The Last Half of Our Berlin Trip

Well, it has certainly been more than a few days.  The previous blog entry was around June 13 and today's date is July 30.  It was very hectic, taking care of all the issues we were finding necessary, to plan for our next trip, which would probably be to tie up loose ends and settle the very small estate.  We area in total dark, when it comes to what will happen to Evelyn's brother, Siegfried (who is schizophrenic, 65 years old, and lives with his mother), when his mother passes on.  He has never lived alone and has never held a job.  He has lived on a small disability retirement, due to his mental illness, and has never taken his medications.

When he no longer has his mother, there, he will automatically inherit the responsibility of the apartment they live in.  Unfortunately, he doesn't receive enough to pay the rent and still have enough to live on.  Germany, however, being a democratic socialism, will certainly have some programs to help him make out.  It may require him to move into a smaller, cheaper, apartment, but that will not be easy.  He does not take change, well.  He also has a very difficult time giving up anything he considers his.  That means furniture, nick-knacks, dishes, appliances, and even the labels he soaks off of virtually every bottle he gets in his hands.  He even save every receipt he has ever had.  None of that is for practical purposes, since he can't really find anything, again.  It is because of his condition.  He just has trouble parting with all that.

Country restaurant in Mahlow, Berlin

We have managed to take my mother-in-law to a one o'clock meal (that is the normal German time for the main meal of the day), several days.  She still has a remarkable appetite, but often forgets she ate, fifteen minutes after the meal.  Her son, Siegfried, has been a truly mixed blessing for his mother.  On the one hand, it is remarkable to see how he can take this extremely frail woman under the arm and march off at a pretty good clip.  We are convinced his insistence on taking her out of the apartment almost every day has been what has kept her alive, in spite of her fragility.  On the other hand, seeing how she struggles, groans, and grimaces, while she is being hauled around by him, causes us great concern for her well being. 

Evelyn and I have also found her mother's condition to be a mixed blessing.  First, we are, of course, concerned for her health, and we find that she is in no condition for us to take her on outings.  Second. she can't remember from one day to the next that we were there to visit her.  That means we are not able to check on her in the morning, take her to her main meal of the day, and take an outing alone, and still get back in time to visit again in the early evening.  There are some things we have done, that involve Evelyn's cousins and Aunt, which get us back too late to visit in the evening again.  When we get to her mother again, the next morning, she was totally unaware we hadn't been there the evening before.

Remaining portion of Wall as monument

Some of the things we were able to do, while we were there, were things like taking a three and a half hour river cruise.  The cruise was on a part of the river that had been inaccessible while the "wall" was still up between East and West Berlin.  It was fascinating to see how things had changed after the wall came down.  The new buildings that had cropped up in the time since wall's removal were impressive and showed a huge amount of industriousness.  The Germans' ability to recover was remarkable and legend.

Me standing in front of Sanssouci Castle/Fortress

We also took a drive to the north western boundary of Berlin to the city of Potsdam.  There is a castle there that is worth seeing.  It is called Sanssouci, which means "without worries."  It is picturesque and, although it is now overcrowded with tourists, it is worth taking the time to visit.  Evelyn and I had intended to just drive by and take some pictures, but the crowds were so large, we decided to park a ways away and try to walk there.  We parked at the Potsdamer University and walked about two and a half kilometers through some gorgeous parkways and past some impressive outlying structures to get there.  One must remember to take some good walking shoes.  Although Evelyn had purchased some new sandals, which were comfortable, because they were new, they rubbed some blisters on her feet.  Of course, we hadn't planned on walking so far when we set out for the castle.

We also drove from Berlin to the city of Recke, near Osnabrueck in the southern part of the state of Saxony, in Germany.  We have some friends there, whom we met after making contact with them, over the internet, while Evelyn's father was in the hospital.  We had sought out someone who could visit her father, who had a very advanced case of cancer, and pray with him.  Although these particular friends were not able to travel there and visit him, they were able to put us in touch with someone who did.  It was a Canadian missionary whose mission was in Berlin.  He did visit my father-in-law and lead him in the prayer of salvation.  Talk about a death-bed conversion.  We are confident we will be seeing her father again, in Heaven.

We visited with our Christian friends (Dieter and Petra) for several days and were fortunate enough to be there for Petra's birthday celebration.  It coincided with a Wednesday night Bible study and prayer meeting.  It was uplifting and edifying for us both to have been there.  God is truly good.

Evelyn with her cousin's daughter at Marienburg, Hanover

We left Recke and drove to Hanover to visit Evelyn's cousin and her daughter.  We ended up spending two nights there, where we were pampered and treated like royalty.  We visited a "young" castle, there, called "Marienburg" just south of Hanover.  It was constructed around two hundred years ago, which by European standards is young indeed.  It was very well maintained and made for a very enjoyable outing.

Following our stay with Evelyn's relatives, we once again set out for Berlin.  We had neared our return date and only had a few days remaining.  We wanted to spend as much of the remaining time with Evelyn's mother, as possible.  We are pretty certain she will not last much longer (although she has surprised us, before).  She is very tough, but everyone has their limit.  We were able to go to dinner with her three more times, before we had to leave.  We know, although she probably can't remember our visit, she had a good time visiting with us.  She has a peaceful air about her we had never seen before.  I believe it was a good visit.

Leaving Berlin, we had to get up early to make sure we could return the rental car and still catch our 7:00 a.m. flight to New Jersey.  The return trip was going to be a long one.  Whereas, on the trip to Berlin the flight from New Jersey to Berlin took eight hours, the flight back would be against the air streams and would take at least eight and one half hours.  To make matters worse, the layover in New Jersey was to take six hours.  While in the New Jersey airport, we discovered our flight to San Francisco would be delayed another three hours.  Since we had been scheduled to take a flight from San Francisco to Sacramento on the last flight out, that would mean we would miss that flight.  We went to customer service, for United Air Lines, and they were able to get us on an earlier flight to S. F.  We still had to spend the same amount of time waiting, but at least it was broken up by the flight to S. F.  We landed in Sacramento at a little after 11:00 p.m. and took a taxi to my mother's condo, where we were to spend the night.  My mother had a knee replacement, while we were in Germany, and was in no condition to pick us up at the airport.

All-in-all, our trip to Berlin, Germany, had been a very enjoyable one.  Our day-to-day stress had been relieved for a month and we were able to enjoy each other's company without too many distractions.

More on Belize, in my next post.