A Step Back in Time

My mother arrived in Berlin yesterday, so today we spent time walking through the city. Starting at Alexanderplatz, we were surprised to find giraffes having a drink at the Friendship Fountain. Hummm, were they lost or did they just come into town for the free concert? After visiting with the giraffes, we walked down down to Museum Island.

There we viewed beautiful paintings at the Alte National Galerie and walked up the steps of the Pergamon Altar at the Pergamonmuseum. With just the western side of the original structure reconstructed and taking up an entire room, the original building must have been awesome to see.

Coming out of the Egyptian exhibit, we walked down Unter den Linden to Friedreichstrasse and checked out some of the beautiful shops. We stopped at the War Victims Memorial and saw that someone had laid flowers over the weekend - perhaps in rememberance of the U.S. Memorial Day holiday.

After a lovely dinner at a neighborhood Italian restaurant, we got some night shots for Mom at the Brandenburg Gate. A long, but full day. Glad to have Mom here. I snapped this picture of her outside the Dome Church.

All is well in Berlin. We'll check out a few more sights tomorrow and perhaps get a little shopping in. Until tomorrow then, good night. XOXO

Well my time in Berlin is beginning to wind down. I finished the project for my photojournalism class. I think it turned out well - at least I hope that Yvonne (that's her picture above with her shiny new sports car) and Professor Freeman are happy with it and that I can publish it to this site within the next day or so.

So today was just spent polishing photos, cleaning up files and shooting pictures for fun. The Friendship Fountain graces the courtyard of the Galeria Kaufhof in the heart of former East Berlin. The store is lit in a neon green which peeks through the fountain's water spray.

Earlier in the evening I spotted Christophe grilling sausages in Alexanderplatz. Now my moving company won't even put a propane tank on their truck and this guy carries his around on his back! No smoking please.

And down in the subway the passengers are regaled with traditional folk music during the rush hour.

Berlin is certainly a town that has many faces. I'm glad I have a few days to spend with my mother here. I've been saving a few places to see with her - see them with fresh eyes. And a few days of just girl-time is just what this weary soul needs. Until then, I miss you all. Sweet dreams.

The Search Continues

The Kollwitzplatz neighborhood was a good choice for dinner. Lots of restaurants with seating on the sidewalk - and the short walk and night air whet my appetite. Although weiner schnitzel and spargel were on the menu, I opted for pork escalope and pomme frites or French fries. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

Calling it a night. Sleep well.

Sunday Afternoon

I spent the better part of the day interviewing a young lady who grew up in former East Germany. Yvonne Schulz is a 29-year-old purchasing agent for a multi-national company now living in the Berlin suburbs. We met at the Sony Center in Potsdamer Platz and walked to the Brandenburg Gate. Her favorite nightclub in in the basement of the Hotel Adlon, but we opted for a coffee and beer on the patio.

Yvonne has agreed to be the subject of a SoundSlide production that I am creating as part of my photojournalism study-abroad program. I will post the finished project to this blog when completed.

This evening I am in search of the perfect weiner schnitzel and spargel or white asparagus - a specialty of the Brandenburg region and currently in season. The Kollwitzplatz neighborhood is just a few blocks northwest of my hostel and has quite a few interesting coffeehouses and restaurants. I'll see if I can cajole my two compadres into accompanying me on my search. I'll let you know how we fare. Until then, be well.

Berlin Nights

Our merry little band tried for some night shots on Friday including the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag. We started at the gate about 8 p.m. and watched the colors warm the stone columns, then hurried to the Reichstag for the lighting of the dome.

The sun was fully set when we went back to the gate, but the midnight-blue of the sky was worth braving the dropping temperatures. Afterward, we all enjoyed a hot bowl of soup at a local Thai restaurant. Just to get caught up on the week, here are some additional shots from around the city.

Potsdamer Platz is the entertainment, cultural and business section of the city. The public square is home to the Sony Center, the Daimler-Chrysler and Deutsche Bahn buildings, some of the tallest structures in Berlin. The mirrored facade of the Deutsche Bahn offices catch the reflection of its naeighbor, but other sights can be found in the city center too, including this 15 ft. Lego giraffe.

A fire in the nearby Philharmonic will not impede the upcoming season, although it looked a bit sketchy from my view atop the Reichstag. Lots of smoke billowed from the building, at times nearly obscuring firefighters.
I made my way back to Alexanderplatz and caught the tram to the hostel. While waiting , I contemplated the world clock. So far, no one has been able to tell me how to read it.

I took one last look at the TV tower before jumping on the tram. The jet streams looked kind of cool, but made me think of home. I miss you all. Good night and sweet dreams.

Just a few updates on our Thursday outing. Our first stop was to the offices of Andrew Purvis, Berlin Bureau Chief for TIME magazine. He talked to the group about the magazines vision and the ups and downs of foreign correspondence. His intern, Laura Laabs, grew up in Berlin and gave the group tips on story lines and her own insight into life in the city. She said that Berlin was a city of space - mentally as well as physically - a city with space for ideas.

The Mercedes Benz museum was actually the biggest car dealership I have ever seen. Four floors of models not available in the U.S., with a full-service restaurant, florist and day care center inside. The price for a CLK 280 was about 30 percent higher than in the U.S.

The trip to the Helmut Newton exhibit was a no-go as the museum is closed until mid-June. Instead, we split into groups with the Megan T., Robyn and I opting for a trip to the Zoo Berlin where we caught up with Bao Bao the giant panda having a bit of lunch.
Unfortunately, Knut the polar bear was not available for a visit, but we did see a lot of other animals there. I'll post those pictures and more from East Berlin in the morning. Good night and be well my friends.

Mornings, Mercedes and Museums

Good morning from Berlin. We're off to an interview with a TIME magazine reporter, then a couple of museums - one features the history of the Mercedes Benz and another the works of Helmut Newton.

Just to catch you up on a little bit more of the city, much of my wandering has been through the former eastern half of Berlin. the Soviet influence is still felt, although with a much lighter touch.

The German people are a resilient lot with the past memorialized - perhaps as much an effort not to repeat it as to remember it. The Bebelplatz square is the place where Hitler ordered the burning of some 20,000 books by writers such as Einstein, Hemingway and Marx. The permanent memorial shows an underground room lined with empty bookshelves - enough to hold 20,000 books. The anniversary of the burning is marked each year with the erection of a temporary display commemorating the insanity that man is capable of. A small plaque laid in the granite quotes Heinrich Heine, a German poet and lyricist, with the eerily prescient words, "Where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people." Heine was originally referring to the urning of the Quran during the Spanish Inquisition. However, as I said Berlin has a much lighter side also.
The bear is the symbol of Berlin and several bear houses are located throughout the city. Well, I'm off to find my next Mercedes. auf Wiedersehen

A Little Game of Catch-Up

Well it's going on midnight Berlin time - I'm listening to CCR's "Midnight Special" while I catch up on my blog. I've finally gotten some free time to edit and want to share some of the things I've seen over the last week.

Berlin has many beautiful churchs and the 13th-century Marienkirche or St. Mary's is absolutely stunning. It's set near Alexanderplatz in the former eastern half of Berlin along with the more recent, and quite contrasting fixtures, such as the tribute to Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels.

Soviet influence can still be found throughout the city and the former communist regime became famous for its many utilitarian-type of buildings (shoddy construction and just plain ugly,) but for the most part they are eclipsed by the beautiful statues and structures found all around the city. This nearby statue of Neptune dates to about 1869 and features the Roman god of the sea surrounded by nymphs and sea creatures.

I try to keep my eyes open for all kinds of interesting subjects. This young lady was waiting in line with me to see the Reichstag, seat of the German Parliament or Bundestag. Converse has certainly come a long way from Chuckers, but I like the sparkle-y flowers. Berlin is not necessarily bubbling over with trend-setting styles, it's just that there are so many people here from different places that it's fun to sit back and watch.

The Reichstag houses the German Parliament and now has a glass dome, designed by I.M. Pei. The concept is that the government is now transparent after first the Nazi and then Communist regimes of dictator and authoritarian rule. The dome has a spiral ramp leading to an open-air terrace and a breath-taking view of the city.


It's from this vantage point that Robyn, (my hostel-roommate) and I saw the Berlin Philharmonic burning in the distance. Those pictures will be posted to my FLICKR account later this week. Well, that's it for tonight. Be well, my friends.

WakeUp Call

Just a short note to my readers who may have been offended by comments made by "WUPANYI" - he is just a very unhappy person who feels the need to share his misery. His favorite form of hurt is through words - such a waste of talent.

This is a public blog, set up so that I could share my life with friends and family. However, I realize that some people just can't help themselves from reaching out and hurting others.

Again, my apologies.

Not So Manic Monday

Today we slowed the pace a bit with our group taking a short trip to the downtown section of the former western half of the city. A small boy accompanied me on the double-decker bus ride and seemed as curious of me as I of him.

This section of the city is yet another contrast - with touristy souvenir and paraphernalia shops just steps away from beautiful stores such as the Kaufhaus des Westens, or KaDeWa, and sites such as the Kaiser-Wilhelm Memorial Church. Commonly referred to the New Church the site remains standing today, despite heavy shelling by the Allies during WWII - perhaps as a testament to the fortitude of the city itself.

Professor Freeman took us to the outskirts of Berlin, to the area of the current U.S. embassy, where he and his family lived during the 1960's. It's a beautiful neighborhood with a park and lake in the center. I think this would make a great place to live and write.

Further on, we visited the Allied Museum which featured one of the actual planes used during during the Berlin airlift. There was also a section of a tunnel that Eastern Berliners had used to escape to the West.
Today's Berlin is modern and chic, yet perfectly melded with a past both illustrious and tragic.

More 15 Minutes...

Saturday's weather proved to be more than we could have anticipated. A 10-mile biking tour with guide Mariel was informative and exhilarating, as we weaved through the city streets - both east and west. The progression of history is evident in the architecture and the reconstruction. Evidence of WWII is still evident, as well as the deconstruction of the former communist government, although monuments and memorials to both abound.

Later, we attended a carnival on the outskirts of town. I am not sure how our fearless leader found this locale - deep in the heart of a somewhat questionable area - or maybe we just came in through the back door. Thank God for the trail of bread crumbs and drug dealers we had to find our way out. I will only say that the extra 15 minutes we stayed enjoying the mud and muck put a bit of a damper on this crew member. Were it not for my fellow hostages, er, student travelers, I might not have made it back intact. However, dry clothes and dinner at a Thai restaurant restored my spirits.

Check out our fearless leaders comments on the day
berlinblog2008.blogspot.com

Until later, M

Berlin By Day

It's nearly 9 p.m. here in Berlin - so far, so good. Lots to see and do, and the weather held out for us. A bit of a sprinkle, but it just makes the streets glisten.

I like to just walk and listen to the sights and sounds around me. The voices of people working or talking over a coffee. People actually talking to one another - not a cell phone. It would seem that Berlin may be an exception when it comes to the world's fascination with being connected.

There are quite a few shops - one had chocolate in more forms than I can remember seeing outside a candy factory. Although I have not yet found a dona kebab, I did find a great place for fresh ice cream. And a bratwurst at the Prater, one of if not the oldest biergartens in the city.

We checked out one of the last remaining sections of the old wall. A former watch tower there has been converted to a memorial and you can literally look over the former no-man's zone. I also watched a few minutes of film about people escaping from the east in the first days of the wall. People literally jumping from their apartments into the waiting hands of strangers below. Talk about a leap of faith. It made me think back to having made my own leap of faith - and the strangers who saved my life. How different my life is today...

The city is quite nice. It's after 9 p.m. and I can still hear birds singing outside the window. The hotel sits in a neighborhood off the busy Alexanderplatz and the lobby has a hot spot, so I can work next to the open windows and enjoy the fresh air and sounds.

The clothes are a bit tamer than I had thought I'd see - then again, it was broad daylight. We shall see how the night owls dress tomorrow. We have a bike tour of the city planned for the morning and then I'll meet with some friends in the evening. I hope to get pictures posted in the afternoon.

Until then, gute Nacht and be well.

Berlin Diary - Day 1

Twenty-seven hours of travel time - start to finish. I'll leave out my comments regarding Alitalia - let's just say, the further we got from the U.S. the stranger the food became. And nobody likes being holed up with 100+ people in economy - so the attitudes began to slip somewhere over the Atlantic.

However, the German efficiency was apparent fromt the start. My bags were on the carousel before I was off the plane. Taxi driver had a clean Mercedes 230 that he drove with the grace of a Ferrari to my hotel. Arrived to find a friendly face sound asleep. Had to wake her up - Sorry Megan. All is well, aside from not being able to feel my ankle bones or second knuckles yet, but the swelling should disappear soon.

We beat the others by a day, so Megan and I are off to see the city by daylight. We ventured out last night (the restaurants are open late) and had solid German fare.

Today, we are off to find the perfect dona kebab and any other yummies that we can find.

auf wiedersehen

Letting Go...Easier Said Than Done

I have come to realize that even when things work out the way I want them to, there are can still be a downside.

Yesterday, a legal situation that had been dragging on for about 18 months was finally resolved - in my favor. Yet, even with check in hand, I had this ugly feeling of smug self-righteousness that did not sit well with me. I kept thinking of how I felt so superior, so victimized, so justifiably angry. I really had to take a look at my part in the situation and where I had been to blame.

Yes, I was well within my rights to pursue legal recourse - which I did. Backing them into a corner with threat of arrest was the only way these folks were going to make good.

But I have to say, letting go of the feelings of bitterness, anger and resentment were not easy. These people put me through a lot of unnecessary anxiety, not to mention money and time. But the lessons have been well learned. To not insert myself into the outcome of a situation, to let people earn my trust, and to not allow those who can't afford beach-front property to rent any space in my head. I need to trust that I am where I need to be and to just let go - as much for their sake as my own.

The choice is mine...

Broken Heels

I have a postcard on my bulletin board that asks the question, "Ever feel like you're dancing through life in a pair of broken heels?" It's the title of a book of short essays about dealing with stress. I took it down and read the note: "Enjoy the moment. Love ya, Frani." 

Fran was a dear friend who helped me handle some of the curve balls I mentioned earlier. She died suddenly this past January shortly after sending me this postcard. I think often of her laughter after listening to me whine about something or other that was going on in my life and how she would remind me that, "Even a rock crumbles," which meant that no matter what was going on in my life today - good or bad - it will change. So if life is getting a bit too tight and it feels like your dancing in broken heels, just kick off your shoes and remember, even a rock crumbles.

The Search Continues

Like most of mankind, I hate moving. Especially the part about tramping hundreds of miles away from home to do the in-and-out thing looking at one worn and weary place after another. Having been brought up in the suburbs of South Florida and Philadelphia, I thought apartments were everywhere - but NOOOOOO. Such is not the case.

Believe it or not, sometimes the only thing available for rent is a house - like every newly graduated journalist can afford $1,000-$1,200 month to rent a house. And all the things that go with a house like lawn maintenance and sewage bills. No thank you. If I am going to throw good money out the window, I will not be the one to come along and and shred it with a lawn mower.

But fate may smile on me still. The search continues.

Random Morning Thoughts

I was just thinking that we all have choices in life. And one of the most important, but seldom thought about consciously, is the choice to be happy. Too often we let the circumstances of our lives determine how we feel. But just because life has thrown a few curve balls your way - trust me, I know what that is like - doesn't mean that you can't still be happy.

I think of my life as a kaleidoscope - with just a small twist the picture changes entirely. And I can keep on turning it over, and over again, until I find a picture that suits me. The only thing that really changes is my perspective.

So keep you mind open - it's easier to let fresh air and happiness in. And when the tough times come, focus on your perspective. It may just help you to see the solution. Be well.

Day One: Join the Blog

OK - now that school is out of the way - on to Berlin and the Normandy coast. Still working on this site's details so check back or send me your thoughts.