Day 2 Berlin Part 2 Revised

We have covered a lot of ground today, some good walks, and utilizing the very developed transit system. We took a River Spree tour to get more familar with the city and it was such a nice fall day to do so. We don’t tour in our own backyard, so hard to compare with Berlin, and the German people. Berlin is a very cosmopolitan city. Like Seattle the youth scene here is as diverse in how they dress, and that is a hint into their lifestyle. I know there are all these names for age classes, like Gen X, Gen Z, and of course the Boomers, of which we are proud ambassadors. I would call this generation of youth as Gen IP for its infectious potency, because of the diversity of dress and lifestyles, and how it has morphed across age groups. I’ve seen a number of grannies and grampas with some artfully rendered hair cuts and colors, and vivid body art. You can’t put that Genie back in the bottle. The city was humming yesterday with so many people out happily chatting, and enjoying the beautiful fall day.Maybe its the looming chilly weather but I suspect the vibrancy of this urbane city is good for all seasons. Berlin reminds me a lot of New York without the skyscrapers and I am going to hazard some of our edgiiness, based on the present very polarized society. Ah but politics spoil things that are better focused on, but enough of my editorial comments, on with Berlin Day 2. The boat tour on the Spree River took us through the government center, as they refer to it, so we saw the Reichstag with the famous glass dome, the residence of the chancelor, and many other government buildings. We also saw Museum Island and we rook a number of pictures, as you might imagine. There is this incredible looming Protestant Church on the river too. I tried to focus on the modernity of the buildings, very sharp lines, interesting shapes, and much glass. Now on to Puccini’s opera Il Trittico very well porduced and performed. More of tragicomedy than full blown daggers out kind of opera, it is a stoey of infidelity, discovery and reckoning. After the intermission a completely different comic farce, very funny but totally not the first half of the play. I guess Puccini needed to dry tears and lighten up the entertainment. For Day 3 of our Berlin experience, we go on our official Rick Steves tour, where we further explore Berlin, then on to Dresden, Prague, and Vienna, more postings to come, Auf Wiedersehen!