Berlin on Saturday morning, 19 June...

More Berlin photos can be found at
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2058568&id=1009425114&l=a87ef94f0c

The program in Berlin continues to be filled with visits to schools, community centers and museums.  Today, we will visit the contact at Deutsche Bank, and later, a tour of the Bundestag Building.

I look forward to the view from the observation deck of the glass dome above the building.  I hope the rain waits till much later.

Tonight we will attend the Berliner Philharmonic Symphony Concert (it has been years since I have attended a concert) with a program that includes Brahms, Ravel nand Bartok.  The Goethe-Institut has certainly provided us with a full and varied program that allows us to experience so much history and culture.

Yesterday was a busy day that took us to a grundschule (elementary) in the Schoenburg district.  It possesses a playground that had been designed with the input of studnets, teachers and local families.  It is an example of the Grun Macht Schule initiative that tries to redesign school spaces to provide students and faculty with an enivronment that is pleasing, contains natural features and promotes connecting with others and the environment.  After being led on a tour of the school by two lovely young students, our group was divided into two groups to visit classes. 

I visited a music course in which the 5th year students practiced their dances for the end-of-year production.  They later serenaded us with a concert on their instruments.  They were impressive!

We then visited a community center that seeks to provide support for Moms and Dads of the students in the neighborhood.  They students also use the space for afterschool activities, and people of nall ages enjoy the programs they provide.  They fed us a wonderful Middle Eastern lunch of hummus, tabuleh (sic) and kibbe and salads.  It was an uplifting visit.

The next item was, of course, the Public Viewing of the World Cup match between Germany and Serbia (by now, you know the outcome).

The program arranged for space at a pub in Kreuzberg (a very diverse neighborhood), but it was too crowded nand smoky, so I listened from without, enjoying the rise and fall of cheers and jeers as the game proceeded.  I even found an internet cafe, so I called home.

After the game (poor Germany), we arrived at another community organization that focuses on helping the community members negotiate the educational and social services system, along with educational and health care support.

I have appreciated seeing the variety of programs that are designed to assist the members of the local communities. 

I then walked to the Topography of Terror Exhibit which has recently opened on the block on which the perprtrators of destruction of the Nazi regime conducted their evil. 

The exhibit was disturbing and unbelievable - that so much effort, resources, energy and brain power was organized for the destruction of so so many lives and cultures... 

The exhibit space borders a remaining part of the Berlin Wall. 

After the exhibit, I walked north toward the Brandenburg Tor and the Holocaust Memorial. 

I have visited the Memorial before, but not from the direction I walked (from the southeast).  The sun was in the west and the memorial stones cast internetsing and haunting shadows with the late afternoon sunlight. 

I walked among the stones, bringing to mind and prayer my Holocaust Survivor friends and their loved ones whose lives were stolen and destroyed by ignorance and hate.  It was good to see so many people of so many cultures and backgrounds appreciating the memorial...

As I walked back to the hotel (I walked a total of 2.5 miles at least), I was aware of how the history of Germany and Berlin crisscross.  The Brandenburg Tor had a large public viewing platform at its west side and on the east, an area ready for the St. Christopher celebration. 

The Frederick the Great's statue was surrounded by cranes and construction and the gigantic tv screen with advertising. 

The plaza where the Nazis burned books of authors they disrespected contains a below ground memorial of empty bookshelves.  Haunting. 

The Marx and Engels statue sits surrounded by many other important buildings and sites of Germany and Berlin history. 

I finally arrived at the hotel and found a lovely bowl of soup. The weather after 5pm became windy and cooler than we had been enjoying this trip, so the soup hit the spot.