Friedrichshagen

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This is a train station on the outskirts of Berlin named Friedrichshagen. This is the stop you take to get to Schöneiche where I spent most of my time over the New Year's holiday. As you can see, it was snowing, something that I'm not accustomed to at all. It took a while for this Alabama boy to acclimatize to the cold Berlin weather...

The Ruins Remain

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This is the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche (or Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church) in Berlin. It was built in the 1890's and consecrated on 1 September 1895. As you can tell from the picture, it was heavily damaged during World War II in the Battle of Berlin. Where there was once a beautiful Rose Window is now an empty hole allowing you to see straight through this once majestic cathedral. The pockmarked surface of this hollow church stands still today as a reminder of the cost of war.

EDIT: Here's a picture of how the church looked before the war. Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskeriche

Road of Life

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"Reluctance"

Out through the fields and the woods
And over the walls I have wended;
I have climbed the hills of view
And looked at the world, and descended;
I have come by the highway home,
And lo, it is ended.

The leaves are all dead on the ground,
Save those that the oak is keeping
To ravel them one by one
And let them go scraping and creeping
Out over the crusted snow,
When others are sleeping.

And the dead leaves lie huddled and still,
No longer blown hither and thither;
The last long aster is gone;
The flowers of the witch-hazel wither;
The heart is still aching to seek,
But the feet question 'Whither?'

Ah, when to the heart of man
Was it ever less than a treason
To go with the drift of things,
To yield with a grace to reason,
And bow and accept the end
Of a love or a season?

~Robert Frost

Photo taken in Schöneiche bei Berlin, Germany

Untitled (Candy)

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This is a candy dish that I liked... It was sitting on the table at Julia's house in Schöneiche bei Berlin. I really liked the way that the shadows played on the (delicious) pieces of candy. I hope you enjoy!

Under the Cherry Blossoms

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Yes, I realize this is not necessarily a "photo," but so many of you have been clamoring for a new pic on this blog that I thought I'd post this little thing I've been working on.

Those of you who followed my Picaday series might recognize this as the same branch from my first photo. I always felt like that first picture was a little... unfinished. Now, I have more experience with Photoshop and the like, and I feel fairly confident that if I had known then what I know now, this is what I would have done with this picture.

So, forgive my slight deviation from my photoblog path to revisit an old theme. I hope you enjoy!