A Christmas Evening Walk to the Brandenburg Gate

Yesterday late afternoon we took one of our many walks right from home, and this time I did not forget my camera.  First by the Xmas Market on Gendarmenmarkt and the French Dome (in the back of which - same building - is another church where Senta and Stefan got married), by the Holocaust Memorial and the American Embassy to the Brandenburg Gate.

The Brandenburg Gate:

And then walked back on "Unter den Linden", the main thoroughfare and these days another big construction site to connect the U5, one of the Metro lines that runs solely in East Berlin and ends at Alexander-Platz, to the Brandenburg Gate and the Haupt-Bahnhof (the main train station which lies in West Berlin).  One side of the street is closed to traffic so the street was eerily empty, but nice for biking. The stores are touristy and sell the kind of stuff nobody needs. However, someone surely would like a bear - the symbol of Berlin - especially the one dressed for rain that we found along the way.... We crossed over the Spree (a miniature of D.C.s Potomac), by the construction near the Dome (the equivalent of the National Cathedral), by yet another Xmas market and stopped at one of the typical Berlin Gasthauses for dinner.  Yumm!

Christmas Markets

It's that time of year again when the Berliners visit their local Christmas markets.  We had fun looking at several of them and took photos at Alexander-Platz, in Charlottenburg, and on Sunday morning in Potsdam, a small city just west of Berlin.  Prussian-style food, such as kale with sausages kept us going.  Gluehwein, a hot sweetened red wine brew, is a good anti-dote to cold weather, but beware of drinking more than one mug, especially if you intend to get home by bike!  And then there are many stands with lots of goodies for sale, like cookies, ginger-bread hearts, bees wax candles, jewelry, chocolates, knitted hats and scarves, books, and my favorites --- old-fashioned wooden Xmas ornaments made in Thuringia, one of the locations where they originated and where back then poor woodworkers made them by hand.
 
The Xmas Market at Alexander-Platz is a bit like a commercial fair, with ice-skating, a ferris wheel, and lots of music.

Oh, and one more thing.  It's afternoon.... and all the sudden it's dark...  4:30pm.... earlier if it's overcast...  Not that the early dark seems to bother the Berliners.  Even Bill and I are gradually getting used to it.  As a matter of fact, it can be a nice surprise to discover that it's still afternoon with so many hours still ahead...

The Xmas market in front of Charlottenburg castle is smaller, less commercialized, and not as crowded, at least earlier on an afternoon.

I liked the looks of these lit-up "snow cone" tents, but found that their heated spaces offer more expensive stuff, such as leather clothing, real jewelry, wool sweaters, picture frames and the like.    

So back to the open stands where the sales people are glad when the weather is not too cold...

Look at these yummy tools made from chocolate:

Sunday morning in Potsdam: We happened to walk through this market on our way to Sanssouci Castle and Park. 

Thanksgiving, Berlin-style



This year Thanksgiving was a bit different.  First of all, we had to order the turkey well in advance. The assistant at the local butcher kept telling us that no, we could not order a small turkey until the other assistant said:  oh, you mean a bibi-turkey.  I said I did not know what that meant, and they explained "a small turkey that does not weigh more than 3 kilograms."      "Yes, that's exactly what we want!"       "Yes, like we said: a bibi-turkey."       It finally dawned on us that the assistants meant a "baby turkey".  So that's what we got.... weighing almost 6 kilograms!

Next we had to wait till Saturday because Thursday was a workday in Germany.         We had invited 12 people; and to make up for what we thought would be a small "baby turkey", we decided to order a platter of Turkish vegetarian food for good measure.  When Bill wanted to pick up the food, Mehmet, the owner of Merhaba, the local Turkish restaurant, insisted that he drive Bill and the platters home.  He just had to see the turkey with his own eyes which got very big at the sight of our large baked bird.  Then when I saw him unpack six platters (instead of one) my eyes got even bigger.

Fortunately, Senta and Hanni brought cups, plates, glasses, even a chair - they knew that serving a meal for twelve would not quite work in an apartment that's set up for only two (even when only eight could show up in the end).

The Thanksgiving meal was delicious, last not least because of Mehmet's goodies.  Needless to say that the feast was a great success.  And so were the doggie bags to take home.

See the happy faces at the end of the feast!  Too bad I forgot to take a pic of all the food before we started.

Hiddensee - Ruegen, a gem of an island in the Baltic Sea north of Berlin


We arrived by ferry in the dark on a foggy November evening.  With hardly anyone about it took us a little while to find our hotel -- on foot.  What pleased us most was the absolute quiet; the island has no cars --- everything is done on foot and bicycle.  If ever you need a relaxing place to go to...  NOT in summer, though, I hear there are too many tourists.

The weather on the first two days was gloomy but good for taking romantic photos.  We spent hours exploring; the island is part of large nature preserves and has many paths and unpaved streets.  From the light tower we could see sandbanks and islands, visible even on misty days.

Many houses are straw-thatched, here a few samples. 

Doesn't it look like a Dr. Seuss house??:

 

The little church in the village called Kloster dates back to the thirteenth century.  We had never seen a wooden ceiling painted entirely with roses.

The Hitthem Hotel in Kloster where we had lunch and dinner the next eve.

The typical décor of the island's Gasthauses:

We liked the home-made fish soup served here better than any of the fish soups served elsewhere:

The harbor of Vitte, the village where we stayed:

The Fall of the Berlin Wall November 9, 2014
(See also Bill's text at the end of this post.)

On November 9, 1989 the Berlin Wall and the wall between East and West Germany showed its first cracks.  The East Germans had been demonstrating to change their political system for months in the so-called "Monday Demonstrations";  they wanted a more democratic government and basic human rights, such as freedom of speech, movement, the right to elect, etc.  Participation in these demonstrations needed courage; everyone knew about the bloody East German uprising in 1953, the 1968 Prague Spring, the Hungarian uprising in 1956, and Tiananmen Square. I don't think anybody in 1989 imagined the effects these democratic movements in Poland, Hungary and East Germany would have... 

 For the past three days Berliners and tourists have visited the sites of the "Berliner Mauer".  The Wall is almost gone, but to celebrate its fall and all that it stood for,   8,000 lighted balloons were placed along its former location.  Anyone could "adopt a balloon" and hang a message on it.  Especially at night one could see how crazy the boundaries between east and west were, snaking in strange angles along house walls, through canals, along the river Spree, through school and church yards, even cemeteries.  On Saturday Senta and Stefan took us to Bornholmer Strasse, the site where the Wall first opened.

Below is a view from the Bornholm Bridge towards the iconic TV tower.  In the distance you can see the balloons turn right across another bridge.   As in 1989 there were many people, but in contrast to 1989 they were free of fear.  We were happy to be here together with many tourists from all over the world celebrating a peaceful revolution where not one drop of blood was shed. 

The photo below shows how the border came up to the Bornholm Bridge.  Walking across this bridge and through the border gate meant entering western territory ---- which had not been possible since 1961, or only after long waits for applications for absurdly bureaucratic documents. 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday morning Bill and I took a ride to the Brandenburg Gate and the government area: 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last night we saw the release of the balloons together with Senta's In-Laws, Norbert and Hannelore.  They took us to the site where one morning in October 1961 the Stasi came without any notice to his family's apartment and moved Norbert, his mother and brother, and all their belongings to a different apartment, without the knowledge of his father who was at work.  Reason: their apartment was in one of the buildings right at the border, and it, along all other buildings located at the border, was going to be razed or boarded up in order to keep people from escaping.

 

 

 

 

Here is Bill's account:

The day before the 25th anniversary of the Mauerfall (the 8th) was Senta's birthday.  After the small party with Stefan's parents, his brother and girl friend/partner, we walked over to Bornholmerstrasse which was the first opening in the border and looked at the balloons, crossed the bridge to the former crossing, and enjoyed the huge crowd.  The next morning I got up and jumped on my bike determined to follow the whole stretch of the balloon chain.  There was a bitter cold wind from the east...sort of symbolic.  I started at the southeastern most balloon and rode out to where we had been the evening before.  At 10 in the morning the city was beginning to fill up.  The border was a crazy zigzag affair leading through small streets and across open areas still reminiscent of the Todes-zone.  Had to dismount at the Brandenburg gate as the crowd was too thick to ride through, and thereafter rode for a while along the Spree.  Several memorials mark the spots where Germans from the east had tried to escape and were shot dead.  I arrived at the main memorial just as the Chancellor and Mayor of Berlin were leaving the chapel that replaced a church blown up by the DDR because of the proximity to the wall.  They walked by me no more than 5 yards away.  Continued on riding until I encountered an open air church service.  The text was from Luke, "God's realm is in us and among us"  the hope that kept many religious easterners going I think.  Then the minister stopped and said that everyone should turn to their neighbors and describe what the day meant to them.  Very impressive as from the bottom of the ampitheater  the sound rose up to those of us standing above.  The young man behind me with his child on his shoulders said in wonder, "They are doing it..." so I turned to him and we talked as well.

In the evening we met Norbert and Hannelore, Senta's in-laws, and walked to the part of the balloon chain that cut through the street in the eastern sector where Norbert grew up.  The wall went directly in front of his apartment house, and after several folks escaped by jumping out the windows.  The windows were sealed up and his family was moved by the Stasi to an apartment further away.  He shared memories of growing up there.  The actual release of the balloons elicited a roar from the crowd which was packed along the entire stretch.  Around the Brandenburg Gate they estimate a million people were present and they had to close the area off to late comers around 2 hours before the balloons went up.

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Many good speeches, virtually everyone citing Kristall Nacht November 9, 1938, so the euphoria was tempered by a remembrance of something in German history that must never be forgotten. (see the banners in Ingrid's last photo).   Also noted was the importance of a demonstration on November 4, 1989, at Alexanderplatz, where hundreds of thousands east Germans demonstrated for reform, and for freedom of speech and travel, for a truly democratic state.  Those were brave people who helped bring down the regime...not Ronald Reagen's bombastic speech.  Senta's mother-in-law Hannelore was there. They had no idea if the Soviet or their own army would turn on them.  That demonstration has been less talked about than the reunification of Germany.  But for the easterners it was their own will to achieve freedom that is the overriding memory.