Carnival in Heitersheim

We are now back in Freiburg / Black Forest / the Upper Rhine Valley where Carnival has been in full swing for the past four days.  While Berlin and Germany's Protestant areas do all kinds of serious things like working and governing, the southern and more Catholic areas have been abandoning themselves in crazy celebrations.   In Freiburg it's called Fasnacht, in the villages around here Fasnet, elsewhere Fasching, and in Cologne, the most famous of Carnival cities, it is called Karneval.  No matter the name, it means the same: four days of plain fun, costume balls with dancing, music, and on Rose Monday parades with colorful floats and lots of music.  Spectators, especially kids, get sweets and popcorn, and they and adults alike are strewn with confetti and faces painted with face paint by parade participants, whether we liked it or not... 

Yesterday my niece Lisa, 11, and I watched the Rose Monday parade in one of the near-by little towns:  Heitersheim, dating back to Roman times and proud home of 6,004 Heitersheimers, showed what even a little place will do to escape reality. 

 
 

 

 

             Many witches come with their families, husbands,
            wives, kids, babies --- all dressed up in witch costumes.

 

                               


                 
                       This witch wanted to "steal" Lisa's roller.   

 

 

Here is Lisa after the parade:  covered by confetti, face "painted", with a bag full of sweets, and cold.....but very happy.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Life without a car


Since July 12 2014 we have not driven a car.  Which is easy in the center of Berlin where many, probably most, people are car-less. Public transportation works 24/7/365, frequently and in all directions.  It takes us to museums, theaters, exhibits, shops in the city, friends and relatives in the suburbs, and large forests, parks, lakes where we love to hike and walk.
However, Bill and I, even nuttier than the Berliners, usually bike everywhere, or have taken our bikes on the fast trains and started riding from a station further out.  Bill, as you know, used to ride his bike to and from work in DC and gradually has persuaded me that biking is fun and not scary.  Like he, I can now say: the more I ride, the more I prefer it over all other forms of transportation.

Here in Berlin we have been simply non-plussed by the number and types of people we see on bikes.  Thin guys dressed in black business suits with bowler hats, upright on upright 19th century-look-alike bikes; gorgeous young women dressed to perfection in high heels riding to work; elegant middle-aged ladies with large shopping bags; handymen with equipment carts attached in the back of the bike; mail carriers with big containers in front and back of the bike; people of all ages, looks and appearances carrying all kinds of objects; young parents with one kid seated at the handle bar and one kid sitting on the back seat, often with a little kid on a tiny bike in tow.  As a matter of fact, we continue to be astonished to see tiny tots following adults on bike lanes, even in bad weather.  (Parents' way to bring them to pre-school, kindergarten, elementary school.)

Biking is definitely one of the accepted ways to get to work.  In the mornings and evenings there are huge flocks of bikers everywhere. In Berlin many streets are wide, with plenty of space for separate lanes for cars, bikes, and pedestrians.  Yes, each - car, pedestrian, and bike - has their own specifically designed lane and traffic lights.  The lights are set so that cars and pedestrians have to wait for the lights of the bike lanes.  The fact that bikers are considered part of traffic and cars have no more rights than bikes makes biking so care-free.  Before turning right Berliners in cars look out for bikers on their right --- bikes always have the right-of-way.  I bet owners of car driving school are getting rich teaching their student drivers to look out for bikes.  Considerate drivers and well-marked, visible bike lanes, provide a feel of safety, even when I ride in the dark, with and without Bill.  My good friend Lydia from Freiburg-Munzingen, not known to be much of a bike rider, on the first day of renting her bike, rode right through the middle of Berlin with me --- on a dark November evening! I really admired her guts!

 I mention this in order to show that biking in Berlin is safe, and that even 65-year old ladies can get the hang of it.       Needless to say Bill and I are by now not only committed, but addicted, or in the lingo of our friends, crazy.

As safe as I feel about cars, I cannot say the same about all fellow bikers. Guess how it feels to get overtaken with just an inch or so between me and the other biker.  I have learned to always be aware of what is going on behind me in order to be ready for "the profis", meaning I try to stay on the right of the bike lane at all times.  The bike lane, often squeezed in between a busy pedestrian path and a busy car lane, tends to be just wide enough for one bike.  That's how I see it.  But for Berlin biking commuters the bike lane is easily wide enough for two bikes, plus comfortable for a bit of racing with each other.  Needless to say, my considerable biking prowess (no exaggeration, honest!) has been insulted by a few comments not suitable for ladies' ears.  Even if getting used to the "Berliner Schnauze"  (Berlin snout, famous for making quick and naughty remarks typical for the inhabitants of this city), I prefer to bike during non-rush hour.  During the day I can ride my own speed while watching the other bikers who are in the more typical bike frolic mood like me; i.e. tourists on rented bikes who proudly ride - yes - on the bike lane -- but O God no! - in the wrong direction (just like I did when I first got here), family outings on bikes; lovers riding on the pedestrian path oblivious to their surroundings; young tattooed hooded men telephoning, reading, writing on their I-phones, and so on.  A typical enjoyable ride.  When suddenly I see WHAT??  Pedestrians with suitcases WALKING IN THE BIKE LANE!!!  What are they?  Tourists, or what??  Boy, where is my Berliner Schnauze when I need it?  (Fortunately, a true Berliner is never far away and will always say what needs saying.... Even more fortunate for the tourists: they won't understand; Berliner Deutsch is not what's taught at Berlitz.)

Please note that Bill meanwhile, bored to tears, is kilometers ahead of me.  Fortunately for both of us, he enjoys stopping by the wayside just like me and the other more sane bikers to look at things. 

I wish I had photos of the most spectacular bikers we have seen, but every time I tried to get their picture they - whoosh - were gone.  I wonder why. 

Here a few photos of the bike trip I took with my friends Barbara and Steffi.  From Rostock per ferry to Denmark, where we got off in a downpour (second photo), rode through Denmark and Sweden to Trellorborg.  You see us going up the ramp of the ferry in Trellorborg on our way back to Rostock, Germany (last photo).

 



Riding through Berlin

 

 

 

 

 

And, last not least, the postmistresses' bike  (Understandably, she did not give permission to be in the photo.)

 

Remembering Auschwitz in Berlin


This past week has seen the 70th liberation of Auschwitz.  Several memorials were held in Berlin.
Bill and I visited the Jewish Cemetery in Weissensee, the largest Jewish cemetery in Europe, and one of the largest in Berlin.  Most of the graves date back to before 1933, but there are also newer and very recent graves. Many famous men and women are buried here, among them Adolf Janhof, the founder of KaDeWe (Berlin's upscale department store where Senta works), and Stefan Heym, the German-American author-turned-politician (one of our favorite authors).  
Cemetery translates "Friedhof" in German, meaning a place of peace.  There is no way to describe the turmoil the spectator feels in this cemetery.  Upon entering through the beautiful wrought-iron gates the first thing one sees is a simple memorial to the millions of murdered Jews.  A large black stone with an inscription is surrounded by small rectangular stones with the names of concentration camps. I just stood there, overcome with unspeakable emotions, terrible sadness, shame, utter incomprehension, guilt, and so much more. Words fail. The simplicity and bleakness of this memorial say more than a billion words can ever say.

The cemetery itself is a place of peace and quiet.  Here one senses that the dead lived their full lives and upon death received the honors, memorials and burials due to them.  Each deceased has a place that can be visited, and thus the dead person can be remembered. Visiting a cemetery can be sad but also comforting because the bereaved can grieve at the grave where their beloved is buried.  The terrible thing about the six million murdered Jews is that they lost everything, their lives and even a right to get a proper grave site; many or most do not have any relatives or descendants who knew them because they were murdered, too.  The dead cannot speak.  Let us living remember and speak out in their stead.
 
Unfortunately, like so many other cemetaries in Berlin, the Jewish Cemetary in Weissensee is somewhat unkempt, even though a number of city employees are trying to help keep it in fairly good condition. 

Here some good news:  On Tuesday, the Holocaust Memorial Day, a small Jewish congregation opened their doors to their new synagogue in Cottbus, a small town in the State of Brandenburg that surrounds the city of Berlin.  The cultural minister for the State said that the opening is a "special event for Brandenburg" and that he hopes the synagogue "will be filled with much life".  Other German states had seen openings of synagogues, but Brandenburg was lagging behind.  Rabbi Nachum Presman said that this "new chapter for Cottbus"... is a dream" come true.