Happy Travels Again

Jim and I made our first trip to Germany in 1976 when the Berlin Wall stood and the Cold War raged. As young travel novices I remember that we considered a visit to Berlin, but only briefly.  I wanted to go but I remember the uncertainty about being so close to an area than I knew was communist when I still harbored very real fears about communism from my 1950s upbringing.  Instead from Vienna we opted for a night train trip across Germany to the Netherlands where we joined hordes of tourists at the Alkmaar cheese festival.  (But that's a story for another time!)

I never forgot my desire to visit Berlin and ever since the Wall came down in 1989 I have been curious about how this city survived and now thrives despite all it endured.  I was further intrigued to visit by a book I recently read "My Berlin Kitchen"  in which the author  recounts her Berlin childhood and her days as a young married woman after the wall came down. When we decided to take the Rick Steves tour of Eastern European countries this provided the perfect opportunity to start in Berlin.  We arrived via Paris on Wednesday, May 20 and enjoyed a few days both immersed in history and awed by the sight of a city that has truly risen from ashes.

We started as we usually do, in a  big and unfamiliar city by doing a  "hop on, hop off circle bus tour" and then we used a very helpful self-guided walking RIck Steves audio tour.   We stayed in the Prenzlauer Berg area, formerly in East Berlin but now revitalized by trendy hotels, restaurants and bars with multiple cranes looming over the streets  - a testimony to the continual rebuilding.  It was conveniently located close to Alexanderplatz  and the city's wonderful public transit system.  Each evening we found amazing restaurants right in our neighborhood and enjoyed the great foods and beer we remember from our previous trips to Germany in 1976 and 1978.

In our recent trips to Europe we have learned to not try to do it all, but to chose a few places we want to explore more thoroughly and after getting a good overview of the city's historical sites, we chose to spend time in the German History Museum and the Jewish History Museum.  The first tells the story of not just Berlin but of all of Germany and helps you to understand the fateful turn this country took in the early part of the 20th century.  The second is considered one of Europe's best Jewish sights.  With the help of an excellent audio guide the  exhibits come alive and you begin to understand the complex relationship the Germans and Jews have had since medieval times. Before experiencing the exhibits you will marvel at the architecture of the museum itself.  It was designed by the American architect David Libeskind who is the master planner for the redesigned World Trade Center in New  York. It is a zinc walled building with voids which represent the world culture missing as a result of the Holocaust.  One of the most haunting experiences of this trip (which included a visit to Auschwitz) was standing alone in the empty concrete tower where only a sliver of light entered the room at the top.  The is the Axis of the Holocaust.

In the maze

By far the most moving site of our Berlin visit was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. It consists of 2,711 gravestone like pillars which are made of hollow concrete and are set in a sunken area.  You can enter anywhere and you are soon lost among the maze, alone with your own thoughts about what this all means.

Part  of any visit to Berlin is seeing the Hitler/Nazi sites and most remaining artifacts are thoughtfully presented in historical context with little sensationalism.  Most museums like the German Resistence Museum which we visited rely heavily on text explanations  and have few artifacts. Where they are seen, Hitler's portraits are small.  The spot of his underground bunker where he committed suicide on April 30, 1945 is barely noted - no one wishes this to be a major tourist site.

In addition to the cranes another thing that struck me was  the number of bicyclists everywhere.  We quickly learned to watch out for them as they whizzed by, almost more a threat to pedestrians than car traffic. Walking around I also noted something else I haven't seen before - small fleece blankets on the back of outdoor restaurant chairs!  Perhaps I don't get out often enough, or maybe because the Twin Cities climate isn't exactly conducive to outdoor eating but I don't remember seeing this at home. It's a nice touch for spring and fall outdoor dining.

And speaking of dining - we weren't disappointed!   We were told that Berliners don't go out for German food and that international cuisine (Indian, Italian, Asian) is more popular with the locals.  We bypassed this advice and sought out sauerkraut, potatoes, sausages at every meal.  Jim tried curry wurst a popular street food invented after WWII and found it quite tasty.  Our last evening in Berlin we dined at Prater Restaurant, enjoying their own microbrew and traditional Biergarten cuisine.  A perfect ending to 4 great days in Berlin.  It was worth the long wait.

Fassbender and Rausch- claims to be Europe's biggest chocolate store

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church - bombed out ruins left as a reminder of the destruction of Berlin in WWII

Fragments of the Berlin Wall

TV Tower - built in 1969 for the 20th anniversary of the communist government

A most romantic day

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Engaged!

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Happy travels?

 

 

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Some Things That Matter to Me Right Now

Fall is in the air and that always  heralds  new beginnings for me.  I get antsy thinking about projects  I want to do, and need to firm up the plans I have been scheming and dreaming about all summer.  Because "my eyes are always bigger than my stomach" it helps to make lists and then begin to anticipate the delicious feeling I get when I can cross something off the list.  So let's get started!

     1.  Finish C's heritage scrapbook.  I have been working on this for more than 5 years so
          it deserves to be at the top of the list!

     2.  Sew B's Advent calendar.   Complete by Thanksgiving!

     3.  Commit to a timetable for the bathroom remodel project

     4.  Car shop.  Safety first.

     5.  Put a deposit on the Rick Steve's Eastern Europe trip for May- June, 2015.  I think
          Berlin  should be the starting point.

Let's git 'er done!

Matters of Life and Death, and Friends

I saw the picture first. Just two smiling friends on a typical Facebook post. It wasn't until I read the comments that I knew those happy faces were from another time and that today was a very sad day.  Later I learned that one was a 30 something  mother of 3 young children who had struggled 4 long years with breast cancer before losing her life to that dread disease.  All the ice bucket challenges in the world can't comfort us  in the face of another person dying so young from any disease.

For me, it's  a flashback 35 years  and the sad realization that even after all this time we are still losing our mothers, daughters, sisters and friends to breast cancer.  Kathy, one of the first friends of my newly married life years ago, died after living with breast cancer for 5 years.  At that age, friends come more slowly but more intensely into your life and they stay longer - lifelong we hope.   And when they die the loss is even greater and even scarier because it reminds us how vulnerable we all are, how fleeting life can be for all of us.  The grieving is overwhelming and the missing never goes away.

I didn't know this young woman - or her heartbroken young husband or the 3 small children who can't possibly comprehend their mother's absence.  But I do know the friend pictured with her and I do feel the pain she feels today at the death of her friend.  In time, some memories of their friendship will fade but the best ones will become even brighter and she will slowly find comfort and peace  - and gratitude for the time they did have as friends.

It's Only a Peach

But it mattered.  Last week when I visited dad I was making light conversation.  It might be light conversation, but actually it is hard work because advancing age is robbing him of even more things like his hearing, and many days he is weak from the effects of his worsening COPD, heart valve failure and reoccurring anemia. Most days he seems happy to just sit and squeeze my hand during our visits, not sure who is comforting whom, but this day he wanted to talk and we were reminiscing about his gardens of years past and how much we both enjoyed the foods of the late summer season.  We talked about how he and mother canned fruits and vegetables and he seemed happy that we are growing tomatoes this year, and enjoying our first harvest.  Someone had brought him a beautiful tomato from their garden that morning and he was enjoying eating it out of hand, the juice running down his chin.   That's when the talk turned to peaches and I told him that I have been enjoying the wonderful Alberta peaches from Colorado.  His eyes lit up and he looked so joyfully thoughtful as he talked about how much my mother loved those peaches - and my grandmother too.  They always thought those peaches to be the best of the best and dad reminded me that the Alberta peach season is short and he would really like it if I would be sure to bring him one on my next visit.

The distance between us is only 90 miles and I know the times I have left to visit with him are numbered.  Still there are days when I am torn between my need to be the "good daughter" and my desire to attend to the things of my daily life.  I felt that way yesterday.  And then I saw a Colorado peach sitting on my kitchen counter when I started my morning coffee.  Unblemished and perfectly ripe, it even had a discernible fragrance.  I know immediately that it ( and I ) had a mission for the day.   He looked so tired and alone among the IV poles, cords and monitors when I entered his hospital room.  We greeted each other and I got an update on his condition but it wasn't until I pulled the peach from my bag and set it on his bed tray that I got the smile and the light in his eyes that I had come for.


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