We are really into summer weather now. We have had the big change over getting the summer clothes out from under the bed and putting the winter ones away.I have even worn my shorts!
Our trip from Oranienburg was uneventful after the excitement of the WW2 bomb. We are back in the waterways of the large barges and soon arrived at the sports boat club Spandeau 04 where we stayed for 8 days while we looked around Berlin. It is a great club and we were made very welcome, they spoke very little English but managed to give us any information we needed. They have a nice clubroom with a bar, good food and good facilities.
We left our kangaroo with them to remember the Aussies, he is now grazing in their bar. We were given a club burgee to remember them.
Photo following
The club is right next to the Spandeau Citadelle and a short bike ride to the old city, the train and underground. This cute busker and his dad were outside the station one day. 
We got a Welcome to Berlin ABC transport pass for 5 days unlimited travel in the metro and outer area and the country down as far as Potsdam. The pass also gave discount to many of the museums and places we visited.
Berlin has 3.5 million people and has many contrasting architectural features. There are glass, steel and concrete structures going up everywhere. Alongside are beautiful historical monuments reconstructed after the war in the original style.
We had lunch in the revolving restaurant at the top of the tower in Alexander Platz which gave us a good overview of the city. 
The River Spree where we will travel after we leave Berlin is in this photo so we will get a good view of Berlin from the river.
Alexander Platz was the site of the peaceful revolution which started the wall being opened in 1989.
The Mauer (Wall), was 155k barrier using barbed wire and soldiers which surrounded West Berlin and divided the city into East and West during the evening of 13th August 1961. Its purpose was to stop the increasing flow of people from the GDR. Later there were different types of the wall as the security had to be increased.
The first stop for the history of the Wall was Checkpoint Charlie, now very touristy but still in its original place. 
The Checkpoint Charlie Wall Museum which has been here since 1963 is very good, it was used by helpers of escapees as a receiving house as it had an uninterrupted view from one window of checkpoint Charlie and the road over into the East. There are many displays of the original cars, motorised gliders, a home made hot air balloon, an underwater motorised tow machine which was patented after and many stories and photos of ways people escaped over or under the wall from Berlin or from East Germany.
The escapee used this home made petrol driven tow machine with the tube above the water for air to escape 17 kilometres across the Baltic Sea.
There are several places that the wall is in its original situation. Another visit was to the wall display in the Bernauer Strasse. It was in this street the wall was the front of the houses as the footpath and street belonged to the West. There are many poignant photos showing people jumping out of higher flats when the flats below had their windows and doors bricked in.
And people trying to see their separated family by using ladders on the West side. 
Over three days we walked for kilometres and saw the wall in various places and states. Here you can see where the wall souvenirs were gouged out.
This view from the documentation Centre shows the outer wall in its original position facing West and a simplified view of the East German no go zone.
The Brandeburg Gate is an interesting site with hotels and buildings surrounding the gate on what was the East side.
The gate was a place of great excitement in November 1989. 
The wall in its original place at the East End Gallery, and was first painted on the east side after the fall of the wall. Here the Spree River was the boundary. It has become famous for the paintings done in 1990. 
and are now being repainted or removed 
and artists are allocated a section to repaint.
After Leaving the gallery wall we decided that we were all WALLED OUT !! and found this fantastic bar beside the river what a contrast to 20 years ago in this spot.
He is trying to decide if he will have the Corona or the Prickly Pear Beer. Guess who gets the Prickly Pear.
We went on a ‘boatmans’ holiday with a boat tour around the city to hear more interesting stories. The centre cross is for the unknown people who didn’t survive the swim.
Kevin visited the Luftwaffen Museum. He went on his own while I was shopping. He worked out this was the first time for 2 months we had been out of sight of each other for more than minutes.
DRESDEN
We also took a 220k trip to Dresden by bus.
It is a beautiful city and all of the historical buildings have been restored since the catastrophic bombing in WW2. 
We caught the hop on hop off bus and saw the sights all around the city and outer city.
This bridge over the Elbe River was the only one to survive the bombing. 
We had lunch for an early birthday in the Schloss overlooking the Elbe. 
Back in the city we walked around seeing the lovely buildings.
The Cathederal has just finished being restored, what a beautiful job has been done. It is hard to imagine it could go from the bombed out shell back to this.
Soon it was time to take the bus home. As we were walking through the station to our bus stop the other side, lots of sirens were going and police cars, fire trucks and ambulances all pulled up and announcements in English and German asked everyone to leave the station for their personal security. WHAT!! ANOTHER BOMB. We hurried outside and around to the bus station and soon the all clear was sounded, it must have been a practice or false alarm.
In between visits to Museums and the wall we ate lots of Curryworst on rolls drank in lots of little bars, caught the S- Bahn and U- Bahn to places all over the city and walked kilometres over Bloody Pflaster-stein. 
If I see another street of Pflaster-stein in my life it will be TOO SOON!!
Tomorrow we are leaving Spandeau at 6am to cruise on the Spree River through Berlin on our way south before the day cruise boats start.
No comments:
Post a Comment