Historic Berlin

Checkpoint Charlie

White guard shack in the street.

McCheckpoint  Charlie

pieces of the Wall

Golden Else

Brandenburg gate in the distance.

Brandenburg Gate, American Embassy to the right.

Memorial to Jews killed in World War II

TV Tower is tallest in EU

The World Clock

Bundestag

Central column of dome are mirrors.

tall building is hospital where TB virus was discovered

It's a great view of Berlin from here.

Interior art of destroyed church.

Canopy over the Sony Center.

buildings under the Sony Canopy.

Do dogs ride free ?

Historic Berlin.  What an old and new city at the same time.  I guess as an American, my interest focuses most on the recent past, ie WWII, the Wall, the reunification of East and West.  

The U Bahn station at Kochstrasse reminds us that this is Checkpoint Charlie.  You can see the white guard shack in the middle of the street.  And above my head a sign reads "You are leaving the American sector."  A ceremonial American soldier stands guard.  As we look back from the Russian side of things, we can see the golden arches in the sunshine luring us back.  I had to included this advertisement I saw on an adjacent building about non-profits as I know many of my readers will appreciate it. Pieces of the Wall that divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989  are seen at certain parts in the city.  The victory column with the golden sculpture of Victoria with a laurel wreath, referred to by the Berliners Gold else stands on top.  If you look in the other direction, you see the famous Brandenburg Gate. Next to the Brandenburg Gate is the American Embassy.  And next to the American Embassy is a monument area remembering the deaths of Jews throughout Europe in World War II.  We take a quick trip on the U-Bahn to Alexanderplatz.  Behind the yellow tram in the next picture, you can make out a very, very tall tower.   It's called the TV tower and it is the tallest structure in the European Union.  Also in this platz is something called the World Clock.  You can tell what time it is all around the world by just walking around it.  Not far from the Brandenburg Gate is the Reichstag or Bundestag building.  It is the current seat of the German Parliament.  It was pretty damaged during the war by bombs.  The exterior has been salvaged but the interior is all new and a new dome has been built on top.  It is an excellent spot to see the whole city.  Next door to the Bundestag is a memorial to all the Sinti and Roma people killed by the Nazi's. We see a familiar name in the stone:  Auschwitz.   A church dedicated to Kaiser Wilhelm is left standing in its half destroyed condition to remember the scars of war.  Many beautiful buildings have been built in Berlin and it does show itself to be the economic powerhouse of Europe.  The picture that looks like a tent canopy is over a building set called the Sony Center.  The final shot is for animal lovers.  Berlin transportation system is dog friendly.  On a leash or course.  There's still more to come about my trip to Berlin...the museums.

Vacation in Berlin

The budget ticket flight.

Welcome desk at Berlin's Tegel airport.

In the plaza of the Sony Center

Red Carpet reception of course.

Notice the Stars and Stripes!

This is a tram.  It runs at street level.

U station for subway.

All rails lead to Berlin.

Roast beef, mashed potatoes, green beans.

Coffee shop near Friedrichstrasse on the Schpre River

Apfelstrudel with vanilla sauce

Berliner's are fruit filled donuts.

Even Peace Corps Volunteers get vacation.  The past week has been an exciting time in Berlin.  My fellow PCV Sylvia and I headed there primarily for the 64th Berlinale Film Festival.  The film festival was very enjoyable and so were many, many other things in Berlin.  The film festival had us chasing tickets and theaters all over the city.  But no problem for us since Berlin has a supersized transportation system composed of buses, trams, surface trains, and subways.  And you can transfer from one system to another without any trouble.  We never waited longer than 10 minutes for a connection.  And the people are very friendly and glad to give you directions.  I found the subway stations made me feel like I was in Chicago.  Berlin is a very cosmopolitan city (like Chicago).  You hear people speaking many different languages all around you.  And English is a very widely used second language there.  The first movie we saw at the festival was a film about Roma people living in Romania.  It was a lot like watching a "frontline special" about our Peace Corps experience.  The film was in Romanian, subtitles were in English.  So that one was a breeze for us Moldovan visitors.  But we saw two movies by Ken Loach that were set in middle England and the subtitles were in German.  My mind had a hard time deciding whether I would try and understand listening to the English dialect or reading the German.  Both were impossible.  The last film was Kreutzweg (Way of the Cross) in German with English subtitles.  A very powerful film by Dietrich Bruggemann that took the silver bear in it's class.  We enjoyed plenty of good German beer, great food, and even some bowling. (and salsa dancing too)  I'll have to continue in the next blog about the many museums and historical places we visited.  But just let me end this time with the immortal words of JFK "ich bin ein Berliner".

Winter's Snow Show

The day is about to begin

down the steps I go

following the trail to the outhouse.

Mischa and Dog are ready for adventure.

The neighbors across the street.

The view of the valley from my front door.

Up the hill to the village.

past a frosty cemetery

The sky says its Winter.

dependable local transportation

Finally we are at work.

The children love the snow.

It makes perfect snow balls.

Snow balls have consequences.

What could be more fun?

What a darling couple!

Hair styling for a snow woman.

It's an entire snow family.

Dance around the snow family.

Tomorrow is another day.

Unlike parts of the Midwest (USA) that have had storm after storm this winter, Moldova has had a snow free winter until February.  Over the past week, we gained about a foot of snow.  For a few days it delayed transportation in various parts of the country.  Some villages were without power for several days even up to a week.  But it was nothing as bad as our neighbor Romania had to deal with which was virtual white out conditions for days on end.  In the village, it doesn't seem that bad.  My 15 minute walk to work took about the same amount of time.  I just had to spend a few extra minutes getting boots on and off at either end of my trip.  The children were happy to have snow.  They think its a lot of fun.  People use sleds quite a lot....the kind you pull, to bring children to school.  The caruta driver exchanges his wagon for a sleigh and the horse gets through the snow without problems.  My home dogs have followed  me to work everyday and play with the watch dogs we have at the center.  I think they sense that Spring is in the air.  One of them left a cigar in the middle of the trail to the outhouse.  Not very PC of them.  We had lots of fun creating a snow family with the children.  Coal and carrots for eyes and nose are too expensive to come by, so we made do with dried flowers and branches from the yard.   Greetings from Vasile, Natasha, and little Ion,  the snow family of Piatra.