Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Sitting at the hotel computer station in Berlin which is guzzling down my Euros...

Hello everyone, Greetings from Berlin. We made it OK and the whole groupis now gathered together, and everybody is fine. Last night we ate atthe Gugelhof Restaurant in the poets' and artists' quarter and learnedthat President Clinton ate there in 1998, ten years ago. The weather isvery nice, the linden trees and the chestnut trees are in full bloom andso are the lilacs. Everything is so beautiful. Today after a plentifulbreakfast we went on a tour of central Berlin and saw the Reichstagbuilding, the field ofd stelae, and Wannsee. Our guide, Heiko, was mosthelpful and gracious. The Wannsee villa was quite an experience, set ina beautiful surrounding area by the Wannsee Lake. It is hard to believetoday that that was where the Final Solution was decided on January 20,1942. After lunch we drove to Checkpoint Charlie for a quick lunch (thearea has become incredibly commercialized) and then to the OranienburgSynagogue for a visit. Around 5 pm we had had out first sight of thelongest section of the Berlin Wall still standing -- by the river, inEast Berlin, and now flanked by a huge modern music hall. We broke intosmaller groups to experience the U-Bahn (the Berlin metro) and I am nowsitting by the hotel's entrance door checking our travelers' eveningreturn from their dinner and tour. So far everything is going very well.Tomorrow is the Ravensbruck camp and a free afternoon. We expect theweather to remain pleasant, in the low to mid-sixties. More later. . .

No comments:

Post a Comment