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Trip to Berlin
Reise nach Berlin
by N. Richard Wagner
Copyright © 2022 by N. Richard Wagner,
all rights reserved.
A Marriage in Berlin
John and Sarah got married in Berlin on May 3, 2013, one day before my birthday. They asked that the wedding guests dress all in white, not revealing how they, the wedding couple, would dress. Sometimes in various places wedding guests are asked to dress in white only, but this is no special form in Germany, and such weddings are rare in both Germany and the US. The first row of pictures shows several guests waiting for the wedding to start. To the left are guests I didn't know. In the middle are Nate's siblings and mother. On the right are Nate's parents (my wife and I).
To get married in Germany there is paperwork to fill out and permission to be obtained. All marriages must first be a civil ceremony, which can then optionally be followed by a religeous ceremony. Religeous ceremonies are much less common than in the US. In Nate and Sarah's case, the civil ceremony was more that I expected, lasting pretty long and even including a homily and advice.
John and Sarah are on the left above. As you can see, they had their own unique version of wedding dress. I wish I had taken many more pictures. The whole wedding event took most of a day. After the wedding there were special events, including searching a large abandoned hospital for something I've forgotten, though I still have a keepsake from that building. Entering was a most marginally legal.
Next was a picnic type of event at the site of the old Templehof airport (Templehof Flughafen). When Templehof closed, it left open a huge open area near the center of Berlin. Against expectations, Berlin officials reluctantly turned this area into a huge public park. Various activities went on there, and this picture is from that time.
The day after the marriage, John gave one of his tours near Kreuzberg. That's him in the picture on the left. The middle picture (and the right a blowup of it) shows an abaondoned building currently housing "squatters". The authorities want ot drive them out and erect expensive houseing. The graffiti (more easily read on the right) says (in English!): "WE DON'T WANT NO YUPPIE FLATS. WE ARE HAPPY WITH OUT RATS." Funny or maybe not.
Later and on into the night was a huge meal at a nice restaurant, along with lots of drinking.
Final note: John spent his Junior high school year at a high school (such a school, if it leads to admission to univerities, is called a Gymnasium in Germany). This was the year 1999-2000. He was hosted by a very nice family lilving in Potsdam, very close to Berlin. This husband and wife of the family came to the events after the wedding.
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