Roving Sun – Page 34 – Here and there but not quite everywhere!

August 13, 2023

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

We were extremely surprised to find a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird today! While they’re not supposed to be uncommon, particularly if one has the appropriate feeder in their backyard, they certainly are hard to find due to their extreme speed and tiny size. Today, we saw one on a branch of a tree right in front of us while walking around the neighborhood! And even more surprisingly, we saw it fly away and return to the same branch again and again!

August 12, 2023

A Hot Summer Morning at the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens

It was hotter than we expected today as we arrived at the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens when they opened at 10am today. We didn’t spend too much time there as it only got hotter throughout the day. It is always enjoyable to see how the flowers change over time and of course to see what is going on with the local birds.

July 25, 2023August 4, 2023

Leaving Berlin

We headed out relatively early in the morning, though still after sunrise. There were a variety of options to get to Brandenburg Airport. We decided to take the U-Bahn to the Hauptbahnhof where there were more frequent options rather than going to some other station that could potentially be faster but required better timing. It ended up taking a bit more than an hour to get to the airport. Ultimately, we had a good amount of extra time but not too much before boarding.

July 24, 2023August 4, 2023

Around the Tiergarten

We spent most of the day in and around the Tiergarten, a large park on the west side of Berlin’s city center. We started out at the Brandenburger Tor, checked out the exterior of the Reichstag, and walked through part of the park. We saw various monuments and memorials and ultimately ended up at the southwest corner of the park by the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.

July 23, 2023June 24, 2025

Remnants of the Berlin Wall

Today, we mostly visited portions that remain of the Berlin Wall. While doing so, we also saw Checkpoint Charlie, the most famous crossing between East and West Berlin. And we spent some time at the Topography of Terror, a Dokumentationszentrum (Documentation Center) that covers the Nazis’ rise to power and the evils that they committed. There is also some special focus on this particular site as it is where the Gestapo headquarters was located.