Dear Friends,
It is September 30, and the leaves on the cemetery wall in front of our apartment are turning red... time to start writing about our experiences of our year abroad.
As of July we temporarily moved to Germany, with Berlin as our mainstay.
Before Berlin we spent the first three weeks in Freiburg-Munzigen, in the south-western part of Germany. It is quite close to where I grew up. The area delights us with great hiking and biking, close proximity to the Black Forest, France, and Switzerland.
Here a few views from the vinyards above our village towards the Black Forest.
Tuniberg, a blip of hills where our local wine grows, is located in the middle of the Rhine Valley, but still high enough to offer views in all directions, including the Black Forest and Vosges in France. Of course, we get hungry and thirsty on these biking trips, so have to stop for wine and onion cake in one of the many Gasthouses and
farmer's places, like this one in Rimsingen.
For more serious hiking we take the train or bus into the mountains. On the way up the trains goes through the valley where I grew up:
With hundreds of hiking paths one has to be decisive about one's choice. We have several favorites, of course, like this hike from Baerental to Hinterwaldkopf and back down into the valleys: These mountains don't look steep and high; however, it can be difficult to get from one mountain top to the next because there are often separated by deep valleys.
After three weeks of hiking and biking we decided to make the move to BERLIN.
BANG! What a difference. Forget about peace and quiet. Never mind that our apartment is surrounded by cemeteries on two sides ----- there is constant noise. Right below us is a busy street, and about 50 yards away a much larger and busier street. The noise and traffic never stops; day and night we hear the streetcars thundering up and down the Prenzlauer Allee; sirens howling; people walking by, talking, laughing, singing, fighting; cars getting parked on the street; motor bikes riving up their engines, trucks and busses driving through the intersection. Why would we voluntarily move from our beloved Arlington,VA to a little place in the Southwest of Germany and then to the center of this noisy big city called Berlin? Well, we figure NOW OR NEVER. We are not getting any younger, plus I have been living in Virginia for 41 years and would like to try something different for a little while. So when this opportunity came along we decided to rent our house in Arlington for a year. As for living in a noisy apartment: our hearing is not what it used to be, meaning all the noise does not disturb us. On the contrary, so far we have enjoyed living in the middle of everything, where everything can be reached on foot or bike or public transportation. We have also enjoyed the view from our living room (on a sunny morning):
You can see a bit of the balcony, the trees in the cemetery, the TV tower, the Radisson Park Inn, a church (Marien-Kirche), and many other buildings and even the trains, speed trains, subways, streetcars going to Alexander-Platz Station. Yes, sometimes there are fumes from the gas station Total next door, but then Total makes up by its usefulness, especially late at night: French, German and Spanish wines, newspapers, milk, and freshly baked rolls, with yes! only an elevator ride away.
If you look carefully, you can see a S-Bahn (Fast train) over the street.
The view from our apartment changes with the time of day, the weather, the season. With grey overcast skies it can look pretty boring....
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Next I want to add a few lines and photos from the PERGAMOM ALTAR in Berlin's Pergamon Museum.
Luckily, we happened to see it before it got closed for the next five years due to restoration. Built in the second century BC on the Turkish coast, the Pergamon Altar is a marvel to behold. Larger-than-life-size figures on the frieze surrounding the altar look down at the spectator and tell an ancient Greek myth: the battle between the gods and the giants.
Nowadays we might call it the battle between good and evil, or between order and chaos. (BTW, the ancient Greeks believed their gods and goddesses to be of equal importance; and the scenes show Athena, Aphrodite, Demeter.. fighting alongside Zeus, Herakles, Poseidon...)
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Anytime we are in the Pergamon Museum we also have to visit the ISHTAR GATE.
Considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World in antiquity, it was built in Babylon by King Abukadnezar in the 6th century BC, and of all Babylonian sites it was the most famous. Compare the size of the visitors to the size of the Gate AND keep in mind that it was the smaller gate in front of a much taller one... the larger one would not fit in the museum.
Not only are the gates impressive; so was the procession street that led to them, 180 meters (!) long, 20 meters wide, and flanked by tall walls which were beautifully decorated with 120 large lions, 60 on either side of the street. The Babylonians dedicated these structures to Ishtar, the goddess of love and war, considering her the main protector of Babylon.
Can you imagine what someone, be it friend or foe, entering the city on this street and walking towards the Gate must have felt like? Even today, with just a few remnants put together on a much smaller site, the spectator is overcome with awe and admiration.
