We then went to Kaiser Wilhelm church. It was badly damaged in WWII. It has not been repaired and stands as a reminder of the devastation of war. Having come from a country where we have been very insulated from war, I can say that it is a sight that makes a big impression.
While we were at the church we noticed a big crowd on the street watching something. Being nosy Americans we made our way over to see what was going on. A huge Christmas tree had arrived on a truck and they were setting it up in the middle of the city. We watched as the Christmas tree was hooked to cables and "flew" to where it was set up. Father Christmas was there and everything. What luck that we stumbled upon the right place at the right time!
In the afternoon we went to the Olympic Stadium. It was constructed for the 1936 Olympic Games under the direction of Adolf Hitler. This guy was a real piece of work. He designed it so that the Olympic torch was placed so that when people looked at the flame, everyone could see his "parade grounds" right behind it. This was a place where people would come (forced to come) and honor him. There was room for 180,000 people on the grass and 60,000 more people in stands (this is not part of the stadium, but right to the west of the stadium). He had a very impressive ego to say the least! The stadium itself is beautiful and was modernized in 2002. I can only imagine Hitler's reaction when Jesse Owens came into his city and cleaned up! Not only was he an AMERICAN, but he was also a BLACK man. He must have been mortified!
Today we went to a palace that belonged to Prussian Royalty. Sophie Charlotte was married to Frederich I and they were the first king and queen of Prussia. It was heavily damaged in the war and has been restored. Much of the original furniture was destroyed but they have done a wonderful job of making it look like what an early 18th century palace would look like. There are beautiful gardens in the back of the palace.
We took a tour of the city on a doubledecker bus. The kids thought that was really cool. We sat upstairs on the bus right in front. It was a great way to see the city and the bus took us to Museum Island in Berlin. We went to a museum with authentic artifacts from ancient Babylon, Greece, Sumer, Rome, etc. This was an amazing collection, though I think the kids would have enjoyed it more if we had gone earlier in the day.
Saturday is going to include some shopping and then we are heading back to Gdansk on Sunday. I am so excited that we have a DRYER here in the apartment in Berlin. We will be going home with clean and dry laundry! I am still not enjoying our laundry situation in Gdansk. It's cold out and our laundry takes two days to dry. I am going to use this dryer as much as I can while I am here!
No comments:
Post a Comment