Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

First on a bicycle, then on water

@brittarnhild

After yesterday´s biking, we decided a tour on river Spree and the canals would be perfect. Berlin is neither Venice nor Amsterdam, still water plays an important role in the city. December is a quiet period on the water though, and the tour wee took was the last one this year for the company we used.

Three hours on the water. Three hours trying to figure out how much we remembered of our high school German (Terje and I decided not to have headphone with English tradition). Three hours to get to know the city from another angle.

To be on water is soothing. You have nowhere to go, all you have to do is let your thoughts float and follow the motion of the river. 

From the boat we saw places we had already been, along with parts of the city completely unknown to us.

I unfolded our map on the table in front of me and with a pen marked our route.

 

Visiting a city where you have never been, in the deep winter, whern everything is cold and grey......well, it might not be the best way to find love.

 

Still, our days in Berlin has stirred something in me. And I am curious to know more.

 

And to taste more of the German appfel strudles......

 

  

....and to eat more of the German meat, like the one kilo krosse ganze Hinterhaxe von Sweinschinken , ein gutes kilo, mit Bayerisch Kraut......a one kilo piece of park.......I so much wanted to try this classic but manage to eat only about 1/3 of it.
The piece of meet was too big for one photo so I had to take two :-)

 

Biking through Berlin on a bike for seven

@brittarnhild

There are six of us together here in Berlin. Two couples from Trondheim, Norway, one couple from California. Yesterday all of us started the day together, sightseeing. Unter dem Linden up to Brandenburger Tor. There we met this guy and his bike. Fast I counted the seats on the bike. Six pluss one for the driver. Made for us. 

And soon we were on. Pedalling along with the bike owner.

The bike owner did not grow up in Berlin. Yet he had very good knowledge of it and could share with us tales both from the prewar times, the war, the wall and Berlin today.

 

We could rest our feet, we got some pretty good excercise and best of all, we had a lot of fun in the busy Berlin traffic.

 

The tour ended at Holocost Memorial and the others visited this very sad place. Terje and I took a Glühwein break then. I would really have liked to visit the bolocost center, but my mind was not prepared for it. Not that day.

Well, actually what we not did was to visit the underground "Place of Information". While wating for the others, we walked around in the on ground area where 2711 concrete stelae are arranged in a sloping grid patters.

 

May be we should have gone underground with the others.
But it was no way I could do it......

 

Here is what Wikipedia says about the stelae area:

According to Eisenman's project text, the stelae are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason. A 2005 copy of the Foundation for the Memorial's official English tourist pamphlet, however, states that the design represents a radical approach to the traditional concept of a memorial, partly because Eisenman did not use any symbolism. However, observers have noted the memorial's resemblance to a cemetery

 

:::::::::::::::::::::::

 

 

 

The Patience of Renovation

@brittarnhild

In the middle of Berlin you find a very special treasure, a museum island, Museumsinsel. We started our day there, first  Neues Museum and the beautiful Queen Nefertiti. Then continuing to the huge Pergamon museum, walking though the Ishtar Gate from Babylon. 

 

War, wall and neglect over many, many years has created an imense need for renovation, which means that huge part of the museum is closed. The renovation is planned to continue until 2020, so if I want to see the Pergamon Altar I will have to be back then.

Meanwhile there are enough of other intereting things to see, and even some of the renovation is done openly. Like the work on this Iszhtar Gate.

Watching a renovator artisan makes the art you see coming alive. Looking at this woman doing her work, made it easy to imagine myself back in Babylon 500 years before Christ. Thousands of slave building this huge gate. Stone upn stone. Hard work, hour after hour. Blood, sweat and tears. But also the joy of creating, the pleasure of working with colours. The satisfaction of creating.

Walking around watching the gate became a lot more interesting.

Now I would love to learn more about the gate, the place, the time.......

 

Christmas Markets of Berlin

@brittarnhild

 

Traveling with good friends from Trondheim, we are in Berlin to visit the Christmas Markets. Later today Jane and Lanny from California will join us and the six of us will have a main market day tomorrow. We could not help having a sneak peak last night though.

 

::::::::::::::::::::::::

I will hopefully update this post, but internet is so slow, sometimes not here at all, I´ll press the post button now and be back later with more.

 

Postcard from Berlin

@brittarnhild