Day 15 - Berlin

We changed accommodation this morning and are now ensconced in a very nice apartment in the east part of the city, not far from Checkpoint Charlie.  We walked quite a distance from our new abode to join the tour which lasted 4 hours and while we covered a lot of ground we'd done in the coach over the last couple of days, we found it helped to orient ourselves.

The New Synagogue at Oranienburger Strasse 

Berlin Cathedral

Museum of Natural History

Unter den Linden to Brandenburg Gate

Brick line in road where Berlin Wall used to run

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

Mural depicting Socialist ideal of contented citizens facing a bright future as one big happy family on

 Nazi Air Ministry Building

Berlin Concert Hall

We have been impressed with all the tree lining the major roads.  Another thing we have noticed is how many people commute by bicycle (with very few helmets to be seen). 

Day 14 - Berlin

We had a free morning this morning so were able to have a leisurely start.  We started with a visit to the Kaiser-Wilhelm memorial church.  The original church was bombed during WW2 and only the western spire and an inner room - which has been reconstructed as a memorial hall - remain. Next door a magnificent octagonal new church has been constructed of concrete honeycomb with glass inlays.  The bell tower is under restoration,

Kaiser-Wilhelm memorial church

Mosaics in memorial hall

New church building

We visited the KaDeWe Department Store which is huge.   We were amazed at the food hall on the 6th floor - cheeses, meat, drinks, chocolate - everything in abundance.  To say nothing of the pastries!!!

This afternoon we visited the Stasi Museum and it was interesting to see their headquarters and learn about the methods they used for spying on people and recruiting informants.

Stasi Headquarters - now museum

Spy camera is installed in handle of watering can -
for use in cemeteries and gardens

Car door with infra-red cameras 

Refurbished communist era building - now desirable apartments

We finished our tour with a farewell dinner tonight.  Its been a great tour, with good travelling companions, and we have enjoyed it immensely.

Day 13 - Halle - Berlin

It was raining this morning, which made our wander around our first stop, Wittenberg, a little damp.  Luther nailed his 95 theses to the Schlosskirche here, and we also saw the church were he preached, the house his parents lived in, and the monastery he was given which became his family home.

Luther home

Wittenberg is a very pretty town and we enjoyed spending time there, though all the buildings significant to Luther are behind scaffolding and under renovation in preparation for the 500th anniversary of the reformation in 2017.

Wittenberg, with spire of St Mary's church (where Luther preached)
in the background

It was a 90 minute drive on to Berlin, and it had fined up by then.  After we had checked into the hotel - very nice by the way, though I keep walking into the large mirror as I think its another room - we did a city tour by bus and saw the Bundestag and government buildings, the Brandenburg gate, and Tiergarten.  We drove down part of Unter den Linden, and saw some of the old wall. We have liked what we have seen so far, particularly all the canals.

Bundestag

Government buildings

Brandenburg Gate

We went for a walk before dinner and were amused at all the horn blowing - one guy was out of his car and blowing his horn, and he was only 10 cars from the intersection!!

Day 12 - Dresden - Halle

Our first stop this morning was at Meissen where we visited the porcelain museum.  We had a guided tour which showed us the processes followed in creating Meissen products and then had a look around the amazing items in the museum.

In the Meissen museum

From there we headed to Leipzig, where we were supposed to spend the night.  We were quite taken with the number of wind turbines we passed.

However there is a dentist's convention in town and there was no room so we've come on to Halle, 50 km from Leipzig.  We did a bus tour of Leipzig with a local guide and then walked around some of the old part of town.   It is another interesting city and I was most impressed in driving around at some of the redevelopment with old communist factories turned into interesting apartment buildings.   There were lovely canals and we also noticed quite a large number of community garden allotments - which we also noticed in Dresden.  There is also a very nice city forest.

In the background is the spire of St Nicholas church, which was at the centre
of the peaceful revolution to overthrow communism in 1989

The old Stock Exchange building, now a concert venue

Alan and I walked through the city centre of Halle before dinner, and found an interesting town.

Day 11 - Dresden

Dresden is a beautiful city (another one) and we have had a wonderful day.  As you may know a lot of Dresden was destroyed at the end of WW2 and has been rebuilt to look as it was, and some of it is still a work in progress.  It did start with a very early wake up call at 6.30 (an hour and a half earlier than expected) but that was ok as once we had breakfast we took ourselves off exploring in the cool and quiet.  We did a walking tour of the old (rebuilt) city and finished up at the Green Vault at Dresden Castle.  I think it is just as well we weren't allowed to take photos there as there was so many amazing and beautiful treasures.  Alan and I stayed on and found we could climb 222 stairs in the Castle tower for very nice views over the city.

George's Gate, Dresden Palace (great acoustics for buskers)

Cathedral of the Holy Trinity

The "Procession of Princes" was originally painted by Wilhelm Walther, but as the artwork quickly faded, it was transferred to about 24,000 Meissen porcelain tiles, which fortunately survived the bombing, with only 200 needing to be replaced.

Frauenkirche, with statue of Martin Luther

Palace Gardems

Tower we climbed in main courtyard of Dresden Palace.  The building in the centre which is still to be restored.

Opera House

Excavation showing old cellars

River Elbe from Tower

Day 10 - Prague - Dresden

It was a beautiful drive today through river valleys and forests to Dresden.  We have seen fruit trees, mostly apple trees, along the side of highways.  They look tempting.

We crossed the border mid-morning and stopped at the Königstein Fortress, a large hilltop fortification that towers over the Elbe River.  There were magnificent views in all directions.

From advertising sign

We made a quick stop at the Bastei a rock formation, which towers 194 metres above the Elbe River.

We then had a short drive on to Dresden, stopping briefly at Volkswagen's Transparent Factory, which is all glass, and you can see cars being manufactured.  Unfortunately they had stopped work for the day when we got there.  We checked into our VERY nice hotel and went for a short walk and found some open air markets that were interesting to wander around.

Our hotel, right in the centre of town

Then to top off a very nice day, we had the most amazing experience walking home from dinner - we came across 3 young people (my hunch is opera students) busking under the gothic arches very near our hotel.  Amazing.  I got goose bumps at their fabulous singing.

Day 9 - Prague

We decided not to join the city tour this morning and took ourselves off early and walked for kilometres.  We headed to the Old Town Square where we again marvelled at the astronomical clock.

We wandered down the back ways to Charles Bridge and enjoyed getting there before the crowds.

We visited St Nicholas Church and went inside for a look - very ornate.

Then we climbed 208 steps to Prague Castle where we enjoyed wandering around again - this time in warm weather.  We stopped for a hot chocolate with "whippet" cream (and profiteroles).

We visited the Lobkowicz Palace, the only privately owned building in the Prague Castle complex.  The family have played an important role in Czech history and on display are many items from their collection of artefacts - painting, dinner sets, musical instruments (and music, including original scores by Beethoven and others), and an incredible collection of guns.  The cost of admission includes an audio tour which was most informative.

We then headed down from the Castle and wandered our way back to the hotel.  We stopped for lunch on the way and my order for a ginger tonic (ginger ale) lost something in translation and I ended up with a gin and tonic.  Interesting.

Interesting door we passed

 We had a Trdelnik on the way back to our hotel for a rest - we got the taste for them last time we were here.

Late afternoon we went for a tour to a micro brewery which included 2 beers each (you can imagine who ended up with mine) and a nice antipasto plate.  A final walk in St Wenceslas Square rounded out our day - which turned out fine, and even sunny in the afternoon, despite the rain forecast.