The most noticable of the Berlin landmarks is the Berliner Fernsehturm - the television tower. (The page the link goes to is in German. Click on the little Union Jack on the left hand side to get the English version.)
The observation deck is just over 200m above ground level. Views are incredible.
These are huge apartment blocks built in the communist era. There is still stuff around to remind you of that time - including some great artwork.
All very uplifting.
After the "Ball on a stick' as we came to call the TV tower, we headed over to the other side of town to visit the Trodel Market - a flea market like no other I have seen. There were so many dogs there . . .
On Monday, we spent a couple of hours not getting the washing done. The only reason I mention this is that it llustrates how difficult ordinary things can become when you don't know your way around.
We had asked at the hotel about a laundry. He directed us down to a local shopping mall. The information desk sent us off to the lower level of the mall and the bloke there was very insistent that it was NOT a washeteria.
I went back up to the info desk to point out the error in her directory, and she found another local laundry on the Interweb - and gave me fairly easy to follow directions. It was located in behind the low building on the left hand side of the top photo. Only about 15 mins walk. We got there and only one person spoke any English - and not very well. When she told me that they charged 7.50 Euro per kilo, I nearly fell over. We weighed the wash - 5kg. It would have cost us about $50 to was there. We resigned ourselves to wearing the same clothes for a bit longer.
We dumped the wash back at the hotel and went out for lunch - a local delicacy "Currywurst". Which is basically a bratwurst sausage with a tomato / curry sauce poured over the top. I can't see myself ordering another.
We went to see "The story of Berlin". It was very interesting and we spent hours there. The nuclear fall out shelter was strange. Really claustrophobic. But it struck me that in the cold-war days, probably the safest place you could be was Berlin. Because you could not bomb the other side without bombing your own.
On Tuesday we went to the Gemaldegalerie. I still like looking at old paintings. Again a bit of a roll-call of famous names. Rembrandt, Vermeer, Durer, Raphael . . . Canaletto. Amazing.
There is something about galleries and museums that gives me back trouble. Perhaps it is standing around for several hours just taking a few steps at a time.
We walked over to the Kurfurstendam - one of Berlin's great shopping streets. Not being a big one for shopping, I sat in a cafe while Fiona went off foraging.
We had dinner for the third time at a restaurant near our hotel "Las Malvinas". Really good food, really cheap. The fresh asparagus soup (Spargelzuppe) is excellent.
One last photo from Berlin. They have a very moving Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
There are nearly 3,000 blocks.
They call to mind military uniformity, gavestones, the rows and rows of barracks in the concentration camps and there is a sense of being swallowed up as you walk into the memorial and the stones get taller.
The only hopeful thing is that no matter where you are, you can still see the sky.
The observation deck is just over 200m above ground level. Views are incredible.
These are huge apartment blocks built in the communist era. There is still stuff around to remind you of that time - including some great artwork.
All very uplifting.
After the "Ball on a stick' as we came to call the TV tower, we headed over to the other side of town to visit the Trodel Market - a flea market like no other I have seen. There were so many dogs there . . .
On Monday, we spent a couple of hours not getting the washing done. The only reason I mention this is that it llustrates how difficult ordinary things can become when you don't know your way around.
We had asked at the hotel about a laundry. He directed us down to a local shopping mall. The information desk sent us off to the lower level of the mall and the bloke there was very insistent that it was NOT a washeteria.
I went back up to the info desk to point out the error in her directory, and she found another local laundry on the Interweb - and gave me fairly easy to follow directions. It was located in behind the low building on the left hand side of the top photo. Only about 15 mins walk. We got there and only one person spoke any English - and not very well. When she told me that they charged 7.50 Euro per kilo, I nearly fell over. We weighed the wash - 5kg. It would have cost us about $50 to was there. We resigned ourselves to wearing the same clothes for a bit longer.
We dumped the wash back at the hotel and went out for lunch - a local delicacy "Currywurst". Which is basically a bratwurst sausage with a tomato / curry sauce poured over the top. I can't see myself ordering another.
We went to see "The story of Berlin". It was very interesting and we spent hours there. The nuclear fall out shelter was strange. Really claustrophobic. But it struck me that in the cold-war days, probably the safest place you could be was Berlin. Because you could not bomb the other side without bombing your own.
On Tuesday we went to the Gemaldegalerie. I still like looking at old paintings. Again a bit of a roll-call of famous names. Rembrandt, Vermeer, Durer, Raphael . . . Canaletto. Amazing.
There is something about galleries and museums that gives me back trouble. Perhaps it is standing around for several hours just taking a few steps at a time.
We walked over to the Kurfurstendam - one of Berlin's great shopping streets. Not being a big one for shopping, I sat in a cafe while Fiona went off foraging.
We had dinner for the third time at a restaurant near our hotel "Las Malvinas". Really good food, really cheap. The fresh asparagus soup (Spargelzuppe) is excellent.
One last photo from Berlin. They have a very moving Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
They call to mind military uniformity, gavestones, the rows and rows of barracks in the concentration camps and there is a sense of being swallowed up as you walk into the memorial and the stones get taller.
The only hopeful thing is that no matter where you are, you can still see the sky.
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