Berlin: Early Morning In Tiergarten.
It's inevitable that I wake up just before, if not right at, about 5am local time here in Europe. I'm still adjusting to the time difference... Which makes sense, given that I am only about five days into this travel excursion.
The early rising means I can usually get my meditation done first thing. And because this is Europe, and nothing opens till after 7:30am, this means I can usually get in a nice walk first thing. Early morning walks are one of my favorite things. Especially when traveling. Their is light, so you feel safer bopping through the streets that are typically pretty quiet.
Yesterday's walk took me through a good stretch of Berlin's Tiergarten,
It's a massive urban park that leads you to a few places. I only walked down part of the main stretch of road running through it, till I came to the Victory Column (above). There were a few other walkers and runners out, like me. But for the most part, the city was still sleeping.
Similar to the Brandenburg Gate, you have the Roman goddess Victoria watching over the city.
I'm fascinated by the fact that they gave her wings, making her like an angel.
I also walked past the Soviet War Memorial.
It was put up in the mid 1940s. It's massive...
While it is a well-designed memorial, with light reflecting beautifully off of it... I'm not particularly fond of what it represents. But each city has it's history contend with, and I am only a visitor. I respect that it is in place here, but I sympathize with Berliners who may feel it needs to go.
The memorial is good at forcing you reflect on the parts of history you may personally feel are ugly but others may feel are welcome. Lessons in never forgetting, I guess.
Comments