Class Trip to Berlin - November 12 -16

Our final "official" student trip took place in November with a combined group of the College Line and several

students from the General Line.  We drove to Berlin via coach bus and five staff members.

Sven

Anna

Peter

Wes

I guess you could say I was the one along for the ride.

Somebody had to get "jump" pictures, right?

Here the girls jump with the Brandenburg Gate in the background.

Here the boys jump with the hostel garage and doors in the background.

 We went to many destinations while in Berlin; our first night (Monday) we walked to:

Alexanderplatz

(A large public square in East Berlin.)   

The steeple of St. Mary's Church on the left, the TV Tower on the right.

Christkindlmarket  preparations were well underway here! Check out the Weihnachtspyramide!!

On Tuesday we took the bus to

The Bundestag/Reichstag Building

(The Parliament Building)

  

Building exterior

The very modern interior

Look up to see the Dome.

Keep in mind this is in East Berlin and many, many changes have been made to this building.

The Dome is one of the coolest and we were able to walk through it and see great - and drippy - views of the city.

Going from here to the Sachenhausen Concentration Camp was next.

Haunting.

May we never forget.

On Wednesday we walked to the Brandenberg Gate.

Our spirits were lifted with much nicer weather.

 From here we walked to a Holocaust Memorial on Unter den Linden street.

 This, too, was a very powerful experience. 

Following a quiet walk through the Memorial, we saw where Hitler had his former bunker.

I chose to not take any pictures of this horrible place, but it does seem fitting that now there is

no public marker here.

Nearby, our group walked to witness an area where

The Berlin Wall

still stands in its disintegrating condition.

 How well I remember our president, Ronald Reagan, saying,

"Tear down that wall!"

And it came down in 1989 after being up since 1961.

I hope and pray that no more walls will divide the population like this one did.

Beauty can come out of destruction, though. Next we saw the bombed-out

Kaiser Wilhelm Church

which still shows the gaping holes of bombs and bullet holes.

This church has been nicknamed "Lipstick" because of the shape of the existing steeple.

     Right next to it is the

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church 

built between 1959 and 1963.

  

 This structure has been nicknamed "The Powder Box" due to its angles.

Its interior is lovely with the blue stained glass.

Think we've had enough for one day? NO!

We have a late afternoon visit to a Mosque in an "undisclosed" location.

This Mosque is different from any other in that women can pray along side the men and it is 

possible for a woman to lead the prayers. 

 Actually, this group had been written about in the New York Times.

Here's our group.

Good night, all!

Thursday morning finds us out walking on a very chilly day.

Good thing we walked by this church - The Berliner Dome. Here we noted a concert playing tonight.

Guide books say the #1 attraction of Berlin is our next destination:

The Pergamon Museum.

 The Ishtar Gate 

was constructed in about 575 BCE by order of King Nebuchadnezzar II and was the 8th gate to the inner city of Babylon.  We saw it immediately upon entry to the museum.

Through the archway is The Market Gate of Miletus built in the 2nd century AD.

Of course, it has been repaired and there are nay-sayers about the extensive newer materials used in the repairs.  But still, this is most impressive!

 More treasures are on display here, but I'll close with one of my favorites:

an old stone relief which  I AM CONVINCED is a Santa Lucia procession..do you see it, too?

Lucia in the front followed by Star Boy?

Later that night, we went to this concert at the Berlin Church:

 It was magnificent!

Before we left for Jonkoping, the College Line had one final visit to

Deutsche Umwelthilfe.

This is an NGO focusing on the environmental issues in Germany. 

 Great visit!

The bus awaits us and we head "home."  It's a long trip back with nearly 12 hours until we are back on SVF land.  It's does really feel like this IS our home now!