Goodbye Berlin, Hello London

Sculling German beer on last night

After effects of beer

Rainy Berlin

On the plane

Sunny London

Sue with champagne

Harry has grown a lot!

Happy family in the garden, a better photo to come from Jeff

Finally, I have learnt enough to say our room number in German at breakfast. Success! Pity it’s the last day.

Yes, its time for the whole taxi, plane, taxi palaver which I like to keep to a minimum in each holiday. Its pouring rain and downright miserable in Berlin, a good day to move on. Taxi, tick. Flight to London, tick. Interrogation by customs, slow. She asks me the standard questions and some more and now some more. I had to remember where I have been and what I did, it would have been easier to send her a link to the blog.

Out into London weather, sunshine. How beautiful.

Time for one quick load of washing, now its walking shoes on and off to Mary and Jeff’s for dinner. Its all in full swing when we arrive Sue and Harry are already there. My London family is totally mad and Harry has grown about 10 feet since I last saw him. What a dinner, roast pork and all the baked vegetables, just the kind of dinner I have been craving!

Suzie drives us home in her new Fiat, a totally spunky car.

Now at home Jane starts to upload her photos and we calculate between us we have taken 3,592 photos. That might be a tad excessive. Time for me to fall into bed for tomorrow is another day.

Parliament and peddling

Good spot for a train station, our starting point today

Reichstag

Norman Foster's dome on top of Reichstag

We walked right to the top of the dome

My fav piece of the wall

Zooming along

A famous Berlin piece

Molecular Man

East Side gallery is popular with the tourists

Today we have an important booking, passports in hand we make it through the security to the Reichstag, Germany’s parliament. This building had not been used since 1933 due to a firse, was part of the final battle in Berlin in those last days of the war and was rebuilt in the 1990’s. I am here to see is Norman Foster's dome that was added during the rebuild. Norman has designed lots of buildings but my favourite is The Gherkin in London.

We make it to the roof top in record time and have views of all of Berlin, in just a week of being a tourist we can identify so much Brandenburg Gate, Museum Island, Berliner Dom, Alex, the shops…..all loomed over by the TV tower.

Unfortunately Angela had to cancel our coffee catch up as she had to go to Brussels to sort out the Greeks.

Its time for Jane and I to part our ways for the rest of the day. I am off for a bike ride, I can’t resist after watching bikes zooming around the streets of Berlin for the last week. The bike shop is at the TV tower and off I go towards the Spree for a pleasant ride along the river to two important destinations. Oh oh, the bike path is under construction, so now I need to push the bike back up the steps I just came down. Where is Stephen, I need some muscles, this bike is so much heavier than mine. Ok, am not sure which way to go. Time to get out the map, hmm, I still don’t really know which way to go. Lets head in the general direction. Riding, riding, cars zooming, bikes zooming, tourists getting in the way. Finally I have made it back to the general area, a pleasant ride along the Spree is a distant memory now. There is a girl zooming along, I will follow her, change up a gear and put on some speed these girls know how to ride. Ok, she knows how to get past the bridges and where to cross the roads. Thankfully she leads me right to where I want to go, the East Side Gallery.

This is a long section of the wall that was painted by street artists in 1990 as an international memorial for freedom. So its time to turn into a tourist and snap photos, do selfies, take photos for other tourists and generally have a good time. The whole strip is like one big party with all the tourists wandering along amazed and dazed. My favorite is the trabie coming out of the wall.

So that’s destination one onwards we go to destination two. I have now officially gone past where all the tourists go in my hire bike with rubber duck horn and stand out like a sore thumb. I can’t get over how many people are riding their bikes not a lycra clad roadie in sight. All in their street clothes, this morning I saw a very well dressed man in a business suit going to a meeting through the Brandenburg Gate. Destination two is Molecular Man a 45 tonne sculpture in the river in front of the Allianz building. I made it.

Now fingers crossed that I can make it back, as I have to get back over a different bridge and ride on the other side. OK, made it back to East Side Gallery, there are signs to Tiergarten and Alexandraplatz, which way do I go? I know I will use the TV tower as a beacon and follow my nose. Another detour for road works, I take over a cleaning machine, yes, legend. Now get taken over by two American teenagers and finally I am back to familiar territory. Time for the obligatory photo shoot in front of the tower.

What do I do next, all on my own, well lets see how long the queues are at the TV Tower. 20 minute wait I can do that. A quick look in TK Max till my allotted time and then I am whisked 200 metres to the top. Its nice to do it as it has been looming over our holiday since day 1. But really the Tower is too high, panorama plunket is much better.  There is a long line to get down, thankfully two Canadians in their 20s keep me entertained with stories from their walk in Spain on the Comino trail.

Back to base and Jane arrives laden with shopping. Just in time for the traditional laying out of the purchases. The maid arrives to turn down the beds and we have to politely shoo her away as the beds are groaning under the weight of our purchases.

Masterpieces in Dresden

Procession of princes mural

Dazed and happy

Wind farms everywhere

Its Sunday in Berlin, a day of rest for most Berliners and the city shuts down. We are off to Dresden for a day trip. Dresden is well known from being bombed in World War II but we don’t know much more than that. We are on the bus and away. We are quickly brought up to speed on ‘Augustus the Strong’ who ruled in the 16^th century. He sounds like a bit of an over achiever, big army, liked musicians, painters, mistresses and making money. With his state Saxony at the crossroads of Europe he made the best of life.

Time on the 3 lane autobahn is flying by, Alex our tour guide entertains us with so many interesting stories.  We even learn that 1 in every 4 people in Berlin is an artist, that explains a lot.

We are passing stacks and stacks of wind farms, Germany takes renewable energy much more seriously that we do. The bus driver changes back a few gears, we blink and now we have arrived in Dresden. Off the bus we go and we start to follow Alex around. Its all old and a bit yucky to our eyes, ugly black sandstone and patches here and there. As we go on the tour we now start to understand a lot more about how and why the town has been rebuilt and that saxon sandstone is naturally black. Augustus and his descendants like to build on a grand scale and Augustus’s face or initials are everywhere. The mural of the Procession of Princes made from porcelain tiles is most impressive.

We decide its time to bail on the tour as so much more awaits. We need food, we need it now and we need it quick. The first café we pile into only has cakes so we quickly throw down some euros and escape to a nearby bench. It takes us about 30 seconds to inhale the cakes and then we are on our way to the art gallery. No time for audio guides today. We walk straight in and before our eyes she is there, the Sistine Madonna. She is large, radiant and a thing of beauty. Well done, Raphael. Now onwards to the top floor, more stairs, not a good thing after yesterday but we power on to visit the Girl reading a letter. Along the way we meet Chocolate Girl and a lot more.

Moving on, no time to waste. Jan has raved about the green room, can we get in? The courtyard is empty there is no line. What’s going on, I thought this place was suppose to be packed out. So we waltz into the Historic Green Vault and are truly amazed by the treasures. The rooms are mostly empty and its like walking through a private castle. On we go to the New Green Vault and this is even better, gems, clocks, porcelin, tea services, objects d’art every single one of them a unique treasure. Its Jane’s turn to hyperventilate today, get the puffer. These masterpieces are displayed so well and you can see every detail. Alas no photos to share today from these exhibitions as the sign says, ‘kien fotografieren’.

Its 4:19pm, we are due back to the bus at 4:20pm. We made it.

No rain on our parade

Kaiser Wilhelm Church, old and new

Inside new part of Kaiser Wilhelm church 

Christmas shop

Get me some oxygen....

Yum 

We made it to the top

Victory

Saturday night party, guess which drink is mine?

Today we are off to K’Damm. First stop is Kaiser Wilhelm church. A church that was bombed in WW2 and has been left as is with bullet and morter holes and the top bombed off. There is also a new church alongside with stained glass bricks. Ugly from the outside but stunning on the inside. Photos done and time to move onto the shopping boulevards of Berlin. Where is the Mac shop I have still not seen one after 7 days.

What there is a Christmas shop – let me at it. Four steps from the front door, and I am hyperventilating. Jane thinks I am reaching into my bag for a puffer but I need a hanky I have tears as well as not being able to breathe. So much Christmassness its overwhelming. The next two hours is a blur. I can’t find any Schnauzers and am about to have a hizzy fit, when eagle eyes saves the day. My basket is overflowing with goodies, this is a shopping frenzy.

Now onwards we go to KaDeWa, this is suppose to be the Harrods of Berlin, lets find out if its up to the mark? We go straight to the top floor and enjoy a feast with views of Berlin. There is everything imaginable to eat and the place is packed with Berliners, they know where to go. We pounce on the veggies, pork and sauerkraut, sausages and desserts! Ironically, the best meal we have had since we have been in Berlin.

Now we are fully recharged we hit the shops to continue the funk purchases. The final shop stop is to check out the zoo from Bikini Mall. What more shops all very funky. Time to spend a penny. Well usually its 50p in Berlin.

We arrive at 2theloo and insert our money. What’s this - music playing in each cubical, high tech gadgets and giant Villory and Boch sinks. An impressive experience. Even out does the jubiloo.

Its 6pm, we have been going all day, finally the Victory Column comes into view, at 67m high and topped with a golden angel it is an impressive site. Wait, we can see people walking at the top, there is a balcony! Jane proposes we are only going up to the top if there is a lift. I heartily second that plan. A museli bar for sustenance and three euros later we somehow find ourselves climbing the stairs, loaded with shopping bags and rain coats. Puff, puff another landing, pause. We make it. Victory to the old relics.  

Two Old Relics discovering the Fountain of Youth!

True Berliner 

Work by Noir

Along the watchtower

Where are all the people?

A tea with a view

Berlin brickwork

Shelter building for charity

Michal Negrin rules

Post by Jane

We are now masters of the train system.  Validating our tickets and dashing through platforms with the ease of true Berliners (we are now getting mistaken for locals) we arrive at our destination – Potsdammer Platz. Luck arrives once again as we take a short cut through what looks like an alley to a piece of the Berlin wall outside a shopping mall.  Lured in by something that looked like barbed wire we discover it is the 25^th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall and we are absorbed by a cleverly organised exhibition. We were both moved by the emotion of a short documentary on the very night the wall fell.  We truly now have a better understanding of what it meant for both East and West Berliners.

We were also lucky enough to see the last original watch tower still standing a stones throw away from the shopping centre.

At the Germaldegalerie we need a quick apple strudel and tea to get us through the art gallery - we were able to do in less than two hours – where are all the people? Having the entire gallery practically to ourselves was such a pleasant way to see works by Rembrandt, Vemeer, Bottecelli, etc….best painting goes to – The Fountain of Youth by Lucas Cranachda.

After lunch we go our separate ways I go off to see an exhibition of Mario Testino photographs and Catherine learns about the dispute over the Guelph treasure.

As we leave the gallery we make a dash to the Berlin Philarmonic to arrive just before the heavens open.  We are privy to listening to a group of school kids practicing their vocals and watching people flood in to queue for tickets before the ticket office is even open.  Making a dash through towers we head over to the Panoramapunkt and enjoy spectacular views of the city.   Relaxing with a cuppa and cake we soak in the views breathe in the lovely ambience of the lovely bar at the top of this well positioned building. We are feeling very smug we have had a great day and this is as this is the better way of seeing the views without jostling with thousands of others at the Berlin TV tower.

Of course, we do our regularly late afternoon look around the shops.  An hour turns into three and Catherine is now resting, with her feet up and gazing out the window at the Berliner Dom – a well deserved rest!

Quote of the day – From Megolamania to a Sea of Rubble

The pointed finger

Bridge where all cold war spies exchanged

San Souci palace

San Souci palace

Looking cool

Everything costs a lot in Potsdam, $3 extra
 to get red armbands to take photos

Over the top

From the windmill

Two Princess's on the terrace

Jane learning how to do selfies

Backyard swimming pool

Pretty as a picture

The China room we found when walking through the forest

New Palace, butt ugly inside

Catching public transport in every city is always on the list and today is the day. First stop is to get a ticket we need an ABC. We are trying out every combination on the ticket machine and nothing is working, so we go into the information centre, apparently we are in the wrong line and get a very stern finger point to get in the other line.  You must follow the system.

We are on our way, Potsdam here we come. This little town, 25 kms out of Berlin. The town is that popular with tourists there is even a hop on hop off bus to take you around all the main sites. Potsdam has everything old houses, beautiful houses, part of the Berlin Wall between two houses, big palaces and a China house we discovered whilst walking between palaces. Too much to write about tonight.

But I will mention I have seen my first eagle in Europe soaring over the park with wings spread wide. A majestic sight.

After we get the last Hop on Hop off back to the train station we explore some of the shops, this is an everyday shopping centre and everyman and his dog, literally is here. Jane finds all kinds of things to buy, I find only one inside outside card. But I do enjoy pretending I know how to speak German when paying at the counter. All goes well, I even answer the question, ‘Do I want a bag?’, Nein. My first conversation in German!