July 27 was my day to meet Martin, not in Broda but in Berlin. It turned out to be a very hot day, around 90°F (over 30°C). We usually get a few days that hot every summer where I live, and more in the upper 80's. Apparently it is far less common in northern Germany, so Martin was not acclimated. For me it was hot, for him it was almost unbearable. Still, he bravely followed his sightseeing plan.
We were to meet on the
Museum Island in the River Spree at 11:00. I think I left my hotel at about 9:45 to allow plenty of time for the walk from Kleisstrasse. The route I had chosen, which I think was most direct went past the Philharmonie where the Berlin Philharmonic plays their home concerts, via Potsdamer Strasse and the
Potsdamer Platz, through the Brandenburg Gate (with just a glimpse of the
Reichstag), and along
Unter den Linden.
I hadn't realized how long it would take to walk the distance and
I took my time taking pictures at the
Philharmonie and other spots (btw, the Philharmonie strikes me as really ugly irl, even if professional pics manage to prettify it, but it's still a place where
Wilhelm Furtwängler worked after the war). As I got close to
the
Brandenburg Gate, I began to realize that I didn't have much time left, so I walked fairly briskly past the Russian Embassy, the University, and the Opera House and arrived at our agreed meeting spot just barely at 11:00. Martin was there, and I recognized him from his blog photo, although something about the camera angle of that picture had made me imagine that he was shorter than me, while he's actually taller by several inches.
Morgenländer had hoped to join us, but was not able to get away from work. Thomas Roloff, Martin's pastor, whose sermons he sometimes posts, was working in the morning but hoped to be able to join us in the afternoon. First we went to
the
Berlin Cathedral, which isn't a bishop's seat, but is colloquially called a cathedral because it is the principal Protestant Church of Berlin, where state services are held. After seeing the sanctuary, we visited the crypt, where generations of Hohenzollern rulers and family members are entombed.
After a glance toward the area where the palace is being rebuilt and the nearby skyline, we walked along the river to the train station and rode to
Potsdam, where Martin lived for many years. Our destination there was
the
New Palace (Neues Palais), built by King Frederick the Great, where there was an exhibition about his reign, just the sort of thing I enjoy. Unfortunately, the bus routes have changed since Martin lived there, and from where we alit, we had a long walk through the park to get to the palace — all in the heat, much in the direct sun, and Martin without a hat. Finally we arrived where Mr. Roloff was waiting for us, just outside the gate from the park to the palace grounds. The palace was very impressive, both outside and in, with much elaborate decoration, although the exhibits often drew attention away from the rooms themselves. A bonus of sorts was the palace theater, which was smaller than I might have expected. It was easy to imagine an opera performance or maybe a concert including some of Frederick's own compositions taking place there. BTW, the exhibit runs through October 28, so once you get to Potsdam, it will only cost you 14 euros to see it, and it's definitely well worth the price of admission.
Following that, Mr. Roloff drove us past
Sanssouci Palace to a restaurant (we went indoors to enjoy the air conditioning — and then some fool opened the windows), where we enjoyed a late (4:00p.m. before we were finished) lunch. Then he brought us back to Berlin, pointing out where he had once lived and Martin's former neighborhood as well as other points of interest along the pleasant route back to the big city. He dropped us off at my hotel, where I had left my luggage after checking out. A taxi brought us to the station, where Martin guided me to the track for my overnight train to Paris and caught his train to
Neubrandenburg.
Click on pics to enlarge. Detail is much clearer.
