Our old friend Tilman and his parents met us at the train station. They took us to their beautiful apartment. I learned to make pizza and schnitzel with Bernd, I got to bang the schnitzel with a pot. We met up with my uncle Eli who came from Vancouver to see us and we did many things together. We went to a Christmas Fair and I bought gift for my friends. We went to a German Deli for lunch with it had lots of fish and yummy food. We went palaces Charlottenberg and Sans Sousi with beautiful big rooms and colorful gazebos. We strolled around the gardens and by the ponds.
We went to the East Side Gallery to see the remains of the wall that had divided East and West Berlin. Many people had tried to break through but there were guards to stop them.
We went to the Pergamon Museum and saw the Panorama of the ancient city of Pergamon. The panorama was lit up and there was beautiful music you could hear the voices of people in the painting and dogs barking. The lightening changed from night to day and night again many times while we were there. When it became night the fires seemed to light. The panorama was five stories high and from the top of the tower within you could see birds soaring in the sky.
Tilmans’ mom Angelica took us to her work where there was an art show. We walked around and looked at the beautiful art for sale and we were later able to see the auction live on the computer.
We went to the Jewish Museum. A big museum with fascinating architecture. There was a garden of cement pillars with trees growing on top. It was meant to represent how refugees might feel when they came to new homes. There was also a fake tree within the museum with paper pomegranates that you could write your wish for the world on and hang it on the tree.
We went to Treptower Park where there was a big memorial for all the Russian soldiers who had died in world War Two. The park was big with big slabs of stone on either side with carvings of pictures depicting images from the war. At each end there were big statues one was an arch with two soldiers sitting on either side and at the other end was a big statue of another soldier holding a baby in one arm and with sword in the other slashing the Nazi Swastika. Inside there was a shrine with beautiful mosaic murals on the walls. And flowers laid beneath.
We went to a swimming pool that was kind of like the Roman baths we saw in Bath. It was a place with two swimming pools, one was warmer and the other cooler for doing laps in. In the cooler pool there were walrus fountains on either side with cupids on their backs, they were spitting out water into the pool and you could shower underneath them.
We took a boat along the river in Berlin. We went past many famous buildings such as the ones on Museum Island and an old palace. On one of the museums I saw Medusa’s and pan’s head.
We went to the DDR Museum which showed what East Berlin looked like during the Cold War Period. It was a hands on Museum and it was a lot of fun. There was an old limo and punch buggy that you could climb inside. There were moving portraits of Men that could mysteriously change places and blink. The museum was very interesting and you could touch almost everything, I still to learn about what was going on during that time. I think that was pretty much week thirteen.
Sincerely,
Mia
