August 30 came and it was time to visit Berlin. I have wanted to see this city for many years, since the Wall was torn down. I really did not know what to expect, except a lot of new buildings where the old ones had existed. I wondered how the eastern part of the city would be like twenty years after the Soviets had disappeared. There were so many things to learn about the city and I was ready.
I have tried to organize the topics of this city: the geography, the subway systems, the places of interest, the museums, the Nazi history, the Soviet history, the neigborhoods, the shopping, the restaurants and bars, the music, the new buildings, and the people. Those are 12 topics that I would have to hit upon to give anyone a feel for the city. Was I up to it??? I wasn't sure. But here goes.
Berlin has been the center of German history for about four hundred years. Bismark was from these parts, and when Germany actually became a country, the city of Berlin was chosen to be its capital. Along with the political business of the city came the social activity; as a result wonderful hotels and restaurants and museums and concert halls thrived here.
The German government directed the WWI activities from here, and Berlin was especially hit hard when the Germans capitulated. The Weimar government tried desperately to gain control in the 1920's, but government after government failed and chaos reigned - just in time for Hitler to step in and create some kind of stability. The people of Berlin were so worn down and aching for something to work that they embraced Hitler and his ideas - until they realized that maybe his ideas were not all that great. But it was too late, and they just went along with him and kept their mouths shut.
When the war started they thought it was a good idea and were all for it for years, until the Allies started getting their act together and making some progress, and the Soviets were inching their way west to control Germany. Then the Allies started bombing Berlin - and other places - to smithereens. Berliners were really suffering and needed help, so after the Allies destroyed Berlin they started the airdrops to save the people from completely starving to death.
Then relations with the Soviets became so bad that they built the Wall and the cold war started. Berliners overnight were separated from friends and families; the situation continued for almost thirty years until the Wall miraculously came down. From that time on Berlin has worked to become one city again, with brand new buildings, restoration of old buildings as they looked in former years, rebuilding of subway systems, etc. The restoration that started about twenty years ago is still very much underway all over the city. There is a vibrancy in the city which can be felt today.
We wanted to feel it all and investigate as much of the city as possible. We weren't sure how long to stay but decided on about five weeks. We have only one week left and we feel the loss of having to leave already. We have seen and experienced so much and everyday is full of exploring, looking, studying, feeling and photographing. In the following entries I will try to describe what we have seen and what we have felt about this big city.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Gottingen/Magdeburg Germany
We decided to stay in Gottingen an extra week so Jack could get to the doctor and even to a specialist. It turned out that the second set of pills that his doctor gave him worked and Jack was able to sleep at night. His head was not stopped up anymore. Miracle. I don't know what the doctor gave him, but they were probably some kind of steriod, don't you think? Anyway, he did not have to go to the other doctor and we had a few more days to relax or to drive through the countryside. We did a little of both.
Jack found some great- looking beer mugs to send to his beer-drinking buddies in Dallas. We found a Mailbox store - UPS - in Gottingen, so he went from bar to bar, checking out the glasses and deciding on three nice ones. He spent a small fortune sending them to Texas, but the reactions of his friends were great, so he was satisfied with his effort. And all of that beer drinking was fun too, as we checked out different beer glasses.
We finally got back to Wartburg. We had gone there a couple of weeks before to see Luther house and Back house, but we still needed to see the castle. Fortunately we picked a beautiful day to travel. We got there in record time, parked at the bottom of the hill with the rest of the tourists, and trudged up to the castle. This place has been here since about the 1200's, as a castle for German princes when they were carefully guarding their territories from each other. The castle has been restored and only guided tours are allowed. We waited for one in Engish. It was pretty interesting; it was more fun to look out the windows to see the extraordinary views from all sides. You can just imagine the enemy sneaking through the forest, trying to overcome the defenses of the castle. Even now the land around the castle is dense forest - I wondered how cold it would be in the winter with the layers of snow on the trees.
In the 1500's, after Luther pinned up his 99 objections to the Pope, he was a hunted man. He was told to explain himself and then he was excommunicated, which meant that any bounty hunter could go after him for a price. One of the German princes took him into his care and gave him a room in this castle as a hideout. While he was there, Luther translated the New Testament from the Greek to German, so he kept himself busy while he was being protected.
The castle has a large meeting room where they have concerts and other get-togethers to this day. (I will have to add photos at a later time; I am not at my notebook computer but at an internet cafe. Sometimes these hotels where we stay have wireless, but it is very expensive to use it).
A few days later we drove to a preserved Benedictine monastery west of Gottingen, near the little town of Munden. This monastery has been preserved also, which I find interesting since most of the catholic churches were turned into protestant churches in Germany. But these monasteries are usually out in the country in beautiful settings. This particular monastery is still very beautiful and the chapel is restored very faithfully.
The town of Munden is really a touristy town, with lots of restaurants and lots of tourists. The setting is just gorgeous, near the river and next to a forest. We had a great lunch there and enjoyed walking around the town and even getting some postcards. We have really been very lucky with the weather also - blue skies and lofty clouds and in the 60 degree range.
After more than a week in Gottingen we were ready to move onto our next stop, Magdeburg. This town is not far from Berlin, so it was deep in east Germany, so we were very interested in how the town would feel.
It turns out that this town was bombed extensively by the Americans, so there was nothing much left of its former buildings. We saw photos of the main street back in the early 20th century. It was a beautiful city, with tall baroque-type buildings lining its main streets. Everyone of them were destroyed by Allied bombings. Now those same streets had huge modern offices and new stores. The tram system ran in the middle of the street, with auto and bike traffic on either side. The downtown looks newer than many American cities, with very nice stores and cafes, bars and restaurants.
The large hotel where we stayed was also a focal point for a lot of parties and celebrations. One Sunday we came in from a drive out in the country to see the lobby filled with couples dancing to the music of someone, like Lawrence Welk maybe. There was not a person younger than 65, and they all seemed to be having a great time.
We visited the churches that the city had restored; they were huge and beautiful once upon a time. They have spent quite a bit of money making these churches look as they did before the war.
We made a trip to Wittenburg to see the church where Luther pinned his 95 objections to the pope, back in 1519. Wittenburg is a nice little town which now has tour bus after tour bus descending on it everyday. I was amazed that so many American tour groups come to visit this town. So many of these tours are church groups, headed by their minister who schedule times to preach in this church that Luther made famous. I saw one tour bus that had a sign in its window: Reformation Tour. I guess Protestant groups think this church is their beginning, so they want to step foot inside and savor the history. The Catholic church does not give so much attention to all of this, and why should they? It was just the beginning of the end of Roman Catholic domination in the world.
The town itself has adjusted to its famous place in history by outfitting itself with lots of restaurants, bars, hotels and cafes, parking areas and souvernir shops. This particular day one of the art galleries was selling plastic molds of Luther - about four feet tall. The gallery had filled the entire platz with about 800 of these Luthers, some red, some green, some blue. I will have to include the photo I took of these guys in my next post.
Seriously, the church where Luther started the reformation was indeed quite impressive. He was probably an earnest young man who was horrified at all of the richness and decadence that he witnessed when he visited Rome, the seat of the mother church. And he also heard from the German princes who were disgusted at so much of their money going to Rome to build St. Peter's. It wasn't a coincidence that he was protected by a German prince when he got into trouble with the Pope and had to hide out later. I am so glad to see the church where the Reformation started.
I guess we were ready to see the big city, Berlin. We turned in our car in Magdeburg and then took the train to the Haupbonhof. Oh, my goodness. This city is huge! More later on what we found during our five weeks there.
Jack found some great- looking beer mugs to send to his beer-drinking buddies in Dallas. We found a Mailbox store - UPS - in Gottingen, so he went from bar to bar, checking out the glasses and deciding on three nice ones. He spent a small fortune sending them to Texas, but the reactions of his friends were great, so he was satisfied with his effort. And all of that beer drinking was fun too, as we checked out different beer glasses.
We finally got back to Wartburg. We had gone there a couple of weeks before to see Luther house and Back house, but we still needed to see the castle. Fortunately we picked a beautiful day to travel. We got there in record time, parked at the bottom of the hill with the rest of the tourists, and trudged up to the castle. This place has been here since about the 1200's, as a castle for German princes when they were carefully guarding their territories from each other. The castle has been restored and only guided tours are allowed. We waited for one in Engish. It was pretty interesting; it was more fun to look out the windows to see the extraordinary views from all sides. You can just imagine the enemy sneaking through the forest, trying to overcome the defenses of the castle. Even now the land around the castle is dense forest - I wondered how cold it would be in the winter with the layers of snow on the trees.
In the 1500's, after Luther pinned up his 99 objections to the Pope, he was a hunted man. He was told to explain himself and then he was excommunicated, which meant that any bounty hunter could go after him for a price. One of the German princes took him into his care and gave him a room in this castle as a hideout. While he was there, Luther translated the New Testament from the Greek to German, so he kept himself busy while he was being protected.
The castle has a large meeting room where they have concerts and other get-togethers to this day. (I will have to add photos at a later time; I am not at my notebook computer but at an internet cafe. Sometimes these hotels where we stay have wireless, but it is very expensive to use it).
A few days later we drove to a preserved Benedictine monastery west of Gottingen, near the little town of Munden. This monastery has been preserved also, which I find interesting since most of the catholic churches were turned into protestant churches in Germany. But these monasteries are usually out in the country in beautiful settings. This particular monastery is still very beautiful and the chapel is restored very faithfully.
The town of Munden is really a touristy town, with lots of restaurants and lots of tourists. The setting is just gorgeous, near the river and next to a forest. We had a great lunch there and enjoyed walking around the town and even getting some postcards. We have really been very lucky with the weather also - blue skies and lofty clouds and in the 60 degree range.
After more than a week in Gottingen we were ready to move onto our next stop, Magdeburg. This town is not far from Berlin, so it was deep in east Germany, so we were very interested in how the town would feel.
It turns out that this town was bombed extensively by the Americans, so there was nothing much left of its former buildings. We saw photos of the main street back in the early 20th century. It was a beautiful city, with tall baroque-type buildings lining its main streets. Everyone of them were destroyed by Allied bombings. Now those same streets had huge modern offices and new stores. The tram system ran in the middle of the street, with auto and bike traffic on either side. The downtown looks newer than many American cities, with very nice stores and cafes, bars and restaurants.
The large hotel where we stayed was also a focal point for a lot of parties and celebrations. One Sunday we came in from a drive out in the country to see the lobby filled with couples dancing to the music of someone, like Lawrence Welk maybe. There was not a person younger than 65, and they all seemed to be having a great time.
We visited the churches that the city had restored; they were huge and beautiful once upon a time. They have spent quite a bit of money making these churches look as they did before the war.
We made a trip to Wittenburg to see the church where Luther pinned his 95 objections to the pope, back in 1519. Wittenburg is a nice little town which now has tour bus after tour bus descending on it everyday. I was amazed that so many American tour groups come to visit this town. So many of these tours are church groups, headed by their minister who schedule times to preach in this church that Luther made famous. I saw one tour bus that had a sign in its window: Reformation Tour. I guess Protestant groups think this church is their beginning, so they want to step foot inside and savor the history. The Catholic church does not give so much attention to all of this, and why should they? It was just the beginning of the end of Roman Catholic domination in the world.
The town itself has adjusted to its famous place in history by outfitting itself with lots of restaurants, bars, hotels and cafes, parking areas and souvernir shops. This particular day one of the art galleries was selling plastic molds of Luther - about four feet tall. The gallery had filled the entire platz with about 800 of these Luthers, some red, some green, some blue. I will have to include the photo I took of these guys in my next post.
Seriously, the church where Luther started the reformation was indeed quite impressive. He was probably an earnest young man who was horrified at all of the richness and decadence that he witnessed when he visited Rome, the seat of the mother church. And he also heard from the German princes who were disgusted at so much of their money going to Rome to build St. Peter's. It wasn't a coincidence that he was protected by a German prince when he got into trouble with the Pope and had to hide out later. I am so glad to see the church where the Reformation started.
I guess we were ready to see the big city, Berlin. We turned in our car in Magdeburg and then took the train to the Haupbonhof. Oh, my goodness. This city is huge! More later on what we found during our five weeks there.
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