Berlin

I went off to Berlin for the weekend to stay with some friends. My flight landed, I caught the bus to my friends home and started the evening with some beer. Yes, I'm still training to drink beer. For the weekend there was a fair amount of touristy stuff and also a fair amount of sleeping in. First was the Soviet memorial to the war dead. There were two tanks and all the writing in Russian.

And another look at the Brandenberg gate, the horses on top of the gate.

Walking around Berlin was pretty chilly and at times there was lots of rain and wind. This time to Berlin I went to another part of the wall that was completely intact. You can see here the death zone with the two walls and the patrol road in between.

Great lion, too bad he's getting it.

I went to the Berlin Dome and saw some grand tombs, all gilt and huge.

With all the clouds and the rain there was some pretty nice lighting. Here's another view of the Brandenberg gate.

I went to Schloss Charlottenberg, it was very pretty. A castle in the style of other european castles that I have visited before. Long halls with small rooms leading off.

One of the rooms had all this chinese porcelain built into the walls. It was decorated right to the ceiling. Another room was entirely in green and gold, a dancing room that would make you feel as though the guests were dancing in a garden.

The garden was beautiful and expansive, some of it was a formal french garden and the rest was english forest and parkland.

On the Saturday night it was a private party in a rented bar. We were walking down a dark street and when we got to the address it was just a gate with a guy in a big leather jacket. The room was in the back and had two stripper poles. During the evening two guys scrambled up the length (at least 20 ft).

The next day I wandered around Berlin, taking the bus wherever I wanted just to see the sites of the city. I made my way to Archenhold Observatory which has the "longest moveable refracting telescope on Earth is 21 meters long and is still today the main highlight of attraction at the Archenhold Observatory." I didn't get to go inside because the building was closed.

Instead I went to the Story of Berlin exhibition. I didn't get to see everything but it was pretty interesting if a bit slick. There were some great metal toys, very detailed.

In the basement of the building was the bomb shelter. It had airlock entrances and inside were rows and rows of bunk beds. It was for 3000 people for 2 weeks. There was a generator to run the air filters but they said it would be 32 C, 90% humidity and low oxygen. Essentially you would lay in your bed sweating all day until you made your way to the bathroom or to eat.

And thus ended the the long weekend in Berlin. I was lucky to be at the airport earlier and be put on an earlier flight (one of the many benefits of traveling light).