Continuing our Trip: Berlin

I'm finally getting around to finishing the telling of my trip with my parents back in February. Not much happened with me in March, but I just got tired of writing blog posts, and so I neglected it for a little while. Hopefully a few posts will be coming out soon.

So my parents and I got on the train from Dresden to Berlin; it was a "Eurocity" train, which was more direct, since it only stopped at major European cities. Being more direct meant that it was also quicker and fuller. I was lucky enough to have reserved seats, so we didn't have to split up. We got into Berlin about 7:00 or so, and it wasn't hard to take the various trains to Köpenick from there; if you remember, that was where I had spent my first month in Germany with Ben and Sonja Müller. They had graciously offered to host us, so there was a nice supper waiting for us. We had some beer and good conversation.

The next day we toured the Alexanderplatz and the Museum Island. Our first stop was St. Mary's, one of the oldest churches.

One of their favorite places this day was St. Nicholas' Church, where Paul Gerhardt served as pastor and Crüger as cantor.

Finally, we visited the German Historical Museum. To be honest, I think it's the best museum in Berlin because of its presentation and layout. The Pergamon and other museums in Berlin have very interesting artifacts, but they don't quite tell a story like the German Historical Museum does. I think my parents enjoyed it, though it was quite a lot of history to digest in the four hours that we were there.

We had hoped to see at least the Pergamon Museum after the German Historical Museum, but the museums in Germany close earlier than normal from November to March, so it was already closed for an hour when we tried it. This was a fitting conclusion to our attempts at visiting various places in the non-tourist season.

That evening Dad, Ben, and I went to a small brewery nearby that had a nice range of beers. We talked theology, church politics, and about our church bodies. Mom stayed back with Sonja and the baby, Noemi.

The next day was a Sunday, and we went to St. Mary's Zehlendorf, where Pastor Martens serves. Although I hadn't planned it this way, there was a gathering of theological students from around Europe also gathering at that time in Berlin, and they were at St. Mary's as well. Pastor had translated his sermon into English for them, so my parents also got a translation. I declined, but looked over the sermon later to see how much I understood.

Some pictures of St. Mary's

From there we toured Berlin some more, doing a bit more walking this time. We saw the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, the Victory Column, and the Tiergarten first, then headed to the Holocaust Memorial. We also saw a part of the Berlin Wall, as well as Checkpoint Charlie. It was a very heavy walking day.

We returned to the Müllers, and my parents then flew out the next day fairly early in the morning. All in all, I'm glad they came and saw Germany with me. I'm rarely alone with them, since when I'm home I'm surrounded by siblings as well, so it was good to spend a longer amount of time with Mom and Dad. I know they appreciated the trip as well; they hadn't made a trip like this in a long time. So thank you, Mom and Dad, for coming. I really appreciated it.

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