, and emerged at Potsdamer Platz which, before WWII, was the “Times Square of Berlin.” It was pulverized in WWII, and stood at the intersection of the American, British, and Soviet postwar sectors. When the Wall went up, the platz was cut in two and left a deserted no-man’s-land for 40 years. As throughout Berlin, two subtle lines in the pavement indicate where the Wall once stood. (See my photo just above.)

On to the Reichstag, the heart of Germany’s government. Berlin has long been a Germanic capital, from the first Dukes of Brandenburg in medieval times to the democracy of today, with all the different governments in-between. When Hitler was in power, the Reichstag was hardly used, but it remained a powerful symbol and therefore a prime target for Allied bombers. The structure survived, with some damage. After the war, when Berlin was divided into East and West, the Wall ran right behind the Reichstag, which placed the building in no-man’s land, and in disuse. The capital of West Germany was moved to Bonn. After the Wall fell, the Reichstag again became the focus of the new nation, and was renovated, with the addition of a glass dome. You can book tickets to visit and climb the dome, so while we were there, we did just that for later in the week.

In front of the Reichstag, a Memorial to Politicians Who Opposed Hitler – 96 slabs honour the 96 Reichstag members who spoke out against Adolf Hitler and the rising tide of fascism. When Hitler became chancellor, these critics were persecuted and murdered. On each slab is a name, political party, date and location of death.

Around the corner from the Reichstag, where the Berlin Wall once stood, is the Berlin Wall Victims Memorial: the row of white crosses commemorates a few of the many brave East Berliners who died trying to cross the Wall to freedom.

And in the park, two memorials – the Memorial to the Homosexuals Persecuted Under the National Socialist Regime: a start dark-gray concrete box with a small window through which you can watch a film loop of same-sex couples kissing, a reminder that life and love are precious…

…and the Monument to the Murdered Sinti and Roma of Europe…roughly 500,00 Holocaust victims identified as “Sinti” and “Roma.” These groups lost the same percentage of their population as the Jews did. The monument includes an opaque glass wall with a timeline, and a steel portal leading to a circular reflecting pool surrounded by stone slabs, some containing names of death camps. Along the rim of the pool is a poem “Auschwitz,” by Santino Spinelli, an Italian Roma.

We now came to the Brandenburg Gate, the last survivor of the 14 original gates in Berlin’s old city wall. (This one led to the neighbouring city of Brandenburg.) The four-horse chariot op top is driven by the Goddess of Peace. When Napoleon conquered Prussia in 1806, he took this statue to the Louvre in Paris. Then, after the Prussians defeated Napoleon, they got it back (in 1813), and the Goddess of Peace was renamed the “Goddess of Victory.” During the time of the Berlin Wall, the gate was also stranded in no-man’s-land and off-limits to everyone.

Through the gate, into Pariser Platz, named “Parisian Square” after the Prussians defeated France and Napoleon in 1813. It was bombed to smithereens in WWII and rebuilt. It houses the US Embassy, banks and the famous Hotel Adlon, where celebrities stay, including Michael Jackson, and from whose balcony he famously dangled his infant son.

Between the US Embassy and the hotel is a low-profile bank built by the high-profile Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry. The bank is nondescript (structures on this plaza are designed so as not to draw attention from the Brandenburg Gate) but inside the bank, is an extraordinary sculpture by Gehry, that looks like a big, slithery fish.

Our next stop was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, which is the MOST moving memorial I may have ever seen, anywhere.

This memorial consists of 2,711 coffin-shaped pillars covering an entire city block. More than 160,000 Jewish people lived in Berlin when Hitler took power. Tens of thousands fled, and many more were arrested, sent to nearby concentration camps and eventually murdered. The memorial remembers them and the other six million Jews who were killed by the Nazis during WWII. Completed in 2005 by the Jewish-American architect Peter Eisenman, this was the first formal, German-government-sponsored Holocaust memorial. Using the word “murdered” in the title was intentional, and a big deal. The pillars, made of hollow concrete, stand in a gently sunken area that can be entered from any side. No matter where you are, the exit always seems to be up. The number of pillars isn’t symbolic – it’s simply how many fit on the provided land. The memorial’s location – where the Wall once stood – is also coincidental. The meaning of the memorial is open to interpretation. Is it a symbolic cemetery full of gravestones? An intentionally disorienting labyrinth? Perhaps it’s meant to reflect how the senseless horror of the Holocaust didn’t adhere to rational thought. It’s up to the visitor to derive meaning.

I took a short video as I walked through, which really gives you an idea of this extraordinarily moving memorial.

We then walked to the Brandenburger Tor S-Bahn subway station, and went down to take a look …

This station still has the original 1930s green tilework walls…

…and the old sign written in Gothic lettering. It was one of Berlin’s “ghost stations.” During the Cold War, the zigzag line dividing East and West Berlin meant that some existing train lines crossed the border underground. For 28 years, stations like this were unused, as Western trains slowly passed through, and passengers saw only East German guards. Then, in 1989, within days of the fall of the Wall, these stations were reopened.

We wandered down the lovely Unter den Linden boulevard, the heart of imperial Germany. During Berlin’s Golden Age in the late 1800s, this was one of Europe’s grand boulevards – the Champs-Elysees of Berlin, then a city of nearly 2 million people. It was lined with linden trees. The street got its start in the 15th century as a way to connect the royal palace, a 1/2 mile down the road, with the king’s hunting grounds. Many of the grandest landmarks along the way are thanks to Frederick the Great, who ruled from 1740 to 1786, and put his kingdom (Prussia) and his capital (Berlin) on the map.

Just off the boulevard we found a great restaurant for lunch; we loved it so much we returned two more times. It’s SO hard to get enough salads and vegetables when you’re eating out all the time. The Little Green Rabbit served a fantastic selection of salads, made fresh as you watched, plus soups and stews, and topped every salad with a sprig of the basil that they grew in pots along the salad bar.

Refreshed and restored, we continued along the boulevard, coming to Bebelsplatz: Square of the Books… Frederick the Great built this square to show off Prussian ideals: education, the arts, improvement of the individual, and a tolerance for different groups-provided they are committed to the betterment of society. This square was the centre of Frederick’s capital. Across the boulevard, edging the square, Humboldt University, one of Europe’s greatest. Marx and Engels both studied here, as did the Brothers Grimm and more than two dozen Nobel Prize winner. Albert Einstein taught here until he fled Germany to join the faculty at Princeton in 1932.

In the square, the former state library, which was funded by Frederick the Great. After the library was damaged in WWII, communist authorities decided to rebuild it in the original style, but only because Lenin studied here during much of his exile from Russia. Inside, is a 1968 vintage stained-glass window that depicts Lenin’s life’s work.

Another very moving memorial is found in this square: the book-burning memorial. When you look through the glass window in the pavement you seen what appears to be a room of empty bookshelves. This spot commemorates a notorious event that took place here during the Nazi years as it was here in 1933 that university staff and students built a bonfire, and into the flames threw 20,000 newly forbidden books – books authored by the likes of Einstein, Hemingway, Freud, etc. Overseeing it all was the Nazi propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, who also tossed books onto the fire. As the flames rose up, he declared, “The era of extreme Jewish intellectualism has come to an end, and the German revolution has again opened the way for the true essence of being German.” Hitler purposely chose this square – built by Frederick the Great to embody culture and enlightenment – to symbolically demonstrate that the era of tolerance and openness was over. The nearby plaque has a quote by the 19th-century German poet Heinrich Heine. The Nazis despised Heine because, even though he converted to Christianity, he was born a Jew. His books were among those that went up in flames on this spot. The quote, written in 1820, reads: “Where they burn books, in the end they will also burn people.”

It’s impossible to photograph the room of empty shelves in the daylight (though you can see it), so we came back at night to get a picture. I’m posting it here now…

Further along Unter den Linden boulevard is a statue of Frederick the Great.

We then came to Neue Wache, the “New Guardhouse.” It was built in 1816 to house the guards of the nearby palace. Over the years, each successive German regime has used it as a memorial to honour its soldiers. After the Wall fell, the structure was transformed into a national memorial. In 1933, the interior was fitted with the statue that is a replica of “Mother with Her Dead Son” by Käthe Kollwitz, a Berlin artist who lived through both world wars. The memorial is open to the sky, letting the elements – sunshine, rain, snow – fall on the sculpture.

The Unter den Linden walk ended at Museum Island, and the Berlin Cathedral.

As we weren’t ready to tour any museums, we continued on with a portion of Rick Steves’ Communist East Berlin walk. In the park across the bridge from the Berlin Cathedral is the Marx-Engels-Forum, a park dedicated in 1986 by the East German government. The ensemble of sculptures tells a story: behind Marx and Engels is a relief that shows the Industrial Age reality of a cold and heartless world of exploitation; then came Marx and Engels; but progress toward workers’ rights had to be earned-photos on the pillars show images of workers struggling against the forces of capitalism; the happy ending that comes with all social realism is depicted in a bronze relief of free-flowing images – a utopian workers’ paradise.  (Obviously you had to believe the philosophy!)

Around the corner from this park, the Radisson Hotel, with a wild lobby feature – a *very* large fish tank!

Also in the neighbourhood, the Ampelmann store, dedicated to the DDR’s iconic, retro, street light symbols..

We ended our walk in Alexanderplatz, built in 1805 during the Prussian Golden Age, named for a Russian czar, Alexander, because it was the gateway for trade to Eastern Europe at that time. On November 4, 1989, more than a half-million East Berliners gathered here to demand their freedom.  It’s a busy square with a great fountain in its centre.

With over 20,000 steps to our very long day, it was definitely time to head back to our neighbourhood, clean up, and go out for dinner.

On Sunday we set out walking, heading to the Berlin Wall Memorial and Visitors Centre, close to our hotel neighbourhood of Prenzlauer Berg. The Memorial is located along the former “death strip” – the no-man’s-land between East and West. For decades, it was strewn with barbed wire and patrolled by guards. Today it’s a long, narrow, and poignant park, running for nearly a mile alongside the most complete surviving stretch of the Wall in Berlin. The Visitor’s Centre is the place to start the tour, with two very good introductory films in English, covering the four-decade history of the Wall.

After watching the films, we moved outside to the park.

The Window of Remembrance show photos of people who died trying to escape East Berlin.

The Documentation Centre is a good museum of exhibits, geared to a new generation of Berliners who can hardly imagine their city split in two. Also from here, you can climb stairs to the rooftop where you can view from above the last preserved stretch of the death strip with an original guard tower.

The Chapel of Reconciliation stands on the site of the old Church of Reconciliation. The original church was built in 1894 and served the neighbourhood parish, but when the wall went up, it was stranded in the death strip, and so was abandoned. Border guards used the steeple as a watchtower, but it was eventually blown up by the East Germans in 1985. There’s a photo of the original church in the Documentation Centre.

The field of rye in front of the chapel was initiated in 2005 as an art event by the Protestant Reconciliation Parish. It is maintained under the metaphor “Where it is possible to sow, there is peace.” (a sign board nearby posts this information)

Not much remains of the old church but the bells and the twisted iron cross, on display…

This Reconciliation Sculpture was created by Josefina de Vasconcellos, a call for reconciliation following the devastation of the Second World War. Copies exist at sites that were deeply affected by the war: in the Coventry cathedral, in the Hiroshima peace museum, and in the former border strip at the Berlin Wall. (sign board)

For lunch this day, we decided we better try the recommended street food specialty, Currywurst, created in Berlin after WWII, when a fast-food cook got her hands on some curry and Worcestershire sauce from British troops stationed here. It’s basically a grilled pork sausage, chopped in pieces and smothered with curry sauce.

After lunch we followed Rick Steves’ walk for our own neighbourhood, Prenzlauer Berg.  We started at Mauer park, “Wall Park,” an area that used to be in no-man’s-land. Today it’s a lively gathering place, and on a Sunday afternoon, full of people, live music, and an outdoor market. There’s also a sports stadium here, built to host the World Youth Festival in 1951. The wall in front of the stadium is a favourite for graffiti artists, and we found a few.

Some of the streets in this neighbourhood have beautiful buildings…

And in behind, just one of Berlin’s many courtyards.. In the late 1980s, the Prenzlauer Berg was run down, and authorities proposed tearing down the neighbourhood and replacing it with more efficient and modern concrete block housing instead. The locals had a respect for this area’s history and fought to keep the original architecture. They’d take ownership of courtyards like this one, chipping away at the concrete and planting grass and gardens – a process called “hofbegrunung (“courtyard greening up” – basically urban gardening). It was a literal “grassroots movement” of opposition to the centrally planned communist aesthetic – people were reclaiming their “shared property” from a government they didn’t trust.

Our next stop was Prater Beirgarten – Berlin’s oldest beer garden – perfect timing as we were very thirsty!

While Prenzlauer Berg largely survived WWII, it fell into disrepair under the communists. In 1987, East and West Berlin both celebrated the 750th anniversary of the city’s founding, and the DDR government had the next section we came to, Husemannstrasse, spruced up, restoring it to its original, circa-1900 glory. The old-time street signs, with the Berlin bear – are part of that re-model…

The Rykestrasse Synagogue, built in 1904, is one of only a handful that still exist in Berlin. It looks small from the outside, but is Germany’s largest surviving synagogue, with an original capacity for 2,000. It’s typical for synagogues to be set back from the street, as this one is, hiding in a big courtyard and camouflaged to blend in with the other houses on the street. During Kristallnacht (November 9, 1938), anti-Semitic government agents and civilians smashed and set fire to synagogues all over Germany. In most cases, fire departments simply let them burn to the ground. But here, the burning synagogue put the surrounding non-Jewish homes in jeopardy, so the fires were extinguished, and it was saved.

Our last stop in our neighbourhood, the Wasserturm (Water Tower), sitting on the highest spot in the city.

Time to return to our hotel and clean up before dinner. We enjoyed an excellent meal at a lovely little French restaurant in the neighbourhood.

On Monday, we set out by train to the outskirts of the city, to see the Philological Library at the Freie Universität, the last of my library visits for this trip.  It was another unique design, designed by internationally known architect Norman Foster, in the shape of a human brain, and opened in 2005. (wiki)

We took the train back into the city, ate lunch, and then went to the German History Museum, where we spent four hours absorbing German history from before Medieval Times to the present… one of the most comprehensive museums we have ever toured…extraordinarily well done.

Back to our neighbourhood, we had a delicious dinner at a Vietnamese place we would definitely recommend..

The next day we started by visiting the Reichstag Dome. The structure is fantastic!

Walking through the park adjacent to the Reichstag, after our Dome visit, we came to the Soviet War Memorial, which honours the Soviet army soldiers who died in the battle for Berlin, which brought WWII to a decisive conclusion. Erected by the Soviets in the divided city just months after the war’s end, the monument is maintained under the terms of Germany’s 1990 reunification treaty.

Down the long boulevard leading to the Brandenburg Gate, is the Victory Column, topped with a golden statue that commemorates the three big military victories that established Prussia as a world power in the late 1800s – over France, Denmark, and Austria…

Facing the other way, the Brandenburg Gate, and sculpture “The Crier”…

On a signboard near the statue, this information: The Crier was designed in 1967 by Berlin born sculptor Gerhard Marcks (1889-1981). To celebrate the centenary of this artist’s birth, the statue was installed in May, 1989.  It was commissioned in 1967 by Radio Bremen, symbolizing the ongoing mission of radio and television: the broadcasting of news. The Crier, installed in 1989, sends out a different message in the capital of Germany. The silent, yet emphatic cry of the statue in the direction of the east, refers specifically to the quotation by Italian poet Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374), inscribed on its pedestal: “I walk through the world and cry: peace, peace, peace.” In fact, the call for peace and justice was heard: a mere six months after the statue’s installation, the Berlin Wall fell, on November 9, 1989.

On our way to Checkpoint Charlie, we stopped at a different branch of Little Green Rabbit for lunch, and discovered this very ‘unique’ sculpture – no name, no idea!

On to Checkpoint Charlie… For nearly 3 decades this was a border crossing between East and West Berlin.  It became known worldwide and stood as a symbol of the Cold War itself.  (I don’t think McDonald’s was there during the Cold War 😉 )

In the same area, a segment of the Berlin Wall has survived because it abuts the ruins of a Nazi building (the SS and Gestapo headquarters) that was intentionally left as a memorial. It’s an evocative stretch of Wall because, with its holes, you can see its rebar innards.

Across the street, the only major Hitler-era government building that survived the war’s bombs, once housed the headquarters of the Nazi Air Force (Luftwaffe). After the war, this building became the headquarters for the Soviet occupation.

Around the corner, on the side of the building, is a vivid example of communist art. This mural, by Max Lingner, called Aufbau der Republik, is classic Socialist Realism, showing the entire society – industrial laborers, farm workers, women, and children – all happily singing the same patriotic song. Its subtitle is: “The importance of peace for the cultural development of humanity and the necessity of struggle to achieve this goal.” 

The above mural shows the communist ideal.  The reality was quite different. A little further away from the mural is a black-and-white photo embedded in the square. It shows an angry 1953 crowd with arms linked in solidarity, marching against the government.

The next neighbourhood we walked and explored was the Old Jewish quarter. We started at the bustling Hackescher Market, where I found a beautiful jacket to buy and met the designer, who was selling her stunning clothes from a tent.

This area has several lovely courtyards. The Hackesche Höfe is a series of eight connected courtyards, full of shops and cafes, and some beautiful tile work in the first courtyard…

This area is also full of “stumbling stones” – small monuments to everyday people who were murdered in the Holocaust. Each plaque tells a story of who lived at the address where the plaque is placed, and where and when they were killed. These plaques are found throughout Germany, as we had also seen them in Wiesbaden a few years ago.

The next courtyard we came to is called Haus Schwarzenberg, owned by an artists’ collective. In it are a bar, cinema, gallery, small museums, and graffiti-covered walls…

Lots of interesting little shops and also The Sixties Diner, popular for locals who want to “eat American.” (!)

We walked up Grosse Hamburger Strasse, (amusingly the Sixties Diner is on this street), to the oldest Jewish cemetery in the city. At the entrance, an evocative memorial honouring the 55,000 Berlin Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust. The monument is piled with small stones, following the Jewish tradition of placing a stone on a grave as a sign of remembrance, and to prevent the body from being disturbed.

Also along this street, a big gap between two yellow buildings, another example of the “missing buildings” what were bombed out in WWII and never rebuilt. This one has been turned into a thought-provoking memorial – high up on the white wall facing into the courtyard are the names of the people who once lived there.

Across from this gap, the Sophien-kirche, a protestant church built on land that the Jewish community voluntarily donated for that purpose in the 1690s, giving this street the nickname, “Street of Tolerance.” Martin Luther King delivered a sermon in this church on the evening of September 13, 1964. From a placard nearby, this information: In his sermon he said, “No man-made barrier can erase the fact that God’s children live on both sides of the Wall.” It seems a good reminder…

Continuing, we came to an old building that houses the Clärchens Ballhaus, a Berlin institution since 1913, hosting ballroom dancing and dance lessons. We wished we’d known earlier to come for an evening’s entertainment.

And then, the New Synagogue… Consecrated in 1866, the original synagogue that stood here was the biggest and finest in Germany. Services were held until 1940, when the Nazis confiscated the building. It escaped significant damage on Kristallnacht, but was bombed in 1943 and partially rebuilt in 1990.

Our last day had arrived. We had two things on our list to see before we got a taxi to the airport late that afternoon. The first was the East Side Gallery… This is the biggest remaining stretch of the Wall, nearly a mile long, and is now the “world’s longest outdoor art gallery.” The murals are classified as protected monuments.  The west side of the wall is covered in graffiti – a style of “art” I don’t find attractive at all. Graffiti-covered areas look run down and dirty to me.  But, in West Berlin, when the Wall was up, that kind of tagging was tolerated. The East side of the Wall was left clean because, of course, those in the East couldn’t even get to the Wall.  The art work there now was commissioned, and creates a great gallery.  As I have not subjected this blog to photos from the History Museum, and we didn’t visit any other galleries, here follows several photos from this unique gallery…

..And the most moving, by Kani Alavi, “It Happened in November,” which shows the sea of humanity flowing through the wall the night it opened…

From the wall we took the subway to the neighbourhood called Kreuzberg, often described as Berlin’s “Turkish neighbourhood,” or its “edgy multicultural district,” and followed Rick Steves’ walk for this area, after grabbing a fantastically huge sandwich in a little middle-eastern café, where there was a small group of students from Sweden, with their (very young) teachers, one of whom was Canadian… It’s a small and wonderful world.

In the late 19th century this area expanded like crazy to house workers. During the Cold War, Kreuzberg was in the West but surrounded on three sides by the Wall. Its buildings, already damaged by WWII bombs, because further dilapidated, all of which made Kreuzberg the least desirable neighbourhood in West Berlin. Much of the area dates from the 1970s when this area’s low rents attracted two groups: draft-dodging West Germans who squatted in ramshackle tenements, and immigrants – largely Turkish guest workers, trying to scrape together a living in their adopted country.  In the last decade, the area has been in transition, and becoming gentrified, but is still a great mix.

After our walk in this area, we took the subway back to our hotel where we had stored our luggage for the day, sat in their back garden for a cold beer, and then got a cab to the airport, to fly to Amsterdam. We stayed in the Amsterdam airport hotel (a great hotel!), and flew home the next day.  Berlin was a beautiful and sobering city. We were reminded of so much history, and very impressed with how well it is all documented and memorialized.