Wednesday, 21 October 2015

Berlin - part 1

We visited Berlin for 7 nights flying from Gatwick on Norwegian Airlines. We had  an Airbnb apartment booked in Neukollen, about 15 minutes from the centre by public transport. The apartment was so well equipped we only needed some milk for our cup of tea on arrival.
We arrived early afternoon, did a little shopping, and then headed of for Alexanderplatz.

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Alexanderplatz World Clock Fernsehturm  Alexanderplatz
Height 368 m. The tallest structure in Germany

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We had a meal out at Alexanderplatz in the evening sunshine

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We have been visiting Berlin since 1973 so I wanted to recreate this photo of now and then. It is me in both photos – honest.
The one on the right was taken in 1977 – the Berlin Wall is just behind me.

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The vertical bars mark the former position of the wall. Through the bars you can just see the iconic photo of the East German guard jumping over the barbed wire into West Berlin.

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Stuart’s first geocache in Berlin Parking in restricted space

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1977 – The church wall is part of the Berlin Wall. Sue is leaning against the poster pole

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Sue is standing where the wall used to be. This is what happened to the church.

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Ackerstrasse today Ackerstrasse 1977

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Geocache number 2 – this was hidden in an old bit of the Berlin Wall

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1977 – Looking over the Berlin Wall – photo below the same place today

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One afternoon we took an hour’s boat trip. This went passed the Reichstag and many of the new buildings which have been built in the area.  

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Potzdammerplatz prior to 1993 had been a wasteland of considerable size. Much redevelopment has taken place above and below ground some of it quite controversial.
                   An evening at Potsdammer Platz  -  WOW!

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We just had to have a drink there

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We had booked a visit to the Reichstag – so here we are.
The Reichstag Dome is a large glass dome with a 360 degree views of the surrounding Berlin cityscape. The debating chamber of the Bundestag,  the German parliament, can be seen down below. A mirrored cone in the centre of the dome directs sunlight into the building, so that visitors can see the workings of the chamber

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Brandenburg Gate from the top of the Reichstag. The weather wasn’t good.  

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The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, also known as the Holocaust Memorial, Stuart finding a geocache in the vicinity of the Hitler’s Bunker –
it’s still there!

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The British Embassy close to the Unter den Linden   Sue restraining herself

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The Radisson Blu hotel  has a 25 m  tall cylindrical acrylic glass aquarium with built-in transparent lift – unfortunately we didn’t manage to use the lift.

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More to come ………

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