East meets West

 There's a lot about Berlin that tells the story of East and West Germany.

Think of Germany. Cut it in half, to create East and West.

Now think of the capital, Berlin, which happens to be in the East side. Regardless, cut it in half to create East and West Berlin.

As we approached Berlin, the commentary leaned into the rise and fall of Hitler, Nazis and the Third Reich. Then there were the various iterations of both Germany over the centuries, as well as the assorted walls and curtains involved. This really does sound like a decorating job that might appeal to an alleged paperhanger. Just sayin'...

We saw buildings young and old, some young pretending to be old, and some particularly brutalist in their communist style.

Ticked off all of the usual suspects:

• Brandenburg Gate
• Riechstag
• Museum Island
• Checkpoint Charlie
• The Berlin Wall Memorial
• The Berlin TV Tower

Now that is really a blast from the past.

During the 60's, many countries were trying to show their engineering superiority by building the tallest tower in the world. It was like a phalic one-upmanship between opponents. This was particularly true between East and West. The Berlin TV tower was built with the intention of being taller than anything the West had built to date. Taller than the Eiffel Tower, it was shorter only than one built in St Petersburg by their glorious overlords.    

It was made taller some years later by adding additional anten
na, allegedly because somebody got their lederhosen in a bunch when they heard another tower was about to be taller.

Then there are the memorials. A large one was built to commemorate the jews killed by the Nazis. It's a collection of irregular height granite blocks.

Then the homosexuals got out of the wrong side of the bed because they were also on the Nazi's naughty list. So one was built for them across the road.

Then the lesbians kicked off, so the gay memorial now alternates between male and female themes.

Watch this space for the trans, the intersex, the queers and the bi's, the andros and the pans, the demis, the MAPs and the furries to come out of the woodwork to claim their designated victimhood status.

Oy Vey!

Went to see Fredrick the Great's Royal Summer Palace in a place called Sanssouci, outside Berlin.

Then had dinner at an old Hunting Lodge called Wirtshaus Moorlake.

Lubly Jubly.

By the way... I saw this in one of the many plazas / squares / pedestrian malls / whatever you want to call them.

Is this device more of a metaphor for an office or a family? Everybody peddling madly away in no particular direction, while only one person controls the steering wheel.

Asking for a friend...