July 6, 2012 Genthin and Brandenburg, Germnay

Pete and I feel so relaxed staying at Steffi and Torstens place. Its the perfect spot to unwind after all our travelling. Its the most beautiful setting surrounded by forest. As you can see from the following photos they have a very nice house and very large section about 2,000sqm.

This is the front entrance. The whole section has a high fence all around it with these big gates. The gate man and Altus.

Around the back of the house with nice patio area where we have spent most of our time eating, drinking and lots of catching up. To the right of the house downstairs behind the tree is where our quarters our. The other half of the house is their kitchen,dining,lounge. Then upstairs are three bedrooms and a study room and two bathrooms. The perfect home and it really works well. Steffi told me as soon as she saw it she knew it was the right home.

From the patio looking out over the back garden. Janne's swing in the background. Altus in the foreground .

Looking back over the the other side from the patio, so you can see how big the land is. Forrest borders their whole section.  So nice we just love it.

Now going to explain our flat , the best accom. we have had by 100%. I could stay here forever.

Its so quiet and peaceful. Birds singing. The is the lounge. Typical Steffi everything is done so tastefully. She is very artistic.

 Just behind the half lounge wall there is a study area and a sofa bed if they have to rent it out it will sleep four people.

Looking back towards the study area which you can now see the half wall.

Standing in the lounge looking out to a patio and garden. You can see how beautiful the setting is.

Bedroom.

Torsten had to pick up a few things in Brandenburg for the wedding so we went with him and he took us for a walk through the town of Brandenburg and around the waterways crossing two bridges to get back to the car. Very pleasant. Gave Steffi some time out on her own as Janne was with her parents.

  

Two men having a good Yak as we walk. This road is closed to traffic just the trams use it. Torsten makes PT look small. Note the cobbles.

Now approaching the waterways. The old church is just a skeleton, you can see right through it as it is all gutted out.

Some nice shots along the river. Birds resting on the platform where the boat is tied up.

Same area top and below.

There's those two men that keep following me.

A beautiful property on the river bank with a very nice garden. We are standing on one of the bridges.

July 5, 2012 Berlin - Potsdam - Genthin Germany

We left Berlin for Genthin via Potsdam.

This is our hotel in Berlin, Hotel Prens. You can see the name on the black strip. Our room was the first floor, two windows on right. Nice size room but it was so hot. No air conditioning and the sun streamed in all afternoon. Restaurants underneath therefore with that and cars it was rather noisy.

Canal just along from the Hotel.

Branden-burger Tor in Potsdam.

We arrived in Potsdam without realising just how much there was to see. Wasted too much time looking for places in the town to realise that all the beauty of the area was scattered out beyond the town. Information centre didn't really explain this to us so by the time we sorted it all out we were running out of time. There seemed to be no brochures to explain all this. Bit disappointing as we missed out on seeing half of the beautiful buildings in the area. 

One of the town squares in same area.

Looking back the other way.

Driving around Potsdam.

This lake, called Heiliger See, has a beautiful park called Neuer Garden, all down the west side, left in picture. Unfortunately we didn't have time to see much at all. You could spend a day just slowly walking through the park as it has great old buildings to see.

PT standing around the back of the Gotische Bibliothek (above picture) looking out over the lake.

Went mad on this property as it was so great.  Schloss Cecilienhof  in the Neuer Gardens. Such a beautiful  old building.
The gardens were so well manicured.
As you can see there are so many angles to the building. Walking through the the arches to a lovely garden.

Right around the other side of the building where they had a restaurant.

Down on the lake edge with restaurant around the back of the building.

Two of the churches in town, above and below.

Inside the above church. Not usually so interested in churches but these old ones are so beautiful inside.

The Schloss Sanssouvci. These next three photos.

We have now arrived in Genthin to see Steffi and Torsten. What a great moment meeting up with them again. It seemed so long ago when we started to plan this trip and finally the time has come to be with them on their wedding day on Saturday.

We were greeted by their dog Altus. A great dog and they have the perfect big section for a big dog. Their house is down an access road off the main road in a forest setting. Altus barks when people pass by to walk in the forest tracks but we can come and go and he always greets us as though he has known us for ages.

This is Steffi and Torston's little boy Janne. He turns two in September. This is a swing that Torsten made as he said he couldn't put a plastic swing in amongst all the trees.

I will show you photos of their house tomorrow as I am a day late posting this due to no time after catching up with the family sitting outside until 10.00pm and still very warm.

July 4, 2012 Berlin Germany

Today we decided to go into town just for half a day and not do too much this afternoon.

Got the train into Alenander Platz and then took a transfer to Potsdamer Platz as we had only driven through this area and we needed time to see it thoroughly. 

Entered the Sony building to look up at the structure of it all including its big dome on top. 

Then across the road to one of Berlins highest buildings and took the lift to the top big viewing deck.

We also looked at viewing a Lego Museum but the costs of E16 each was unjustified. Different if we had the boys with us.

After a wander around we caught the train to the Oberbaum Brucke near Warschauer Station as we had been told of a beautiful old bridge there. It was built in 1894. All brick and the trains still use it. 

Also at this place there was a good portion of The Wall still standing.

We then caught the train back to the hotel and returned about 1pm as we are buggered. Also finished with a small walk around our area. More of a relaxing day today as we leave tomorrow for Genthin. Really looking forward in seeing Steffi and Torsten and of cause the big day on Saturday 7th.

Potsdamerplatz

In Potsdamer Platz not a single building had survived damage after the  bombings. We saw photos of the area after the attack. To see it now the very old area all gone and transformed into the very modern today......wow. In October 1993 work began on the Potsdamer Platz.

It was the largest construction site in any European city. More than 6000 labourers worked here on site at the same time.

The first generation of The Wall began at Potsdamer Platz. The initial walls had barbed wire on top and were just taller than the average adult.

The last generation of The Wall was 4 metres high, made of concrete slabs and was capped with rounded cement tops and were thus difficult to grab hold onto.

The Wall divided East and West for 28 years.

This is the building that we caught the lift to the top viewing deck. The Kollhoff-Haus Building. The lift  travelled the  90.15 metres in only 20 seconds. It is Europe's fastest elevator.You can imagine Petes face. In fact the lift was so quick that your ears didnt have time to pop. This view point was easy going by lift, all others we have had to climb stairs! Pete reckoned he could feel movement in the building. Could all be in the mind. You know him with his heights.

The very top point (of the building) you can see in the photo above this one, is where I was leaning against as far out as possible to take this photo of PT.....he wouldnt come any closer. I tried to make him come stand in the corner.

Top left of above photo is the dome of the Reichstadt (Parliament) and middle right is the Holocaust Memorial which you saw in yesterdays photos.

Looking down on the Sony building.

 Another view from the top.

From the street looking towards the Sony building with its amazing roof line.

Inside the Sony complex with all its cafes and eating houses.

Above and below looking up through the roof. Fascinating roof line and complex.

I've made a few new friends today. The first being Spiderman which is all the rage here as the film is being highly promoted here for the school holidays.

Second friend is Lego Giraffe. All made of Lego blocks and boys, look at Nana compared with the size of the giraffe. And Jen, as soon as Dad saw this he said "must take a photo of this for Jen". You will understand the reason why Jen.

Third friend is a bear which was at the top of the high building.

Now out at the Oberbaum Brucke to see this great old bridge. Today used just for the trains over the top as you can see, but would have been used for cars on the underneath which is only for pedestrians now. There is a newer bridge adjacent to it on the other side which the cars now use.  

This is the old road on the lower level of the bridge. There is a passing bay.

In the same area is remnants of the longest part of The Wall we have seen. We could see for at least 5/600 metres before it went round the corner out of sight.

Above and below shows a bit of the local artist talents.

To summerise a little history of Berlin.

Today Berlin is the Capital city of Germany, one of the 16th states  of Germany. with a population of 3.5 million people.

The Thirty Years War between 1618-1648 devastated Berlin. One third of the houses were destroyed and the city lost half of its population.

On 30th January 1933 Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power. Nazi rule destroyed Berlins Jewish community after Kristallnacht 1938 thousands of the city's Jews were imprisoned in the nearby Sachsenhausen Concentration camps . In early 1943 they where shipped to death camps such as Auschwitz.

During the 2nd World War large parts of Berlin where destroyed in the 1943-1945 air raids.

After the war the city became divided into East and West  by the Berlin Wall. 1961-1989.

The Berlin Wall was a barrier, between the East and West constructed by the East German Democratic Republic, starting on 13th August 1961. The barrier included guard towers placed along the large concrete walls (later known as the death strip) to stop people crossing.  The wall came down in1989.

On 3rd October 1990 the two parts of Germany were reunified as the Federal Republic of Germany, and Berlin again became the official German capital in June 1991.