Berlin

For Jonathon's birthday we took ourselves off to Berlin. What a fascinating place it is. Even with the wet weather we thought it was lovely and took loads of pictures of the brilliant architecture and lovely green areas, a few of which are here for you to enjoy.

Our only disappointment was at Checkpoint Charlie which seemed terribly commercialised so no pictures of that as we didn't stay there long enough to get the cameras out!

On to our visit ...

We stayed in the Mitte district (the old Eastern Berlin) so were in easy walking distance of good places to eat and many of the sights. With a U-Bahn station almost next door travelling around was easy.

The Nikolai Viertel (the area round the Nikolai church) was a short stroll from our hotel, a good place for dinner and an interesting place to wander round.

There were some interesting signs and carvings. The carvings below were opposite each other and couldn't be much more different!

While we were there, we took advantage of the dry weather and hopped on a boat trip for an hour to get a feel for the city

As you can see, a wide variety of architectural styles.

From there it was a short stroll to Alexander Platz with the TV Tower and demonstrations (not sure what the demonstration was about while we were there - seemed to be happening because it was Monday)

Again, not far and we reached the Berliner Dom (cathedral). It was beautiful inside and out ...

We even climbed to the top to take photos. Jonathon is scared of heights but he was determined not to miss out if I was going up there so he convinced himself he could do it ... and he did!

We got some great views of the city from there (as we did from the TV Tower trip) but the photos were better from this viewpoint as there were no windows in between us and the views.

We tried to visit the other 2 cathedrals in the city as well (the French Dom and the German Dom) but they were both covered in scaffolding and closed at the time we were there.

Our other foray into the air was in a balloon - it was fastened to the ground by a cable and was not "flying" most of the time we were there because of the bad weather but we were lucky as we walked past while it was open and seized the moment...

The views from up here weren't spoiled by glass either so plenty of pictures were taken with afternoon sun lighting the city up nicely.

One of the places we spent quite a bit of time at (not least queueing in the rain to get in!) was Schloss Charlottenburg. A really interesting place with plenty to see and lovely gardens to stroll round (the sun came out in the afternoon).

The gardens consisted of two very different styles - the French part (neat, tidy and orderly) and the English part (far more "natural") - they worked well together and attracted lots of wild birds etc.

Of course, none of our web pages could be complete without a few close ups of flowers (only 3 this time!)

Speaking of wildlife ... if the RSPB want to know where all the sparrows are, most of them seemed to be in Berlin. The other "friend" on the right was in the bell tower the JC was photographing.

The bell tower was huge - not far from the Reichstag and opposite one of the many entrances to the Tier Garten (an 80 acre park). The view from the inside looking up is on the right.

And so to the Tier Garten, a lovely area for strolling around. Mostly natural planting with one area planted out in beds (the reason for only this one area being specially planted is on the notice which basically says "Please shut the gate to keep the rabbits out"!)

The puddles only partly reflect how much rain we had during our 4 day stay. Everywhere looked so much brighter when the sun came out!

The ducks and other wild fowl enjoyed the weather though ...

... and we didn't see a single rabbit.

At the Western end of the Tier Garten is the Siegessaeule - a victory column celebrating Prussia's victory over France and Denmark.

The Bismark statue was just opposite - a fascinating statue with lots of different characters on all sides.

The street lamps and bridge were works of art in themselves with lots of different styles and shapes - wherever we looked there was something different to see.

Talking of things to see, here are some of the more unusual buildings we saw as we wandered around

One of the most stunning buildings/structures was the Sony Centre with its fascinating roof and mirror/pool in the middle depending on whether it was raining or sunny (the tall building reflected in the pool is the Deutsche Bahn building).

One (small) disappointment was that we didn't get to go up the glass dome at the Reichstag - maybe next time!

Apparently you can spiral your way to the top and enjoy the views but, again, the queue was in the rain and we'd done that the day before and got drenched so we gave this one a miss for now.

No trip to Berlin would be complete without a stroll (and a drink and piece of apple cake) down Unter den Linden and a look at the Brandenburg Gate. With the afternoon sun setting, it looked lovely but our ever abiding memory of Berlin will be seeing this marvellous structure lit up at night.

Another place we really enjoyed visiting and hope to go back to one day in the future.

Berlin 2004
For Jonathon's birthday we took ourselves off to Berlin. What a fascinating place it is. Even with the wet weather we thought it was lovely and took loads of pictures of the brilliant architecture and lovely green areas, a few of which are here for you to enjoy.
Our only disappointment was at Checkpoint Charlie which seemed terribly commercialised so no pictures of that as we didn't stay there long enough to get the cameras out!		On to our visit ... We stayed in the Mitte district (the old Eastern Berlin) so were in easy walking distance of good places to eat and many of the sights. With a U-Bahn station almost next door travelling around was easy.
	The Nikolai Viertel (the area round the Nikolai church) was a short stroll from our hotel, a good place for dinner and an interesting place to wander round.	There were some interesting signs and carvings. The carvings below were opposite each other and couldn't be much more different!

While we were there, we took advantage of the dry weather and hopped on a boat trip for an hour to get a feel for the city

		As you can see, a wide variety of architectural styles.
From there it was a short stroll to Alexander Platz with the TV Tower and demonstrations (not sure what the demonstration was about while we were there - seemed to be happening because it was Monday)		Again, not far and we reached the Berliner Dom (cathedral). It was beautiful inside and out ...


We even climbed to the top to take photos. Jonathon is scared of heights but he was determined not to miss out if I was going up there so he convinced himself he could do it ... and he did!

We got some great views of the city from there (as we did from the TV Tower trip) but the photos were better from this viewpoint as there were no windows in between us and the views.
	We tried to visit the other 2 cathedrals in the city as well (the French Dom and the German Dom) but they were both covered in scaffolding and closed at the time we were there.	Our other foray into the air was in a balloon - it was fastened to the ground by a cable and was not "flying" most of the time we were there because of the bad weather but we were lucky as we walked past while it was open and seized the moment...
	The views from up here weren't spoiled by glass either so plenty of pictures were taken with afternoon sun lighting the city up nicely.

One of the places we spent quite a bit of time at (not least queueing in the rain to get in!) was Schloss Charlottenburg. A really interesting place with plenty to see and lovely gardens to stroll round (the sun came out in the afternoon).

	The gardens consisted of two very different styles - the French part (neat, tidy and orderly) and the English part (far more "natural") - they worked well together and attracted lots of wild birds etc.
		Of course, none of our web pages could be complete without a few close ups of flowers (only 3 this time!)

Speaking of wildlife ... if the RSPB want to know where all the sparrows are, most of them seemed to be in Berlin. The other "friend" on the right was in the bell tower the JC was photographing.
	The bell tower was huge - not far from the Reichstag and opposite one of the many entrances to the Tier Garten (an 80 acre park). The view from the inside looking up is on the right.
And so to the Tier Garten, a lovely area for strolling around. Mostly natural planting with one area planted out in beds (the reason for only this one area being specially planted is on the notice which basically says "Please shut the gate to keep the rabbits out"!)
		The puddles only partly reflect how much rain we had during our 4 day stay. Everywhere looked so much brighter when the sun came out!
The ducks and other wild fowl enjoyed the weather though ...
	... and we didn't see a single rabbit.
At the Western end of the Tier Garten is the Siegessaeule - a victory column celebrating Prussia's victory over France and Denmark.
	The Bismark statue was just opposite - a fascinating statue with lots of different characters on all sides.

	The street lamps and bridge were works of art in themselves with lots of different styles and shapes - wherever we looked there was something different to see.
Talking of things to see, here are some of the more unusual buildings we saw as we wandered around

		One of the most stunning buildings/structures was the Sony Centre with its fascinating roof and mirror/pool in the middle depending on whether it was raining or sunny (the tall building reflected in the pool is the Deutsche Bahn building).
One (small) disappointment was that we didn't get to go up the glass dome at the Reichstag - maybe next time!		Apparently you can spiral your way to the top and enjoy the views but, again, the queue was in the rain and we'd done that the day before and got drenched so we gave this one a miss for now.
	No trip to Berlin would be complete without a stroll (and a drink and piece of apple cake) down Unter den Linden and a look at the Brandenburg Gate. With the afternoon sun setting, it looked lovely but our ever abiding memory of Berlin will be seeing this marvellous structure lit up at night.

Another place we really enjoyed visiting and hope to go back to one day in the future.
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