Remembrance,reflection,reconciliation

Remembrance, reflection , reconciliation were themes that struck me forcibly when we visited Berlin for a family 60th birthday celebration last weekend. The first building we saw was emblematic of this .

                                      

                                          Kaiser Wilhelm 1 ( 1797-1888) Memorial Hall 

                                     

             

                                          

         

             Interior of Kaiser Wilhelm 1  memorial church ( built 1961) with its Karl Shuke organ ( 5100         pipes- completed 1963) 

  Starting our stay overlooking the City's zoo, we enjoyed the colours of Autumn in a city full of trees . 

Geographically the largest city in Europe, it has only 3m residents , and this is reflected in a sense of space and green .

                        

With the zoo on our doorstep and a gloriously sunny Saturday , we took the opportunity to walk in this leafy place and see the animals and birds . Unsurprisingly, the monkeys seemed the most popular with visitors . I was taken with other outdoor beasts.

  

The condor was pretty magnificent and proudly displayed - I'm not sure that we were the desired audience ! 

                                    

                               The giraffes were splendidly blending with the scenery .

     

         Oh and the rhino ......something that takes us back millennia .

        

                                     

                                         The Holocaust memorial 

The Holocaust memorial moved, and the museum below , educated . Queues of people patiently waited their turn for the museum , and we joined them , intent on being reminded of the terrible persecution and annihilation of peoples for being different . This powerful map locates all sites of persecution and extermination in Europe. Only the UK and Spain are untouched.

   

   

       

This powerful testimony by Hungarian poet Miklos Radnoti (1909-44) was one of many in the museum, Radnoti did indeed die as he foretold.  We visited the memorials to gay and Roma people too . 

     

                                        

                                            Memorial to gay people persecuted by the Nazis 

        

    Unfortunately we hadn't booked in advance to actually go into the Reichstag building , which is the seat of parliamentary democracy in Germany . So we could only enjoy the splendour of the Norman Foster glass dome from afar. 

   The Reichstag where the Bundestag meets and is centred. 

The appreciation and value put on the democracy enjoyed by all Germans today , was evident , not least in the dedicated public buildings, exhibitions and  published  literature . The Deutcher Dom in the  Gendarmenmarkt provides an exhibition "Milestones,setbacks,sidetracks - Parliamentary democracy in Germany" 

 

                                       

                                           Stairwell in the Deutcher Dom 

                        

                           

Domes are something that Berlin can boast a lot of . This is the Cathedral by the River Spree . A trip in the river was a great way of seeing many of the significant buildings in the centre - democratic and cultural - and enjoying the Autumn scenery .

       

         

   

        

And after the river , what better than coffee and cake. The sparrows approved of the choice ! 

Berlin does things on a grand scale and the Brandenburg gate at night epitomises this .

           

                                        

                                            Brandenburg gate

I said that this was a birthday celebration. Sadly, in the event, due to an unforeseen accident, the birthday girl couldn't come , and we had to celebrate without her! You couldn't make it up! Happy birthday Netty! X