10 September. Thursday.
At 11:00 a siren blared out from both our iPhones. It was a test alarm call on the occasion of Bundesweiter Warntag 2026. I was prepared for it because there had been a similar test in England earlier in the year. The bulk of the day was a household day with three loads of washing and an opportunity for me to catch up on blogs. In the evening we met up with Angelika, a friend from the Jewish choir who helped run the Griesenbach art gallery in Fasanenstraβe, near Bookinista and Sieglind's hairdresser. We had attended an auction there on a previous visit. The gallery kept her busy as she compiled the auction catalogues and set up the system for online bidding. It was an enjoyable time together in the nearby Aperitivo restaurant and among the subjects discussed were the national elections. The first of these, held in Sachsen-Anhalt last Sunday, saw Alternative für Deutschland (AfD - the German equivalent of Britain's Reform Party) get 44% of the votes. Sieglinde and Angelika agreed that the traditional parties were to blame with their petty bickering and points scoring, and none of them large enough to challenge the Trumpian right-wing nationalism trumpeted forth by AfD. Berlin would be voting on 20 September and they were worried what the results will be.
11 September. Friday.
Another Italian restaurant today, this one in Alt-Tempelhof near the Baptist church frequented by Sieglinde where we met up with her niece Micki who was sorting out the affairs of her father Paul who had recently died and her aunt and uncle who were back from Spain for theit annual health checks.
12 September. Saturday.
We went into Berlin today, intent on seeing the Roman section of the Altes Museum and then perhaps the Egyptian collections in the Neues Museum. In the event we saw meither. When we came out of the U-Bahn at Zoologischer Garten station we discovered there were no buses at all because of a demonsration. So we went back into the U-Bahn and with one change reached Stadtmitte station where we went into the Humboldt Forum where we ascertained that the demonstration was in front of the Rotes Rathaus, presumably linked to the upcoming elections. Sachsen-Anhalt, the first state to vote had returned Alternativ für Deutschland, Germany's equivalent to Reform, as the largest party with 44% of the votes cast. Coffee in courtyard of Humbold Forum.
Immediately I was transported back 53 years to 1973 when Hubert, Jill and I attended a procession and rally in front of the Palast der Republik in support of Chilean President Salvador Allende and his Unidad Popular coalition of parties on the left which was overthrown in a coup d'etat on 11 September by Augusto Pinochet with the collaborationof the United States Central Intleeigence Agency, just as Allende's election had been financed by the Soviet KGB. After 17 years of suppression and human rights abuse Pinochet finally stood down in 1990 and Chile returned to democracy. There were demonstrations in both halves of Berlin. The one we attended had many Freie Deutsche Jugend members in their blue tops and the event was accompanied by the rousing campaign songs, Venceremos and ¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido! and lengthy political speeches.
Palast der Republik, demonstration in support of Allende, 1973
Rotes Rathaus, demonstration of left-wing parties in support of democracy, 2026
Rotes Rathaus, demonstrators and GDR Berliner Fernsehturm
Humboldt Forum, Berlin. Schlüterhof
Into Berlin, actually saw round the Roman section of the Altes Museum. We had intended to see the Odyssey in one or other of the Yorck cinemas but it was Kinodfest this weekend with all seats for five Euros and they were sold out, so we adjourned to Café Einstein where we witnessed another demonstration passing along Unter den Lindent in front of the Aeroflot office opposite, this one by the Kurds.
Unter den Linden, Berlin. Kurdish demonstration.
14 September. Monday.
Sieglinde had an orthopodic appointment early in which was inevitably followed by shopping in the Schloβstrasse in Steglitz and coffee and Streuselkuchen in Cafe Reichard. In the cool, damp afernoon we made our way to the Lietzensee for coffee and cakes in the Pianocafé before going to the nearby Jewish residential home where I listened to the choir rehearsals from the library room as I worked on blogs.
15 September. Tuesday.
Today we visited Wittenberg the home of the Reformation and the place where printing finally came of age with a deluge of pamphlets and broadsheets in the vernacular to spread the message of the reformed church. The Deutschland ticket meant that we did not have to pay extra for the 90 Km journey from Berlin or the bus that brought us from the station to the market place in the centre of town. The main sights are strung along the Schloβstraβe and Collegienstraβe from the Castle in the west to the University in the east.
We visit Wittenberg.
The Wittenberger Weltkugel (Globe) was set up in the market place 2014 and originally contained a clock that counted the number of days remaining until the start of the "Weltausstellung Reformation" in March 2017.
In front of the Rathaus are the Luther monument of 1821 and the Melanchthon monument of 1865.
Luther Monument (left) and Melanchthon monument, Wittenberg
Altarpiece by Lucas Cranach, father and son, Stadtkirche, Wittenberg
In 1521, the church was the site of the first Holy Mass conducted in German and at Christmas the same year Holy Communion with bread and wine for all the congregation was celebrated for the first time, probably using the chalice displayed in the Church. For this reason, it is known today as the "Mother Church of the Reformation."
Chalice, c1500, probably used for first Holy Communion, 1521, Stadtkirche, Wittenberg
The same cannot be said for the pulpit currently in the church which probably originates from the Neo-Gothic refurbishment of the interior in 1811. The original altar from which Luther preached more than 2,500 times is at present in the Lutherhaus on the old university site.
Pulpit in Stadtkirche (left) and Luther's original pulpit now in Lutherhaus
Johannes Bugenhagen later served as the first Lutheran pastor, and in 1525 Luther and Katharina von Bora were married by him in the Stadtkirche. Lucas Cranach the Elder produced a votive epitaph painting which is displayed in the church, along with several other, and Bugenhagen's tombstone is also to be seen there.
Epitaph painting for Johannes Bugenhagen by Lucas Cranach the Elder and Bugenhagen's gravestone.
High on a buttress on the exterior of the church is a sculpture of a swine dating from the late 13th century. In 1570 the inscription was added when work was being undertaken on the church: Rabini Schem HaMephoras. Shem HaMephorash in Jewish mysticism is one of the esoteric names of God within Kabbalah, so this equates the God of the Hebrews with a swine, an unclean animal in their eyes. It echoes the antisemitism expressed in Luther's own writings and the parson today points out that a photo of 1933 shows a Protestant priest proudly pointing out the sculpture to a Nazi official. There was much discussion over what to do about the carving after 1945, especially in 1983, the 500th anniversary of Luther's birth and on 11 November 1988, fifty years after Kristallnacht, a monumental slab was inserted in the paving below the sculpture and a cedar of Lebanon was planted.
Sieglinde was fascinated by the display of Max Pechstein's 1921 portfolio of 12 expressionist woodcuts titled "Das Vaterunser" (The Lord's Prayer). Max Pechstein (1881–1955), was a prominent German expressionist painter and printmaker and a member of the Die Brücke group. He fought on the Western Front during World War I. In 1922, Pechstein became a professor at the Berlin Academy but in 1933 he was vilified by the Nazis because of his art. He was banned from painting or exhibiting his art and later that year was fired from his teaching position. A total of 326 of his paintings were removed from German museums and 16 of his works were displayed in the Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art) exhibition of 1937. During this time he went into seclusion in rural Pomerania but he was reinstated in 1945, and subsequently won numerous titles and awards for his work.
Schloβkirche from the Schloβstraβe, Wittenberg
The Schloβkirche (Castle Church) owes its fame to Martin Luther, who on 31 October 1517 posted his 95 Theses on the door, or so it is claimed. In 1546 he was buried in the Church, and his most important collaborator Philipp Melanchthon joined him in 1560. On Luther's 400th birthday in 1883 a re-imagining in neo-gothic style was begun to make the Schlosskirche a „Denkmal der Reformation“.
The original Thesentür was destroyed by fire in 1760. The present commemorative bronze doors were officially installed and dedicated 10 November 1858 to mark the 375th anniversary of Martin Luther's birth.
Plaques
The roads between the Castle and the old University are lined with plaques. The first two recipients illustrated below were interned in the Castle at various dates.
Harriet Beecher-Stowe made quite a mark on Germany. There is in Berlin a model settlement influenced by English "garden city" ideals named Onkel Toms Hütte. Martin Luther King senior was in Wittenburg for the meeting of the Baptist World Alliance, held in Germany in 1934, the year that he changed his name and that of his son from Michael King to Martin Luther King.
And it was good to see a librarian awarded a plaque:
Back at the Marktplatz stands the Cranach-Haus where the painter Lucas Cranach together with the printer Christian Döring printed the first edition of Luther's translation of the New Testament in 1522 (the Septembertestament). In 1517/18 Cranach extended his premises to the east by acquiring the Wittenberger Hof and the privilege of town apothecary. The front of the premises is still a pharmacy in direct succession to Cranach five centuries previously. The two courtyards behind, the Cranach-Höfe, contain several workshops. I particularly wanted to see the Historische Druckerstube where items were still produced on a traditional handpress and perhaps buy some samples as gifts for like-minded friends, but a (handwritten) notice read "Urlaub" - the printer was on holiday, a bit late for a wayzgoose, traditionally held on or around 23 August (St Bartholmew's day) in England, at least.
Historische Druckerstube, Cranachhof Wittenberg. Advertisement and example from press.
So we contentd ourselves with advising Cranach of the progress of his sketch before continuing to the old University.
The Melanchthon-Haus with its magnificent Renaissance facade stands by the entrance to the old University. soon afterIt was built for Philipp Melanchthon in 1536 by Elector John Frederick I, and Melanchthon and his family moved into the completed house soon after.
Melanchthonhaus
Leucorea. Entrance to Augusteum building with inscriptions.
The main inscription reads: Ich hab einmal des Papstes Dekret allhier zu Wittenberg verbrannt und ich wollts wol noch einmal verbrennen Dr M. Luther (I once burned the Pope's decree here in Wittenbery, and I would burn it again).
Leucorea. Museum anatomicum MDCCXXXVI (1736)
Leucorea. Bibliotheca academica MDCCXV (1715)
Lutherhaus in Leucorea
The Lutherhaus was being restored and many of the historical exhibits of books and other documents had moved elsewhere on the campus, but by now closing time was drawing on, so you will be spared them, but not entirely.
Left: The first edition of Luther's translation. Das Newe Testament Deutzsch.
Wittenberg, [Melchior Lotter (II) für Lukas Cranach (I) und Christian Döring], 1522
Right: Melanchthon, Philipp. Deütung der grewlichen figurn Bapstesels zu Rom funden. [Wittenberg, [Johann Rhau-Grunenberg], 1523]. Woodcut by Lucas Cranach the elder.
The train back provided some amusement as, instead of "Nächste Haltestelle" (next stop), the onboard information announced and displayed "Hamburg Hauptbahnhof" before each station name. When the ticket inspector came round we asked when we would be arriving in Hamburg - before or after Berlin? He apologised that they had tried to "resetten" it, but could not find out how. So today I added a new verb to my German vocabulary.
16 September. Wednesday.
We needed to rest after a strenuous but uplifting day yesterday and in the afternoon we met Sieglinde's friend Corinna at the Romana Italian Restaurant. Much of the talk was about music, as Corinna has an annual ticket and invites Sieglinde to concerts at a special price.
17 September. Thursday.
Today was a household day, which included me ironing Sieglinde's dresses as she has problems with her shoulder at the moment. We went round once more to the Wild Caffè where I actually managed to use up my loyalty card. It really is a most endearing place with its rickety chairs, benches and tables and everyone who comes in has a smile of expectation of a relaxing time.
18 September. Friday.
Sieglinde had anoher physio appointment at her torture chamber next to the Hugenduble bookshop where I had a coffee and browse. I had to pay for it though, with another massive shop and we had to lug the bags on the bus to another Italian restaurant, the favourite haunt of the two widowed sisters who live in the flat above Sieglinde and keep an eye on her when I am not around. They arrived on bikes and the usual bawdy Berliner banter ensued. I wanted to pay for everyone and discussion ensued, the result of which was that Siegline paid for the sisters and I paid for Sieglinde. When was came to leave, the sisters took our shopping home on their bikes and we walked home to find they had taken it in to the flat as they have the key.
19 September. Saturday.
It was a day devoted to catching up on blogs and other administrative matters, including filling in Sieglinde's bank slips as she does not bank online and finds it difficult to fit the long numbers and references into the tiny boxes on the paying out slips. We felt we had earned a coffee at the Wild Caffè and, once back home, after our lack of success last week because of the Kinofest, printed out tickets for Odyssey at Zoo Palast, one of the largest cinemas in Berlin.
20 September. Sunday.
It was election day in Berlin and first of all we had to locate the polling station where she had to vote. There seem to be a large number of polling booths scattered across Berlin schools and an amazing number of impressive school buildings around the Schillerplatz and Sieglinde actually discovered one that never realised existed. We finally found the polling station for district 315 in Stechlinsee-Grundschule. I was not allowed to photograph inside, so here is Sieglinde sitting outside the stately pile, her democratic duty done.
Sieglinde outside polling station 315, Stechlinsee-Grundschule, Berlin
Afterwards we hunted out the Italian restaurant in Kantstraße we had used on a previous cinema visit for an aperolspritz and snack. We witnessed yey another political demonstration, this one a left-wing procession alarmed at the rise of the Alternative für Deutschland party.
Demonstration in Kantstraße, Berlin
21 September. Monday.
Another physio torture session for Sieglinde meant a visit to Hugendubel where I bought a coffee and a translation of Robert Louis Stevenson's Travels with a donkey in the Cevennes. so that she could make the acquaintance of the original Modestine after whom our trusty little campervan had been named in 2005.
Westcountry display by the coffee shop in Hugendubel
We then went shopping and bought mini-presents for Caen friends as I had heard Geneviève would be able to put me up in Caen for two days before I return on 14th October. As we realised when we got home, it was exactly 148 years to the day since Stevenson set out, we resolved that I should read each day of his journey to Sieglinde over the next twelve days so we joined him when he purchased Modestine and set out from Le Monastier-sur-Gazeille.
22 September. Tuesday.
Inspired by having viewed the Odyssey, we set out for the Neues Museum to find out more about Troy and Mycenean Greece. The collection often referred to as "Trojan Gold" or "Priam's Treasure", consisting of 259 items, has been held in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, since 1945 when it was handed over to the Soviet authorities to avoid it being scattered. It comprises objects from hoards discovered by Heinrich Schliemann during his excavations in Troy in 1872-1890, much of which was removed from the Ottoman Empire surreptitiously and is claimed by Turkey as well as Germany. The Pushkin Museum only admitted that it had the treasure in 1994. What we saw today were careful facsimiles and it seems that the original treasure were taken from a layer now dated a thousand years before the level that is now generally linked to a Trojan War around 1200 BCE and has nothing to do with King Priam, if he ever actually existed.
Facsimiles of some of "Priam's Treasure", Neues Museum, Berlin
We also wanted to see the bust of Nefertiti (c. 1370 – 1332 BCE) a queen of the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, wife of the heretic Pharaoh Akhenaten and possibly mother of Tutankhamun, a fascinating period of Egyptian history. She has a room to herself and photographs can only be taken from outside the room to provide a calm place for the contempation of the serene and beautiful image.
Bust of Nefertiti, Neues Museum, Berlin (Wikimedia Commons)
23 September. Wednesday.
The equinox came in like a lamb, a warm, sunny day for me to be introduced to the Hermannsplatz neighbourhood at the entrance to the Neukölln district of Berlin to help Sieglinde' niece Micky clear out her father's flat. It was a revelation. The district has undergone the reverse of gentrification, litter everywhere, every available square centimeter of the buildings covered in painted graffiti and every square millimeter of many of the inhabitants covered with tattooed graffiti.
Between the wars Karstadt, which still dominates the square, was considered to be the most advanced department store in Europe, featuring 24 escalators that connected its nine stories and with direct access from two U-Bahn lines. After looting and bombing in 1945 the facade was rebuilt over time, but it is a shadow of its former self with large areas of the ground floor let out to stores such as Hugendubel booksellers and Lidl supermarket. We found our way to the second floor to find a birthday present in the household section. We located the cutlery and found what we needed but found no staff on the entire floor when I wanted to report a broken glass that I had trodden on. I cleared it up as best I could but I could only report it when we came to pay at the only checkout on the ground floor.
Hermannsplatz, Berlin. Wikimedia Commons
The flat was in a quieter area three bus stops away and access was up an uncared for staircase to the third floor. Micky, who is suffering from long covid, was trying to sort out her father's lifetime's clutter. Before final clearance she wanted friends and family to take their pick, aware that they also had full houses. Sieglinde opted for some ceramics, including at least one item she had given many years previously and some linen that had memories for her. I selected a couple of unused leather purses and a couple of caps, a scarf and a pair of gloves for use in Berlin if I ever over-winter there. Fond reminiscences were provoked by many of the objects until we decided that we must be exhausting Micky and left for home, where after supper I continued to read the account of Stevenson's journey through the Cevennes exactly 148 years ago.
24 September. Thursday.
Wash day and beds changed. A slight cold I had been harbouring finally came out. I immediately found myself surrounded by medicines, advice, care and heaps of tissues. Tissues, I learned, were to be taken from one of these heaps into my right trouser pocket, from there to my nose, and then tranferred to my left pocket for recycling. An eagle eye was kept on the direction these tissues took and woe betide me if she noticed the move was from left to right - quie the opposite of her voting decision last Sunday. I was administered nasal sprays to stop the nasal flow and told they would be immediately effective and not to blow my nose. Far from staunching the flow, it only increased and I resorted to finding a old covid mask in my luggage and using it to hold a tissue in place under my nostrils so that I could use the tablet to appeal to the family for help. Sieglinde found this hilarious, photographed me and sent the image to the family.
Cold comfort
25 September. Friday.
Sieglinde's friend who is also one of her GPs, Sabine, was celebrating her 66th birthday and as usual it was in a big way. At 11:00 there was a women's brunch. This year I was not the only man; Sabine's six month old grandson stole the show and there were several remarkable women there, including a woman of 89 who was still running a medical equipment manufacturers with her husband.
After brunc, we slipped away to have one of Sieglinde's shopping sprees, returning at 18:00 for supper which brought in a few men, work colleagues and members of the Berlin Lions Club - it was that sort of social set. A woman sat beside us who had two months previously had her last round of chemotherapy and was already sprouting a good growth of hair - she had received a wig on the German NHS but had never worn it and recounted the outward bound dynamic holidays she and her new partner had recently been taking. We felt suitably daunted.
The morning event (left) and the evening event (right)
The food was supplied by a cook Sabine knew, some of it produced on a huge barbecue in the garden, and the chat went on almost until midnight when we discovered that Sabine had ordered and paid for an Uber taxi to take us home as the buses were much too infrequent. 26 September. Saturday.
We pottered around locally today, making the most of the autumn sun, exploring the peaceful tree-lined streets of the neighbourhood. People were up ladders taking down the posters for last Sunday's elections - they had to be removed within six days or the parties would be charged heavily by the local authority for removing them. During the week most party members had to work and this was their first opportunity. Also along the Rheingaustraβe I noticed a traditional water pump and Sieglinde told me that she and her husband Jürgen had cleaned their car there, as had many others, filling the road with soap suds.
Rheingaustraβe, Berlin. Taking down election posters and water pump
We picked up a few bits and pieces at the local convenience store and ended the afternoon at the Wild Caffè, sitting outside under the trees in the autumn sun.
27 September. Sunday.
The Berlin Marathon with more than 56,000 runners started at 8:45 this morning. By 10:00 they were running along Wiesbadener Straβe across Schillerplatz, visible from Sieglinde's balcony. They were greeted by drums, whistles, music and rows of spectators, one dressed as a unicorn and another as a dinosaur. When we left about noon loyal groups were cheering on the last stragglers and vehicles followed, also cheered, to clear away barriers and other debris.
Berlin Marathon 2026 from Sieglinde's balcony
Berlin Marathon 2026, dinosaur and unicorn in Schillerplatz
Buses
were severely disrupted until the evening, so we had to take the
S-Bahn to reach the Alte
Nationalgalerie where
we hoped to see the special exhibition Cassirer
and the Breakthrough of Impressionism on
the last weekend it was open. The
Alte Nationalgalerie was
honouring
Paul Cassirer (1871–1926), one of the most important art dealers of
his time on
the centenary of his death and also the sesquicentenary of the
founding of the Nationalgalerie
in 1876.
Alte-Nationalgalerie, Berlin with posters for Cassirer exhibition
The
Bruno
& Paul Cassirer, Kunst- und Verlagsanstalt
was opened on
20 September 1898
by
cousins
Paul and
Bruno Cassirer with
a gallery on
the ground floor of Paul's house, number
35 in
the up-market Viktoriastraβe. Through
his gallery’s exceptionally dense and continuous exhibition
programme, Paul Cassirer played a decisive role in spreading French
Impressionism in Germany, despite
official opposition from a government who wanted an exclusively German National
Gallery.
Thanks to his efforts, artists such as Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne,
Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir and Vincent van Gogh
gained wider recognition in the German-speaking world. Cassirer left
a lasting imprint on Germany’s cultural landscape and ignited
passionate public debates. He was equally dedicated to supporting
German Impressionism and the Berlin Secession, represented by artists
such as Max Liebermann, Lovis Corinth, and Max Slevogt. He
also
championed
significant pioneers of Classical Modernism like Edvard Munch and
August Gaul, as
well as the
young avant-garde - Ernst Barlach’s
carvings were on display.
He
was also a prominent art publisher, owner of a private press, the
Pan-Presse
from
1908. Beside controversial works on art theory and the prints and
drawings of contemporary artists he produced more general literature,
collections of poetry and, from 1910
to
1913 the
complete works of Heinrich Mann. After the Great War the economic
situation worsened and during the hyper-inflation of 1923 Paul
Cassirer opened a branch in Amsterdam. On
7 January 1926, Cassirer met his wife in a lawyer's office to
finalize their
divorce proceedings. He made excuses and walked into another room,
where he shot himself. The
artist Max Liebermann was one of several who spoke at his funeral.
The
business was continued by his partners Walter Feilchenfeldt and Grete
Ring. The rising tide of antisemitism meant that they had to
liquidate the Berlin business to avoid it being aryanised. Walter
Feilchenfeldt moved the art works and other possessions to Amsterdam
where he and successors continued to run the business until the turn
of the millennium. Grete
Ring changed
the limited company in
Berlin into
a private firm
until
1938 when
she emigrated
to
London where
she founded the art gallery
Paul Cassirer Limited. The
Paul Cassirer archive
is held in
Zürich by
Walter Maria Feilchenfeldt.
More
than 100 outstanding works of Impressionism and Classical Modernism,
were
on display,
showing Paul Cassirer’s remarkable commitment to the arts. After
seeing the Max Liebermann Villa (several of his works were on
display) and the facsimiles of the plundered
gold
treasures of Troy in the Neue Museum in
recent days it
is sobering to see the results of just
just twelve years of Hitler’s Tausendjähriges
Reich on Germany’s cultural landscape – its museums, galleries
and libraries.
Equestrian statue of Friedrich Wilhelm IV from Alte Nationalgalerie
When we left the exhibition, there were still no buses, and many travellers on the U-Bahn were proudly wearing the medals they had earned for completing the 42 kilometers. We ended a thought-provoking day with an aperolspritz, pasta and embrace from the proprietor of the Aperitivo restaurant.
28 September. Monday.
In the evening there was to be a concert of the Lekulam Jewish choir in which Sieglinde sings. Sieglinde gathered together the pieces of music that were to be sung an we went out by S-Bahn to the Messe Nord station and made sure we had time for a coffee and cake in the Pianocafé.
Today was one of the intermediate days of Sukkot, the week-long Feast of Tabernacles and when I went to fetch water for my stint at the computer in the library room, I noticed food laid out for the choir and audience. It was quite an ordeal for the choir - one hour standing for the rehearsals and another hour for the concert, so Sieglinde and other choir members joined me to sit down in the library room at half-time.
Resting between the rehearsal and the concert
The Lekulam choir before the concert
I made good progress on the blogs and other matters on my tablet, soothed by the sound of the choir and afterwards the cantor Gabriel expressed himself as very pleased at the way it went. Nights draw in fast around the equinox and it was dark when I accompanied Sieglinde along the leaf-strewn streets to the S-Bahn and home.
29 September. Tuesday.
A shopping day in Steglitz was rewarded by coffee and cakes under the trees outside the Schwartsche Villa, enjoying the sun in a late autumn day.
30 September. Wednesday.
This morning Sieglinde had an appointment at the Immanuel hospital near the Wannsee to investigate her right shoulder which had been giving her pain and restricting the movement of her arm. An MR scan was taken, Sieglinde received a CD and the surgeon examined its and explained that there was nothing obrious and physiotherapy and massage should suffice until her next appointment. Shoulders were like that, and more often than not the pain went away on its own after a few months. her mobility. I had a few months of "cold shoulder" some years back.
As it was early afternoon and we were near the Wannsee, we caught the bus to Heckeshorn and walked past the Flensburg Lion statue and down the steps to the Seehaase where we sat by the lakeside watching the yachts sail by with aperolspritz and a bowl of chips.
We ended the day in the beautiful gardens of the Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz, a suitable place to reflect on the thought-provoking experiences of a memorable month.
