Berlin

On October 31, Halloween, we had a mission conference in Berlin with Elder Kearan and Elder Fingerli from the Europe Area Presidency.  It was a great conference and we enjoyed every minute of it.  We drove up a day early so we could enjoy some of the things we remember from when we lived in Berlin as a young married couple.  We took Elders Pollard and Donner with us and they stayed with some Berlin Elders while we stayed in the Berlin Mark Hotel quite near the Gedenkneskirche. This is a big cathedral which was bombed during the war and they have left it as a memorial.  The white around it is a temporary scaffolding as they are doing something with it now.

We enjoyed visiting with some other mission couples at the hotel also.  One evening as we walked out to eat we were greeted by an Italian waiter from a restaurant who saw our badges and was excited to meet some Mormons.  He was an inactive brother so we gave his name as a referral to the local missionaries.

Another of the things we remember is the former American Military Post.  Above is the base theater, the Outpost, which is now a museum about the Allies and the Berlin Wall.  The second picture is the former Berlin Brigade Headquarters evidently still in American control (note the flag) but I have no idea in what capacity.  It must be a secure facility because of all the fencing and ugly additions.  Times have changed.

 We always try to find the apartment building where we lived when Lyric was born.  The window with the flowers was part of our apartment which we shared with the landlord, Herr Thomas.  It was green then too almost 50 years ago.

Last time we were in Berlin we accidentally found the Zehlendorf Standesamt building where we were married in 1966.  It is just around the corner from the apartment building where we lived but when we lived there I did not know that.  Berlin is a big noisy city with many many things to do, but I am quite content living here in Hof for the time being.