Hi everyone!
So I tried to write more about a week ago, and the computer crashed just as I was finishing, so it's all gone now. AHHH! I'll try to rewrite it now- at least SOME of it! :)
When the Goethe Institut course in Dresden vwas finished, Allison and I went to Berlin for the day before we left for Rome. Berlin is a crazy city- so big, so dirty, so living, so overwhelming. You can't see all of it in a day, and in this way it reminds me of NYC- you don't quite know where/how to begin to see it. Allison and I spent some time wandering half-aimlessly as we tried to see everything we most wanted to.
We walked along Unter den Linden towads the Brandenburg Gate. (U.d.L. is in the East- the Wall went right around the B. G, then in the West it was renamed Strasse des 17. Septembers in memory of a Communist crackdown in the DDR- in 1951, or '57, I think. I don't really remember anymore.)It is the main thoroughfare in Berlin-even though it was split in 2 by the Wall!- and is a very strong axis in the city, with the Brandenburg Gate and the Siegessaeule as strong focal points. There are 3 lanes of traffic in each direction, but they seem very insignificant next to the median, which is where all the people walk.
On both sides of this pedestrian street is a row of linden trees- hence the name- ,benches here and there, and a wide ground of dirt/gravel. As we walked along we passed a group of people playing bocce, a booth selling something for charity, and several groups of people talking. It amamzed me that with so much traffic people could be so much more important than automobiles!
When we got to the Brandenburg Gate we found the Room of Silence, created by the United Nations. It is a room open to people of all races, nationalities, and religions, where you can go to pray, meditate, think, or just get away from the commotion of life. It is a simple room, with chairs, soft light, and a rug hanging on the wall. The walls are not soundproof, but I thought that was good, because then you could realize just how special this room really is. In the lobby there is an explanation of the room, written in several languages. Allison sat in this room for a little while, and I thought the whole thing was very beautiful.
We continued along die Strasse des 17. Septembers towards the Siegessaeule, which is the tall "victory column" with the gold angel on top, also in the movie "Wings of Desire" ("Himmel ueber Berlin"). The road was flanked on either side by a huge heavily wooded park, filled with paths and ponds. It reminded me of Central Park in NYC- such a big patch of green in such a big city- it's very soothing. We walked through the park rather than alongside the traffic. We climbed up the Siegessaeule- I forget how many hundreds of steps- it kind of reminded me of climbing to the top of the Statue of Liberty, but without the wait in line, and with so much more graffiti. The view of the city was fantastic, but since all the streets radiated out from this column, it was a little hard to get your bearings. There was also a beautiful mosaic about halfway up the column, richly colored and describing the
war this column memorializes.
We found our way to the Gedaechtniskirche, which is the big bombed-out cathedral that was left hat way in memory of WWII.
ok, I'm being kicked out now- more later!
Mit liebe,
Tschau zaeme!!
Cory :)
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