When the lights went off at the Brandenburg Gate  on January 5, 2015 

                                                                                                                                                    
2015 is still young and yet already horrific tragedies have happened, for example yesterday's terrorist acts in Paris and Yemen. 
I was just about to write a few lines about a positive event on Monday that was about Muslim immigrants and workers in Berlin, and then this...  But I will go ahead anyway.

You may have heard about the right-wing anti-Muslim splinter group Pegida, short for "Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of Europe", the name a contradiction in itself...  They are a bit similar in their fear and hatred of immigrants, in this case Muslims.  They don't like the fact that in the last few years Germany has taken in hundreds of thousands of political refugees, among them many Muslims, most of them refugees from Syria and Iraq.  Many Muslims have lived and worked here for generations; there are Muslim representatives in most political parties, in short, Muslims have been an integral part of this country for years.  So far Pegida has only had demonstrations in Dresden, the capital of Saxony, but Monday they had one right here in Berlin Mitte.

I did not know much about this planned demonstration nor did I want to get close to anything to do with these people, but thought I'd combine a walk to the Brandenburg Gate with a look at the counter-demonstration the Turkish community had planned.   Along the way there were lots of police.  When I asked one of the policemen what all this was about, he asked me if I knew what Pegida was? - Yes. - If I wanted to go to Pegida?  To which I asked in horror:  Do I look like a Pegida supporter???  (I have since read in the papers that the average Pegida supporter is white and 60+)   A small group of anti-Pegida demonstrators stood behind police barriers near the Dom (Cathedral) and told me that they were going to stop the Pegida march to the Gate.  Did I want to join them?  I told them I was happy to support the cause but was getting too old for anything physical.

Instead I kept walking to the Brandenburg Gate where I found plenty of like-minded people.  Speakers from all political parties, including the former secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, rallied against any intolerance towards Muslim immigrants. He and the 7pm turning off the lights of the Brandenburg gate got by far the most applause.  The idea was that, like at the Cologne Cathedral and the Semper Opera in Dresden, no light was going to shine on the Pegida people...  The photos show the Gate before and after the turning off the lights. 
When I left the Turkish demo I did not know that a much larger demonstration was still going on. Thousands surrounded the 300-400 Pegida supporters so that they could not even start their march.
 
Anyway, I think this is all to the best.  It shows a nation maturing, with discontent made public by this disturbing Dresden movement.  Fortunately 85% of all German disagree with it.   
 
Bill was recuperating from a light flu, but by today almost back to normal.  He said he envied me that I could I be present at some of the Monday action. 
 

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU!!!


Berlin on New Year's Eve (or Sylvester as the Germans say) is an experience all in itself.  One million tourists come here specifically to celebrate (make it 1,000,002 persons if you count you know who).  The entire week restaurants, bars, Gasthauses, all kinds of entertainment, including the symphony orchestras have been booked by crazy revelers.  Don't even try to get decent food on New Years' eve if you haven't booked a table well in advance.  The Brandenburg Gate with live concerts and light shows usually gets a million visitors just by itself, a bit overwhelming we thought.  Fortunately, we just knew the best place to be:  the apartment where we're staying.  Some years back I was lucky enough to watch the big show from these very windows.  Some of the fireworks then were so close to the building that the balcony door and the windows had to be kept closed for fear of flying sparks. Within minutes the air was filled with so much smoke that I could only see colors and hear the bangs... My account of that event must have been impressive as Bill has had the urge to see it ever since.   
Last night Senta and Stefan came over for dinner (lentil-turkey soup, spinach quiche, 10-layer salad, baked salmon, olives; and "Berlin pancakes" (filled with pudding or raspberries), avocado dip with sesame crackers and pretzels), chats and games. We watched Angela Merkel's excellent speech on TV admonishing the Germans to fully accept all political refugees and foreign workers and resist the indifference and hatred of the Pegida followers towards immigrants.  Pegida is a splinter movement in Dresden - in my opinion completely overrated by the media as more Germans are pro-actively supporting the  thousands of immigrants who are moving into Germany every year (After the US Germany is taking in the second-highest number of immigrants).  Merkel also warned about Putin's lack of respect for Ukraine's democratic self-determination which is in direct contrast to everything Europe stands for.      We helped Angie's serious contemplation along by drinking more red wine and later on almost died laughing about our own fireworks:  tiny crackers which went "pop" when thrown on the balcony floor .... pip squeaks compared to the "real" thing which started at midnight.  Fireworks in all directions for 2.5 hours at which time Bill and I put plugs in our ears and went to bed.  I'm happy to report that there were no fireworks immediately in front of our building, meaning we could open the balcony door and really enjoy the sight (and sounds). The blasting still went on when we woke up... and then on and off thru the day today.     

Note how the TV Tower at Alexander-Platz and the Radisson Park Inn fade in and out... The evening started out foggy and at times we could barely see anything.   In the first photo the TV Tower is completely invisible and the sign of the hotel barely visible (see it at the top left?).  

 

 

 

 

While there was much activity straight ahead equally much was happening to the left near the  Mercedes Benz Bank building:

 

Today the sun came out and yes, you guessed right, Bill and Ingrid hopped on their bikes and rode for about three hours through some northern suburbs of Berlin by lots of commercial businesses and shops - some abandoned -, the usual construction sites, thru formerly separate villages, along fields, lakes and by churches. In Buch we chanced upon one of the largest and most important hospitals of the former German Republic.  In Blankenburg we stopped at this little church, built in the 13th century (there are many such churches in the countryside outside Berlin).  When we got cold we stopped at a Turkish kiosk and had doener (gyros to you) and hot tea.  On our way back the bike paths were still littered with tons of fireworks debris, Champagne and beer bottles...

 

 

 

 And this is what the view from our apartment looked like when we returned from our bike tour... no fog, no smog, the TV Tower and the Radisson Park Inn fully visible:

Wishing You and Yours a Healthy, Happy and Peaceful 2015!