Not posting about The Netherlands.
In Berlin at the moment and about to head to Dresden. The weather has been beautiful for the last two weeks.
Berlin is a fantastic city steeped in history from the olden days, the war and the wall. It's amazing to look around and see either new buildings or old ones with shrapnel wounds. I would have to say that this has been one of the gems of the trip.
On the 10th of May I went to a square known as Bebelplatz (sp?), 75 years ago to the day the Nazis burnt 20,000 books there that were written by Jews, homosexuals etc. It was awe-inspiring knowing that I was at a place on the anniversary of such a tragic event.
Berlin is a brilliant place.
2 comments:
Mark. You have built suspense for your Netherlands part of the trip admirably. But the time has come.
No more games!
Tell us!
Tell us what happened!
What did you discover?
What did you learn about yourself?
Are you a dope-fiend? An Anne Frank devotee? Are canals now your lifelong passion? Did the red light district fail to live up to its reputation? Are the double-vowels still haunting your dreams?
Also - as your self-appointed writing mentor: I challenge your use of the word "brilliant" to describe a place where the Nazi burned books. Perhaps you mean "awe-inspiring", "emotional", "thought-provoking" or "steeped in the soot and blood of its victims".
I refer to you for further reading German playwrite Heinrich Heine famous line (originally written about the burning of that Koran during the Spanish Inquisition):
"Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen." or "Where they burn books, they will ultimately also burn people."
I believe that this is are words engraved into the famous plaza. I am jealous, my friend - I would liked to have visited Bebelplatz when I went to Berlin instead of going to the Irish pub.
Travel on!
ps. Moving on up to Queensland next week! Didn't realise I'd played my last game of hockey until I checked the rounds and discovered that my last weekend in Adelaide is a bye! Darn. It. To. Hell.
Isn´t that quote from the 19th century? It´s amazing how well it applied to the situation in Berlin.
Cheers for the adjective tip. I´ll change it now.
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