A Portrait of Berlin

Directly opposite our home was a Kleingarten, a massive park which during the 1960s was redesigned with streets and tiny homes for the weekend or holiday use of families who live in apartments and cannot go to the countryside. Councils allocate the homes and quickly take them back if any rules are broken, for example if people start to live there full time or do not maintain their gardens. They go way beyond the rules set in France for its jardins ouvriers and they are very different in nature from the UK’s allotments.

Another local park was a tourist attraction. Forest and parkland was allowed to cover the miles of train tracks that led to Berlin’s shunting station for freight trains. It all felt quiet poetic until we discovered these tracks were used during the war and then abandoned… struck by the implications, we left as fast as our legs could carry us.

The Jewish Museum was remarkable for its architectural design and impact. We stepped out feeling uplifted… being there and alive.

An even bigger treat was to attend the Berliner Philharmoniker, our first concert of the year. Covid restrictions meant that the auditorium was just a quarter full, masks on separate entry and exit with gel everywhere and we were asked to clap but not cheer.

It was strange to stand at pedestrian crossings and see hat wearing men. Apparently, these were used only in East Germany, but today hat and hatless men cannot reliably indicate where the wall was.

We were blown away by Berlin’s art galleries, especially all the Vermeer, Rembrandt and others masters in the Gemaldegalerie. This painting by Joshua Reynolds includes a portrait of Philadelphia Hancock. Sylvie quickly realised from all her reading that the little girl was a cousin of Jane Austen and became known as Comtesse de Feuillide. We are not sure if the museum or Janeites realise that a portrait exists of Jane Austen’s cousin.