2022europe

[2022europe]

Final last couple of days in London. Out near Brick Lane and Spitalfields Market. Around Hackney with final shot of bell tower at Tom and Viv’s apartment.

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London Design Museum. Darrell’s shoes and Mac…he was so ahead of his time.

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Last few days in London…Tom’s birthday. Hamstead Heath, John Keat’s House - a small museum we visited. Also, house where George Orwell lived. Lovely autumn light.

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Museum Island today. Pergamon Museum is being refurbished so the altar is not on view…there’s a separate panorama which houses some sections of the frieze with media diorama. The huge Market Gate of Miletus and the Ishtar Gate with sections of the Wall of Babylon have to be seen to be believed, although whether they belong in Berlin is another matter. Language used throughout was interesting - archaeological theft was described as ‘discovered’. Nefertiti in the Neues Museum can’t be photographed.

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Wannsee Conference scene where the ‘final solution’ was determined in 1942. And Max Liebermann’s Villa - famous Impressionist artist, Jewish, who died in 1935. Lake was forbidding on our first real cold day of 7 degrees with winter in the air. Mussels for lunch were amazing!

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Today was bookended by 2 of the 3 train stations where deportees left Berlin destined for camps under the Nazis- 50000 Jews were deported from Berlin over 4 years.

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Somehow we found ourselves at Bernauer Strasse, which was great as we hadn’t visited the Document Centre previously…must have been closed. Always poignant. Sauntered near Brandenburg Gate. Coffee at Galleries Lafayette and later Otto Weidt’s Workshop for the Blind, where he sought to save blind Jews from deportation to camps. Wandered through surrounding shops in fabulous Hackesche Hofe.

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Spent a few hours in the medieval city where Max Weber was born - Erfurt - on the way to Berlin. It has the oldest synagogue in Europe (3). Like everywhere else, the main square is being set up for Xmas markets.

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Spent the day in Bamberg, 40 minutes by train from Nuremberg. Another UNESCO medieval town. The town hall (Rathaus) sits over the river, with bridge either side. Stolpersteines as we walked from the station to the old town.

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Largely a sobering day exploring the history of National Socialism in Nuremberg. Infamous Courtroom 600, Zeppelin Field where Nazi rallies were conducted and the Document Centre at the Congress Hall. Had the latter been finished it would have been twice the size of Rome’s Colosseum.

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Nuremberg- more bridges in the old town as it prepares for Xmas Market…this one for the kinder.

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Albert Durer’s House also survived the bombing - first pic. Views of and from the castle. GF bratwurst for lunch 🤗 and main square readying for Xmas market.

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Nuremberg - amazing Airbnb in a medieval house hanging over the river. Apartment from the outside and pics of surrounding area in the old town. Most of the old town was destroyed in WW2 and then rebuilt; not, apparently, this house which survived. Traditional bridges galore.

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Also a Roman town with some ruins still evident. But even pretty towns have a dark past from the Nazi era.

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UNESCO town of Regensburg, on the way to Nuremberg. Amazing medieval town which remained intact despite the war.

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Lisa took us to the university and Scholl brother and sister memorial. Very interesting to explore this tragic event further. Wouldn’t have found this without local help.

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Spent yesterday with Lisa in Munich and then train and bus to their house for dinner with Chris, Millie and Ava. Lovely to catch up.