Germany to Gdansk, Poland

After Anna and the kids left Paris, I spent a few days getting organized and then went to Berlin. I was there for work, but visited the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, one of the most visible monuments in the city.

The interior of the new church is similar to that of Notre Dame du Raincy outside of Paris, with its walls of stained glass.

The German's call the remains of the old steeple 'the hollow tooth.'

The ceiling of the remaining church still has beautiful mosaics, slightly damaged during the bombing.

I passed the Japanese gate to the zoo. I have very nice memories of the weekend we spent in Berlin in May. We went to the zoo twice.

When I finished my work, I took a train to Warsaw. It took about five hours. Riding that train, one can't help but think of the deportees who were sent by rail to camps in Poland.

Warsaw is a pleasant city. It was largely destroyed on Hitler's orders after the failed Warsaw Uprising of 1944. Most of what you see now is a 1950s reconstruction of the original city.

I had a nice dinner under the furthest umbrella seen here. It was a Jewish restaurant. Though there are few Jews left in Poland, Jewish culture has come into fashion.

I took a plane north to the Baltic seaport of Gdansk.

I went to see Lech Walesa in his office atop this historic city gate.

Walesa was initially gruff but eventually warmed up. He's a political has been, but it was still interesting to meet him. We talked about the twin brothers who now lead Poland and who used to work for Walesa.

I walked around the city after the meeting.

This ship was the first to be produced by the Gdansk shipyards, where Walesa worked and where he led the strike that eventually ended Communist rule in Poland and later led to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.

Then I went to see the shipyards.

They are still active, though they only make components for another shipyard now.

There is a small museum on the grounds. A section of the Berlin Wall is kept beside a section of the shipyard wall that Walesa jumped over to lead the strike.

The museum had various reminders of life under Communism, including this exhibit of toilet paper. I remember toilet paper was also precious in China in the old days.

Then, the foreign desk called and asked me to go to Israel. Israel and Poland have interesting ties. About a quarter of all Poles were Jewish before World War II and the core of the original Israeli Army was formed with former Polish Army officers. Now that Poland is a member of the European Union, many Israelis of Polish origin are applying for Polish passports again just in case things fall apart in Israel.