Before I share today’s adventure
I want to add a postscript to yesterday. I traveled with some fellow students to Alexanderplatz. We each went with a different purpose, mine was to find a willing
resident to interview.
Alexanderplatz was hopping with
activity! Eateries, souvenir stands,
entertainers (from fire-breathers to puppet shows to jugglers) could be found in
every direction.
In the square we saw a
delightful sight: a skateboarding
bulldog. He was a big fellow, big enough
to knock over one of the spectators that signaled him over for a hello. Take a look!
Alexanderplatz was not conducive to conducting an interview, but I was successful at a location closer to my home base What started out as a small class assignment
turned into a couple hours of cultural information, laughter and the beginning of new friendships.
I owe these Berliners a debt of gratitude for giving me the joyful
distraction I needed to shake off yesterday morning’s gloom.
Later this afternoon, after a marketing outing, I returned
to Reichstag and followed the Berlin city walk audio tour podcast I loaded
on my phone in preparation for my visit to this lovely capital city.
Near the Reichstag I located a
couple memorials I was interested in seeing.
The first is a monument that commemorates the politicians who opposed
Hitler. There are 96 slabs and if you
look closely you learn each politician’s political party and the date and
location of his death.
The next memorial is a row of
white crosses that represent the 136 people who died trying to escape from
East to West when the wall still divided Berlin. Of those who did escape, over 500 were East
German guards.
I walked through Pariser Platz
and went in the direction of the Memorial
to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a stirring city block of concrete
structures that happens to be where the Wall once stood.
The remainder of my walk took me
Unter den Linden and I made it to Bebelplatz.
I knew I had arrived when I saw the statue of Frederick the Great.
At one side of this square the original State
Library building still stands. Across
from the square is Humboldt University where many notable minds attended and
where Albert Einstein once taught. I was thrilled to see a plaque not far from
the entrance indicating another illustrious teacher, Max Planck, know for the quantum
theory! Does this make me a geek? I’m ok with that.
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| Original State Library Building |
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| Humboldt University |
I ended up on Museum Island after
passing some other marvelous sights and decided to take the recommendation my
new Berlin friends gave me last night: visit the Berlin Cathedral. The view from the top of the dome was worth
every step!
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| Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral) |
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| Interior View of the Dome |
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| Dome View of Lustgarten |
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| Dome View of Altes Museum |
