And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Summer of 1983 I spent a day in East Berlin. THAT was an eyeopener! The bust of Nefertiti was in the state museum just a block away from the Brandenburg Gate. Interesting to see but more strange to see were the buildings nearby pockmarked by gunfire repairs. Walking several blocks further east there were trees growing out of roofs and cobblestones were strewn everywhere. Way beyond obvious they were low on funds and the Berlin wall wasn't going to last a whole lot longer. It finally came down in 1989.
I went to the same museum in 1993 while on TDY in Berlin, just before the Berlin Brigade shut down. East Berlin was still pretty run down, covered in grime with lots of broken down Trabants clogging the streets.
Yes, the identical Russian Trabants parked at the government buildings. They came light blue, pale yellow, very pale green, Soviet pastel. It was mandatory to purchase $50 worth of East German currency, which was really flimsy paper, and I spent it on bread, cheese and pitchers of beer. There wasn't anything else worth buying. The meat line was 75 people long so I settled for the cheese.
statuary of her realistically reveals a confident middle-aged woman, rather easy on the eyes. there are earlier versions of the bust beneath the final we see.
A green hat: Nefertiti must be Irish.
ReplyDeleteSummer of 1983 I spent a day in East Berlin. THAT was an eyeopener! The bust of Nefertiti was in the state museum just a block away from the Brandenburg Gate. Interesting to see but more strange to see were the buildings nearby pockmarked by gunfire repairs. Walking several blocks further east there were trees growing out of roofs and cobblestones were strewn everywhere. Way beyond obvious they were low on funds and the Berlin wall wasn't going to last a whole lot longer. It finally came down in 1989.
ReplyDeletePoor east Germany. If they had done communism the way democrats absolutely know it WILL work, they would have been the happiest place on the planet.
DeleteI went to the same museum in 1993 while on TDY in Berlin, just before the Berlin Brigade shut down. East Berlin was still pretty run down, covered in grime with lots of broken down Trabants clogging the streets.
DeleteYes, the identical Russian Trabants parked at the government buildings. They came light blue, pale yellow, very pale green, Soviet pastel. It was mandatory to purchase $50 worth of East German currency, which was really flimsy paper, and I spent it on bread, cheese and pitchers of beer. There wasn't anything else worth buying. The meat line was 75 people long so I settled for the cheese.
Deletestatuary of her realistically reveals a confident middle-aged woman, rather easy on the eyes. there are earlier versions of the bust beneath the final we see.
ReplyDelete