THE CITY OF BERLIN

Paul, Sherry, Eric, Rebecca, Max and Sophie

This was our first time in Berlin, our second time in Germany (Heidelberg on a previous trip). We both remember people in our parent's generation saying that they would never go to Germany, and, in fact, they would never consider buying a Volkswagon because of the Holocaust. We both had some of those feelings in the past (we did, however, own and love a 1965 VW bus). 

Everyone we know who has been in Berlin told us what a great city it is; they were correct. We truly enjoyed being there - and yet.

Berlin has a population of 3.5 million people. It is a vibrant, diverse, well-organized (of course) city with many places of interest for visitors. We used the mass transit system every day, and found it easy to get around. People we met were very friendly and helpful. We actually wished we had planned to stay a few more days. 

We visited the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, and a section of the Berlin Wall that has interpretive information. Both of these raised in my thoughts the basic human struggle between good and evil, as lived by Germans in the last century; my lifetime. Germany has very intentionally owned their role in the horrors of World War II, and, to their credit, is doing everything possible to educate young people about the past, without pulling punches (i.e. a memorial to the "Murdered Jews"). I couldn't help thinking about how my own country handles our racist history - many states prohibiting the teaching of "critical race theory" or anything that might make young white kids feel uncomfortable. It is ironic that the Nazi regime modeled many of their anti-Jewish laws on the racist laws of the United States at the time, and now the United States could learn from Germany how to deal with systemic racism and bigotry. 

We visited Checkpoint Charlie, and laughed about the McDonalds and KFC next to it (see photo link, below). We visited the interesting museum about the history of Jews in Berlin at the New Synagogue (new in the late 1800s). A modern art museum has wonderful, and some puzzling, exhibits. We appreciated the architecture of old and new buildings. We wondered about the blue and pink above-ground pipes in many neighborhoods. 

And we ate. And we drank. In the photo album (see link, below) there are numerous photos of us with beer and wine. We certainly had to sample German beer and wine, right? And German beer gardens. We ate everything from classic German food to the foods of immigrant populations. In fact, our favorite was a Turkish grill, where we ate two times. 

And so, Berlin is now on our list of great cities to visit. We barely scratched the surface of what Berlin has to offer. 

And here is the link to the photo album. Note: some of the photos have accompanying text, so click on a photo and then scroll down a bit to see descriptions.

---

posted by paul

LIVING IN BOLOGNA, ITALY (COVID AND BEYOND)

 What defines Bologna, Italy? The food? The art? The porticos? The architecture? All of the above. We had a grand plan for our 17 days in Bologna; however, plans don't always work out, and ours didn't.

The plan was to use Bologna as a home base and do some day trips and overnight trips to other places. We thought we would do an overnight in Milan, maybe one in Venice - we love Venice - perhaps Ravenna and get some Adriatic Sea beach time. But alas, COVID had other ideas. 

We both got it. We both did our 5-10 day isolation routine (based on the USA CDC guidelines because, try as I did, I never found the Italian guidelines), and we both survived. Everything has two sides, so the down side was that we got COVID and had to stay in the apartment for 5 days each, but we didn't have it at the same time, so the 5 days was actually about 8 days, and then another 5 days each masked no matter where we went (so, for example, no eating at restaurants, even outside). 

So we had 2-3 days at the beginning of our time in Bologna when we were not COVIDy, and then another few days at the end of our time in Bologna. No overnight trips. And, oh yes, did I mention that I had two doctor appointments while we were there? I had arranged ahead of time an intake appointment with an ophthalmologist, and then an appointment for him to give me my eyeball injections, the ones I need every 8 weeks to keep my macular degeneration controlled. So another two days interrupted. Life.

But...we actually did a lot in Bologna, and really enjoyed our free time there. We had some good and also great meals, including the classic Bologna fare of different prosciuttos, tortellini, tagliatelle with Bolognese sauce, pizza and more. We enjoyed art in many places, including the murals painted on the metal roll-up doors of businesses on our street (via del Pratello) and art museums and sculptures in the piazzas. We walked many porticos and appreciated their functionality as well as their beauty. The old city is filled with wonderful buildings, as well as the iconic towers and churches. And I really enjoy just wandering through neighborhoods. 

After our first week there we were joined by granddaughter Sophie, who finished her semester in Granada, Spain, and our family friend Diane. They both had COVID recently, and we followed strict protocols in the apartment (they had their own bedroom and bathroom). Those two did many things together in and around Bologna. 

One night Sophie, Diane and I went to the Camera Jazz & Music Club for a special event. The widow of jazz great Dexter Gordon, Maxine Gordon, was there to talk about her recently published book, "Sophisticated Giant." Dex had been working on his autobiography when he died, and Maxine promised him that she would finish it. A jazz quartet played a couple of sets of Dexter Gordon tunes. It was a marvelous evening, and we ended up spending time with Maxine after the show. 

After our isolation period was over, we four took a day trip to Ravenna, about a 1.25 hour train ride from Bologna. Ravenna has numerous Byzantine-era churches that have incredible tile mosaics inside, not to mention fascinating architecture. We enjoyed walking around the city; it seems very relaxed, not too crowded, with lots of cafes and shops. We went through an exhibit of works by a present-day mosaic artist that was incredible; my question, repeated many times was: "How does he do that?" 

Art is everywhere, and not just in museums. Our street in Bologna had fantastic paintings on the metal roll-up doors of the shops. A morning walk was enhanced by all the art on the closed doors. (There is a lot of graffiti in European cities, but the taggers don't paint on art work.) Piazzas have sculptures, buildings have sculptures and other artistic touches, and the architecture is art. Our eyes and brains were filled to the brim with art. 

And we ate. We found restaurants that had many gluten free choices for Sherry, including one, La Capriata, that makes their own pastas and tortellinis, including gluten free. Casa Monica is another restaurant where we had a great meal in a wonderful space, served by truly nice people. And we found many small eateries that served wonderful food. In other words, so much fun, so much food, so many drinks.

And where are the photos, you ask? 

Bologna photo album: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzR8PF

And things we ate - Food album:  https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzSBCL

And art we saw - Art in Bologna and Ravenna album:   https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzSBC5

And then we were off to Berlin. That will be a future post. 

---

posted by paul