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Dining in Berlin
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This is the River Elbe taken from the train north of Prague enroute to Berlin
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Got to be quick with the train doing 80 or 90 mph
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Got lucky with that shot
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Got lucky with this shot of the Castle
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Zoom. Love that feature on the i7
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Think this was Ustinad Labem, good sized city northwest of Prague about two hours out
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Good looking Bridge over the River Elbe
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Station stop at Dresden, Germany
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Dresden with a metro population of 1.1 million was the most severely bombed city by the allies during WWII. With reconstruction it is today a high tech center often called the Silicon Saxony
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Welcome to Berlin, the capital of the unified Germany. This is their new train station finished in 2006 and is considered the biggest station in Europe. But remember the photo of the Milan station? It was massive
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Nicknamed the washing, this is the Chancellors headquarters and apartment. It is from here that Angela Merkel's phone conversations have been monitored by the CIA or was it NSA?
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The Reichstag, the traditional seat of Germany's parliament built in 1894. The dome on the building was completed in 1999 and is meant to convey transparency of the government. You can actually look down and see the government at work.
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Quite a work of architecture and engineering. Maybe we need a transparent dome in Washington!
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Inside the dome
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Spree River in the foreground
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The Brandenburg Gate built during the Prussian monarchy in 1791 served as a grand passageway from the city palace to center of Berlin. Closed and in a no man's land during the Cold War, it was reopened in 1989. It is the symbol of a reunified Germany.
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This is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This highly visible location is two blocks from the Brandenburg Gate. It was completed 2005 and consists of 2700 different sized stone slabs positioned on a rolling plane.
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As you walk deeper into the memorial the sounds of Berlin fade and you experience a feeling of isolation. It evokes many different emotions. It is a powerful reminder of the Holocaust.
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Here is a small piece of the Berlin Wall. Most of the wall has been removed
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Checkpoint Charlie which was one of three crossings between East and West Berlin. The picture of an American soldier looks into the Russian zone while on the other side of the picture is a Russian soldier looking into the American sector.
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This is a reproduction of the sign that once stood at this location. This is a must see stop on walking tours but is very much overhyped
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This is Babelplatz or Babel Square where on May 10, 1933 20,000 books containing "dangerous" ideas were burned. The building is the library of Humboldt Univ. In the cobblestones is a glass window where you can look down and see empty bookshelves
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Isn't it about time for a lamppost with the German Historical Museum in the background! See, Omaha is not the only city with more construction cones than people!
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Berliner Dom or cathedral sets on Museum with five museums. This Neo-renaissance style church was completed in 1905, this the fourth building of this church. The original church in 1464 was Catholic but today it is affiliated with the Prussian Union.
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Understand there is a great view of the city from the dome. I passed having sacrificed my legs at the bell tower in Florence!
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Lunchtime. What else? Pizza of course. From my observations pizzza seems to be the favorite food everywhere, not just Italy
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As I continued my walk after lunch I ducked into the Radisson Hotel to see the elevator which glides through this huge aquarium, complete with fish. The aquarium, not the elevator.
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Sunday morning I took a boat trip on the Spree River which winds through Berlin. This is Oberbaumbrucke. Aren't you glad you know this now?
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The largest portion of the remaining Berlin Wall. This shot represents only about 20% of the length at this location
