Guten Abend von Berlin

This will be a shorter post because it's late and I'm tired!  :)

Here is a run down of all the many things we did today:

* 8:00 traditional German breakfast at the hostel.

* Morning neighborhood walk: Jewish history in Berlin

          *Rosenthalerplatz, Koppenplatz, Stolpersteine, Old Jewish Cemetary, Berlin Jewish School, & 

           New Synagogue. During this history walk, Rita gave a presentation to the group on Kristallnacht 

           and the Deserted Room

* Lunch at Beth Cafe, a Jewish deli attached to a synagogue

* Holocaust Memorial

          *Gendarmenmarkt square

* Jewish Museum and CFE journaling time

* Dinner of traditional Turkish Doners mit Brot and deserts in the Kreuzberg neighborhood

* Brandenburg Gate at night

* Reichstag visit

* LOTS of walking all around town!

Here are some pictures of our day:

Small gold plaques embedded in the street outside of home addresses where Jews that died in the Holocaust once lived in Berlin. As we walked around town, we saw many of these and the students and Mr. Johnson read some of their personal stories in more detail.  Translation from the plaques in the picture: "Here lived Erika and Meta Haitner, born in 1927 & 1928, deported November 29, 1942, murdered in Auschwitz (concentration camp)".  It was very powerful and sobering to read and reflect on the very personal stories that we read about this morning. 

Rita giving her presentation on Kristallnacht and the Deserted Room. It was rainy today, but mostly just light drizzle and we were all prepared for it, so we weren't too affected by the weather. 

Memorial statues to remember the murdered Jews of the Holocaust. In the memorial cemetery behind the fence in back of the statues, the exact number of burials is not known, but most likely more than 10,000 Berlin Jews are buried in mass (unmarked) graves underground. A great number of civilian and military war victims can be added to that total as well.  Isn't it so unreal to believe that all of this happened as recent as the 1940s?

Our lunch table at Beth Cafe. We again had traditional foods, this time from the Jewish heritage.

Mrs. Johnson drinking her "Beth Kaffee" (coffee with cinnamon) out of a straw! 

The first quote you see on the wall when you arrive at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Berlin.

Brandenburg Gate all lit up at night - really beautiful!

Mrs. Johnson's Doner dinner group with the restaurant worker we talked with for a few minutes. He is Turkish and moved to Berlin from Malta to find work four years ago. He was very kind to our group, interesting to talk to, and wished us all well on the rest of our journey.

Cool photo inside the futuristic looking glass dome of the Reichstag building... we got a good group shot in here that is on Mr. Stromberg's camera - I'll post the picture tomorrow.

Good night and happy CFE week ahead to all of our Minnehaha friends back home!