It snowed a little overnight. It was 26° and cloudy, and a bit icy underfoot, so our first thought was, “Let’s go to the zoo!” And it turned out to be a pretty good idea. The Berlin weather isn’t bad if you dress for it, and we were prepared. The zoo was quiet on a Sunday morning and strolling the grounds was pleasant. The highlight, of course, was the pandas, but we found plenty of other animals, indoors and out, to entertain us.

After the zoo, we headed for the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, first passing by another of the many Berlin Christmas markets. We were tempted to stop for some glühwein but it was crowded and we were on a mission. The Kaiser Wilhelm church was built between 1959 and 1963, not to replace but to stand alongside the original church that was bombed during WW II. The inside of the modern church is spectacular with walls that incorporate 21,292 stained glass windows. (I’ll post more pictures on the Berlin page under the Photos tab of this blog later.)

After admiring the church, we made our way to Deutsche Oper Berlin to see the longest opera ever. Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is Wagner’s only comedic work (in the sense that no one died) and lasts almost 6 hours, including two intermissions. In the past I’ve shied away from Wagner operas because they were overwhelming. I tried listening to one on the Saturday radio broadcast, but it was mostly just background music. It wasn’t until I saw one in a Met Live in HD performance that I really understood what Wagner was all about. I think that, before I retired, I didn’t have the time or intellectual energy to fully appreciate Wagner. This was only the second live performance of a Wagner opera I’ve seen, and it was spectacular. The singing was excellent, but it’s really the orchestra that sucks you in. The plot was convoluted and sometimes silly, but I could say that about many operas. Die Meistersinger was (and still is) controversial, and some would say antisemitic, but musically exquisite. It was maybe my best opera experience ever.

Tomorrow we’re off to Potsdam to see what we can see. Stay tuned.