Berlin 3

An interesting day!

Another warm night which required the fan to be going most of the night. Awake early and down to breakfast before I needed to meet a group for a tour of the 'Third Reich' in Berlin. 

The tour commenced with a bus ride to the German Resistance Memorial Centre housed in what was known as the Bendler Block, the offices of the conspirators who attempted the coup and assassination of Hitler in July 1944. It was here that there was a suicide and over 100 were hung using the "Austrian hanging" method. It was interesting to note that this building was one of lucky ones to avoid destruction during the bombings. 

Statue as a memorial to the hangings on the Bendler Block.

Bendler Block 1945

From here were went to viewed another small building with the scares from the battle of Berlin in April May 1945. This ten day battle, that need not have taken place, cost over 70000 lives.

Private residence still with the evidence of the Battle of Berlin - 1945

Then on to the other significant places in the Nazis story; Tiergartenstrasse 4 (where experiments leading to the genocide of the Jews took place), the Reichstag (Hitler seizing power in 1933), the Soviet Army Memorial (erected in July 1945 and the area later became part of the British sector!),  The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Hitlers Bunker and death site, the Airforce Offices (Goring), and finally to the SS HQ and part of the Berlin Wall.

All that is left of Tiergartenstrasse 4

Reichstag and treeless Tiergarten 1945

Over 2100 blocks make up this memorial to European Jews murdered.

Site of thee Hitler bunker - now just a car park - no shrine for neo-nazis to rally around!

This tour took an hour and a half longer than expected and so a little consternation on Helene's part when I was over two and half hours late back to the hotel!

After this we caught a bus to KaDeWe the ultimate consumer store on Berlin. Interesting!

Ties in famous KaDeWe store in Berlin

We returned to the hotel before busing to the Zoogarten train station for the train back to Gotz. 

Thinks this is simple - well it should have been - but because we were in a bit of a rush, we arrived at the required platform with just minutes to spare, a train arrived with Magdenburg on the front and appearing to be going past the right places, we got on, sat down and then something twigged! We were on the wrong train and it had already pulled out of the station. It was going past Gotz but not stopping. After a quick flurry we established that it was the next train we should be getting on. So at the next stop we detrained before getting the next train. 

A very special surprise at Gotz station - Mirko's father was there to meet the train which saved us a walk to the van. And another surprise - at the house was Dania's parent as well - all lovely people. They invited us to join them in a meal which was great - no German on our side and know English on their side - but we were able to communicate! Marvellous!

A very full day - in bed by 10.00pm.

A thought: Hugo Boss supplied the SS with their dreaded uniforms!

Berlin 2

A hearty breakfast from the hotel buffet before venturing out for more site seeing.

Again we headed back to the eastern section of Berlin to the Alexander Platz. Almost all of this  area of Berlin has been rebuilt due to the total destruction during the war. Alexander Platz boast the 385 metre Fehsehturm - communications tower - an achievement of the old GDR.

385 metre Fehsehturm - communications tower

The Berlin Dom (Cathedral) was the next on the list, with many of the museums being in the same locality. All these buildings have been basically rebuilt most to there original look.

Berlin Dom

An open- air exhibition near the Lustgarten commemorates the 80th anniversary of the Nazis coming to power in Germany. The exhibition recalls that Berlin in 1933 was the world's third largest city! It recognises the young men and women who culturally helped make Berlin - many to die at the hands of the Nazis.

Exhibition of famous Germans who suffered at the hands of the Nazis

Open-air exhibition

Bebelplatz opposite the university was the scene of the 1933 burning of books and journals looted from libraries. 

Bebelplatz and university

On the way back to the Kurfurstendamm we encounter another torrential downpour which engulfed the whole city - umbrella sales would have jumped during the past few days.

The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church  in the distance through the rain!

Relaxed for a while - been on our feet for five hour! 

Returned to the street tonight for an hour or so, enjoyed Berliner Weisse Grun and a pilsner. Earlier night tonight.

Berlin

Last morning with Dania and Mirko - they have been wonderful hosts. A lovely breakfast and Mirko dropped us off at the railway station for our 45 minute trip to Berlin. It was a very pleasant and comfortable trip arriving at the Zoo Station, before  transferring to our hotel on the Kurfurstendamm. Rooms and corridors were very hot and stuffy!

Turned ourselves around in a short space of time and caught a bus to the Bundestag, Brandenburg Gates and the Unter den Linden - with most of its magnificent buildings under renovation as was the whole street - one gigantic building site! 

Pretend 'cold war' rivalry for the tourists!

Back to hotel late afternoon before going out for a meal. We later met Briggette and Ludi who took us out to show us some special places in their Berlin. They selected to take us to the Hackescher Markt. This was an area the in the 19th century that craftsmen lived and worked in a cooperative type of an environment. Today it has all been refurbished by with crafts people taking up many o the properties. This also was historic centre for Berlin Jews. 

Hackescher Market

It is also an area that is very popular with locals and visitors alike. We settled for a drink later just as the heavens started to open up. Outside drinking and dining is problematic when the weather turns on you - but we are not complaining because it has cooled things down.

On the way back to hotel we stop off at the Hauptbahnhof, the new Berlin railway station. This very impressive building was spread over multiple levels with trains arriving and departing on various levels. This development  is a show piece for Germany since reunification - the area had not been redeveloped since the bombing during WWII leaving it a great opportunity to develop another main centre for Berlin. We didn't venture far outside because the rain was bucketing down again.

Hauptbahnhof - Berlin 

We later returned for a very good night sleep - it has been a very full day!

Gotz

Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th July

A few light showers of rain over night but nothing that cool things down to any great extent. This area we stopped in was close to the old centre of Brandenburg. The old 12th century church was dominating the street scape. 

Brandenberg 

A slower morning, a tidy-up and some shopping before we drove on to Gotz to meet Dania, Mirko, Nico and Anna. 

A lovely welcome from Dania - Mirko and Nico were caught in a traffic jam on the Berlin ring road after having practised for  motor- cross on the other side of Berlin. 

Beautiful cool zucchini soup for lunch - produce  from Dania's garden - before relaxing for the rest of the day. Too hot to do anything that looked like being strenuous!  

Sunday - lovely German breakfast - after which we took a drive and a walk to the Havel River bush land. 

Mein hosts - Dania and Mirko

An early walk was essential because the temperature was expected to climb well into the mid to late thirties today. 

Helene and Dania

Havel River - barge heading for Berlin

Dania and Anna made some delicious madgold (silver and red beet) and carrot fritters for lunch - very tasty. 

Lunch-time

Temperature still climbing - some had an afternoon nap!

A thunder storm was brewing but will it pass us by? The sky has darken significantly - will it break this hot spell - 36 so far today!

 A little bit of excitement late this afternoon when Germany won the Euro Soccer Women's Championship - even rockets!

Celebrations

Later we were driven to Werder for dinner at an Italian restaurant 'Pane e Vino'. Very nice - with lovely company.

Dinner at Werder

Still no rain but by about midnight the thunder storm hit - and rained through the night.

Worlitz - Orangienbaum

A very quiet and warm  night. The banhof had long since been used - the Worlitz Park was no longer the big attraction. We had an early breakfast so we could visit the very extensive park and gardens before  it became too hot. 

Worlitz overnight

Parked up near the gardens and took a leisurely wander - perhaps not at its best due to the dry summer but some very interesting  views across the lakes. The park was developed in the late 1700s and has been park of the UNESCO bio region. 

Worlitz Park

Worlitz Park

As the sun climbed into the southern sky ( yes in the northern hemisphere it is in the southern sky!) we headed out for Orangienbaum, a purpose designed town back you know when by you know who ( Princess Henriette Catharina of the house of Orange). 

Schloss at Orangienbaum 

Yes you guessed it - the orange tree became the symbol of the town. The Orangery is 178 m long being very unique in Europe. But it had nothing in it!!! The the Schloss Park was not at its best ! Perhaps a spring time visit would see it in all it's glory. The Schloss itself was in the stage  of being repaired. All UNESCO listed!!!

Orangery at Orangienbaum

Spent much of the day relaxing under some large trees in Orangienbaum before moving onto Brandenburg for our evening.

The Elbe - Wittenberg

Overnight rain was a very welcome relief after weeks of continual high temperatures. The ground was still wet this morning - but not for long.

Wittenberg - our destination for today! Who would think that this quite, quaint town would be at the centre of one of the biggest revolutions in history - the reformation! 

Very critical to be able to get long term parking in the shade - just so happens in Wittenberg this criteria was catered for. Parked up - sought a walking map from the tourist office - very helpful young woman who Evan suggested a 20 minute film in English that we may want to watch - air conditioned room so how could we refuse! 

This town's official name is Lutherstadt-Wittenberg, the place where Luther lived, worked, allegedly pinned his 92 treatises to the door of the Schlosskirche, and preached. The door these days is not the wooden door of Luther's day but instead a bronze door of the 19th century cast with the 92 theses imprinted in the door.

The very famous door on which the 92 theses were posted - signalling the upheaval of the reformation.

Yes we did a tour of the church - in German - but there was nothing to see every wall and ceiling was undergoing restoration so we very quickly backed out of this.

The very beautiful altmarket has undergone remarkable restoration making it an interesting market square to visit. 

The market square in Wittenberg.

We took a further walk to Luther's house - a former monastery and now the Luther Museum.

Famous door of Martin Luther's Hall  - his image is carved on the sandstone.

The Marienkirche, the twin tower church overlooking the altmarket was interesting, it was here that Luther preached, was married, his children baptised and here where famous art works of Lucas Cranach the elder resided. The Marienkirche is also interesting because in the late 14 hundreds when the church was being extended upwards and interesting so e carving is visible up high which has the word "Jeudsau" (?) or Jewish-pig. Anti-Jewish feeling ran high in this village back in the 15th century. It is thought that at the time of construction of this part of the church Jews were being expelled from the town.

High on the south-east corner of the Marienkirche.

Enough of sightseeing - where is the shade? We had lunch before heading a few kilometres down the road to Worlitz - a very famous German-English Garden. Here we are spending the night.

Timber framed houses in Worlitz.

Bad Duben

Rest day today!

The shade of the stellplatz in Bad Duben encouraged us to stay another day here. We had been pushing things a little the past for weeks, and coupling this with the very warm weather, staying put was a very good idea.

Bad Duben

The walked to the town shops was the limit of our exertion for the day - even hot very early!

The day has gone quickly, entertained by Uwe and Elke, two Germans staying here for the shade as well. They described themselves as not the normal Germans! Very funny but at the same time very astute and clever. They lived full time in their motorhome and were heading north because it was too hit in the south  - they didn't count on the unusual hot weather. 

Uwe and Elke at Bad Duben

Leipzig & Bad Duben

Warm overnight again and it is planning to be even warmer today! Leipzig today!

We travelled again through some magnificent farmland. The cereal crop harvest was well underway. When driving from Poland to the then West Berlin in 1979 westerners were only allowed on a tree-lined motorway from the Polish border to West Berlin - I did wonder what the land looked like behind the tree-line! Now we know - beautiful rolling hills and lush farm lands.

By the time we had arrived in Leipzig the temperature was in the 30s - in the van it was over thirty degrees. We weren't quite sure what to expect in Leipzig - we knew that it was an important industrial area but we hadn't expected the charming city we found. Like most major centres in Europe there was a tremendous amount of building activity taking place - looks  like   there is an underground transport system being installed.

The visit to the Nikolaikirche  (Church of St Nicholas) was a very moving experience, for it was here that proved to be the starting point for the peaceful revolution on 9th October 1989, when 600 members of the Socialist Unity Party of the East German Government plus Sasti (the feared secret police) and the militia were sent to break up the peace protest, actually  joined the protesters or left them in peace - and it was the final straw that saw the fall of the East German regime and the Iron Curtain coming down. The whole story is worth reading elsewhere.

Nikolaikirche - outside where 10000 held a candle vigil on the 9th October 1989.

Nikolaikirche - where the peace protests stemmed from and the fall of the GDR.

We came across the Renaissance styled Rathaus - one of Germany's largest. Built many moons ago - 1556 - it has had many functions over the years but now it serves as the city museum.

16th Century Rathaus

The new university in the centre of the city must be one of the most impressive universities built - just completed, it is most impressive.

Part of the new university buildings.

The Thomas Church where Bach worked .. and it was getting hotter. Enough ... and we returned to the van to head for shade and an  afternoon of rest at Bad Duben.

Me cooling off in Leipzig!

The Elbe - Meissen

What a day this turned out to be!

We actually made our destination - Bad Lausick! Sorry Lau if you are reading - but we couldn't help ourselves. But getting here is another story! 

The morning in Dresden started very much like any other Monday morning - up, showered, washed a few clothes, had breakfast and then headed off to the supermarket to replenish stocks.

From here - 100m further on - we decided to fill the diesel and to top up the LPG cylinder. This was where the trouble began! The normal filling process had completed, I uncoupled the nozzle from the cylinder when the gas started emptying from the cylinder. This is at a very busy service station in Dresden.  In no time at all there were five. fire trucks, two police cars all turning up with their sirens full tilt. The petrol station closed itself down and waited to the emergency played itself out. The offending cylinder was was uncoupled from the van and place away from any danger to let itself fully discharge. 

Our concerned and helpful Dresden Firefighters. 

We thought we had agreed with the fire people that they would take the cylinder and dispose of it - but language barrier again -  they left it for us to dispose of! All this took over 75 minutes to play out! The service station folk were very helpful and generous in their assistance - given they lost 75 minutes of business as well!

So, with the adrenalin still running we continued on to Moritzburg, Augustus the String's hunting lodge and lunch by the lake. What a beautiful setting for a  visit - especially when one needed some calming and restfulness.

Moritzburg Castle - hunting lodge of Augustus II

After Moritzburg we finally were able to  set off for Meissen and the  very famous porcelain factory. The story of Meissen porcelain is closely linked with the man - Augustus II - for it was his 'persuasive' powers that saw the breakthrough of the Saxony alchemist in the production of porcelain. 

The Man - Frederick Augustus II (The Strong)

The Europeans valued highly the Chinese porcelain that had been highly priced by the traders of the time. So to unlock the secret of its production was a very sought after discovery. We took the factory tour and the museum - very interesting. 

The Three Graces - again!

It was still 30 degrees at 6.00pm when we came out of the Meissen porcelain factory - we either could go to the stellplatz in Meissen with no shade or drive on to Bad Lausick where there was shade. - not much of a choice hey!

On our way through we called by Colditz - the famous castle where disruptive Allied officers in WWII were sent - thinking that the place was escape proof. It proved to be a challenge no self respecting officer could refuse - consequently a whole escape industry was established within the walls of the castle by the officers. As it was pointed out though, after the war, the castle was actually built to keep people out - not to keep them in! Nevertheless an awesome presence overlooking the village.

Colditz Castle

We moved on to our cooler overnight at Bad Lausick.

Bad Lausick

The Elbe - Dresden 2

The concert and the party in the beer garden lasted well into the night! The party goers final called it quits sometime after 2am. But a good not sleep nevertheless.

The view from our stellplatz last evening.

The famous baroque Zwinger Palace with its many features including The Old Masters Collection and the Porcelain Collection. 

Zwinger Palace

It is incredible the reconstruction that has taken ace since 1945 when 75% of Dresden was destroyed. The Zwinger has been rebuilt and the museum was the first to open n Germany after the war. It again is another photographers dream - aren't well all photographers these days! 

Zwinger Palace Nympheum

We also revisited the Fraenkirche today because yesterday it was closed due to weddings etc. this church too was completely destroyed during the war. This is seen as a symbols of the reconstruction effort with the contribution from Coventry, England, of the gold cross for the dome.

Frauenkirche 

Other place visited were the Semper  Opera, the Schloss and the Green Vault.

A closer study of the Furstenzug (Royal Processions) revealed more details of Augustus the Strong and his attempt to show the pope that he was really Catholic so the crown of Poland would be added to his kingdom. In fact Augustus II was not born as the heir to the throne, his older brother was the heir. But small pox, caught when trying to breathe good air into his sick mistress's mouth, took his life as well, and so Augustus became king of Saxony. 

Augustus II crushing the Lutheran Rose with his horse!

A walk later in the afternoon led to the Bohemian district in the Nwustadt. This took in the Golden Horseman - non other than Augustus II - the Japanese Palace - built again by Augustus.

Still very hot - so retreated to the shades area of the stellplatz.

The man - Augustus the Strong

A slightly absurd sighting was the Ayers Rock Restaurant under the Bruehl Terrace in the heart of the old city - with its Australian wine list and menu! It seemed a little out of place in this Medieval city! 

Ayers Rock Restaurant under the Bruehl Terrace