C.P. Charlie & The Dom

Day 10 brought another late start to the morning. We took a short walking tour of Berlin with Philip on the way to the Checkpoint Charlie museum. Today I brought German Mascot Mickey along for the ride. Mic got plenty of face time in pictures taken today!

Our first stop was the old Nazi Air force Center, one of the only buildings in Berlin that survived the bombing of the city. How ironic!

The huge Sony Center was next on the agenda. In Berlin's historic Potsdamer Platz, the center is a complex of buildings grouped around a central atrium. Eight individual buildings are used for offices, apartments, large cinemas and a museum of fine art. The view from inside of the artrium is incredibly impressive. Imagine living, working and playing here everyday!

The Berlin Wall divided communist East Berlin and West Berlin for nearly 30 years (1961-1989). Checkpoint Charlie was the famous border crossing point between the two cities. During that period, there were many successful and unsuccessful escape attempts - East Germans trying to achieve freedom by scaling the wall, digging under it or passing through the checkpoint in disguise. Many of these stories are chronicled in the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, which stands on the spot where the check point once did.

Once in the museum, there was much to learn about the war, the tension between the two cities and their people. The thing that interested me the most was the artwork on many of the museum walls. The collection told the story of the wall in pictures - artists motivated by the events of the war, resulting in some truly incredible perspectives.

This painting was one of my favorites despite its being pretty morbid After we spent time walking through the museum we headed back to the hotel to relax during our free time, resting up for our two events that evening.

Three hours later we were back on the bus heading toward the Berliner Dom where we would be the music ministers for the weekly evensong. The Berlin Dome is the most fantastic church I’ve ever been in, and we were all bummed we wouldn’t be doing a full concert.

We got a personal tour of the church from the organist, complete with an organ demonstration featuring the Dracula theme! It was incredible!

After a short rehearsal the evensong began. It was a beautiful service and it was cool to hear us singing the hymns in English while members of the congregation were singing in German. It was just another reminder that music transcends language. After singing some of our own songs in the church once the evensong was finished, we boarded the bus to go to our second concert at St. Matthäus Church.

The 19th century church is the only historic building restored in Berlin after the war. The italianesque brick church was originally built between 1844 and 1846 after a design by Friedrich August Stüler and Herbert Wentzel.

It's located in what is now known as the Kulturforum - a “culture forum,” which came about after World War II, when the art collections were split up between the eastern and western sectors of Berlin. East Berlin had "Museum Island" as its cultural center, and West Berlin decided to create an special area to house its cultural institutions and art collections in new buildings at the Kulturforum.

Perhaps for this reason, the interior of the church was restored in an ultra-modern, minimalist style. Although not the most aesthetically pleasing church we’ve sung in, the acoustics were impeccable. It was the perfect place to have our last concert, and I think it was the best one of the whole tour. There was this one man in particular who loved it. I kept watching him close his eyes and nod in approval as we were singing, and his booming “Bravo” was a magnificent end to our tour in Germany.

Our last dinner was filled with picture taking, memory sharing, and thanks all around. It was a great way to celebrate the friendships we had made and what we had accomplished in Germany. We closed the night by thanking Philip and all involved in the choir by creating our own surprise: singing The Lord Bless You and Keep You for them in the restaurant. Tired and slightly sad, we went back to the hotel for our final night’s sleep in Germany.