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June 10, 2025 - Berlin Trip - Day 7

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Our final full day in Berlin began with a search for a strap to secure my big rolling suitcase (which is wearing out around the zipper); it took quite a few minutes even for Christine and Richard to think of the correct German word describing such a strap in order to ask where we might find one. With our 4th store inquiry, we finally found one! With that problem solved, we  decided to use our wonderful 56 Euro (per month) unlimited DB transit pass to take a final recap tour around the Mitte (central) city section (via Bus100).   Victory Column We passed by the Tiergarten with its Victory Column. Designed by Heinrich Strack after 1864 to commemorate the Prussian victory in the Second Schleswig War.  By the time it was inaugurated on 2 September 1873, Prussia had also defeated Austria and its German allies in the Austro-Prussian War and France in the Franco-Prussian War, giving the statue a new purpose. In this same area, we passed Bellevue Palace, also located in...
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June 9, 2025 - Berlin - Berlin Trip - Day 6

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Nikolaus Braun - Berliner Straßenszene 1921 The highlight of our morning was a visit to the final relocation site of the Berlinische Galerie (said to be a former uranium mining site that produced nearly 100 atomic bombs for the USSR).  This gallery is an unique and totally engrossing experience showing how a strong impressionistic movement prior to WWI transformed into bleak expressionism and then, under strict Soviet constraints, had to go underground – with the recently displayed artworks only recently coming to light.  Also, the museums’ rich photographic gallery (from Zeiss and other well established East German companies) showed the city before and during various stages of the war, and documented the amazing contributions of talented East German women in designing and rebuilding East Berlin, despite being totally walled off after 1961 from all the ongoing West Berlin redevelopment.  The four of us went our separate ways in the gallery and we agreed to meet in the lob...
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June 8, 2025 - Dresden - Berlin Trip - Day 5

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Our day began with an early 3-hour scenic train ride to Dresden with Christine and Richard.  We passed through Saxony, observing expansive fields dotted with windmills under dramatic, dark skies.   We had our usual lively conversations about the news of the day.   Upon arriving in Dresden, we were greeted by Richard’s brother Dietrich. Having his doctorate in history and government studies and working for 25 years as a city (Dresden, Leipzig) and state (Saxony) planner and advisor, he was a wonderful city guide.   As we walked throughout Dresden, Dietrich provided us with hours of fascinating conversations about parallels today between US and the many growing far right political movements across all of Europe.  Dresden, alongside the beautiful Elbe River flowing from Czechoslovakia, was largely flattened by English/American bombers toward the latter part of WWII, so the beautifully rebuilt (cathedrals, churches, government buildings, and city residence...
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