Friday, March 4, 2016

Sunday in Berlin


We began our Sunday in Berlin by walking to church.  




After attending church, we are convinced that it is impossible to attend church in Austria or
Germany without there being a beautiful opera voice in the congregation.  In Innsbruck it was a tenor.  In Berlin a beautiful soprano.  


Our hotel was right across the street from the zoo and the aquarium.  This was a single window in a brick wall that displayed golden fish.


Our hotel the Palace Hotel.  All over the city of Berlin there are still bears.
Unfortunately I am completely blocking this charming red bear in front of our hotel.

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Buddy Bears




Statue along Budenpest Strasse 
Alexander von Humboldt internationally known naturalist

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Gates to the zoo


The entrance to the zoo behind me.  The fountain below is part of the Olof Palme Platz.
Swedish prime minister who was assassinated on a street in Stockholm on 28 February 1986.



One of many fountains that we saw without water and with children climbing all over it.


The only remaining part of the church following the bombing of Berlin during WWII was
this part of the tower.  After the war when another church was planned for this spot, the people
of Berlin wished that the bombed out tower remain as part of the new church.


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The Protestant Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is located in Berlin on the 
Kurfürstendamm in the centre of the Breitscheidplatz.


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Of course during the summer the World Fountain is filled with water.


Below Europa Center next door to the Palace Hotel

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Riding on the city bus #100 going from our hotel to Alexanderplatz


Brandenburg/Brandenburger Gate
Since it is impossible to drive through the Gate none of the buses drives within blocks of it.




Inside our bus


The dome in the background is part of the Reichstag


television tower (fernsehturm) built in East Berlin


St. Mary's Church, known in German as the Marienkirche


Street scenes from the bus







Bus signs show the time until the next bus arrives.



Tiergarten one of many large forested areas in Berlin



Blue pipes

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and Pink Pipes

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. Re: What are the pink/blue coloured pipes?
When the wall went down and the city was reunited, there was an urgent need to transport vast amounts of clean and foul water as well as gas and electricity (?) throughout the whole city so there was a massive network of these pipes above ground, this being the quickest way of getting things going. Most are now underground, but there are still quite a few to be seen (as you have done :). The colours indicate what the pipes are carrying.

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Saint Mary's church

St. Marien-Kirche Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 8 (am Alexanderplatz)





Interior of Saint Mary's Church










Neptune fountain on Alexanderplatz
We discovered that all of the fountains in Berlin are dry during the winter.
Because of this children climb on all of the fountains from the most basic to 
the most splendid.



Crocodile fountain heads



Television tower with St Mary's church on the left

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Fernsehturm television tower in central Berlin with the Pergamon Museum 
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"Pope's Revenge"

When the sun shines on the Fernsehturm's tiled stainless steel dome, the reflection usually appears in the form of a cross. This effect was not anticipated by the architect. Berliners nicknamed the luminous cross Rache des Papstes, or the "Pope's Revenge". For the same reasons, the structure was also called "St. Walter" (from Walter Ulbricht). U.S. President Ronald Reagan mentioned this in his Tear down this wall speech on 12 June 1987.[6] It is also affectionately known as the Toothpick and Telespargel (TV-asparagus) due to its shape.[5]


Pergamon Museum



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Pergamon Altar one of the terraces of the acropolis of the ancient Greek city of Pergamon in Asia Minor -  the main sites of ancient Pergamon are to the north and west of the modern city of Bergama in Turkey.


I cannot remember whether I mentioned anywhere that Museum Island is located in what used to be East Berlin.  West Berliners did not have access to any of these museums
until 1989 when the wall came down. 


Before our trip to Berlin, I watched Rick Steves tour of Berlin.  He said
that in 2014 he visited Berlin to check out spots for filming a new edition of his show in Berlin.  However, after being in Berlin for a few days, he said that he realized that until the 
end of the decade the city of Berlin would be covered with construction and cranes.  
Although he still recommended that his audience visit Berlin, he said that his crew
would not be doing any filming in the city for a few years.  


Construction work in the area around the Museum Island
Pergamon in background




Diana the huntress in front of the Old Museum



Small girl posing for her mother to take a picture of her in front of Diana the Huntress




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We did not go into the dome on the Reichstag.  
We did, however, see where the tickets were being sold to go inside.


Federal Parliamentary buildings

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The US embassy is located on Pariser Platz which is on the eastern side of the Bradenburg Gate


Brandenburg Gate historical divider between east and west Berlin












  

USSR Memorial to Russian soldiers who died combating Germany during WWII
The Eastern Front suffered more severely from mass murders, starvation, brutality than 
the Western Front.  This is also where Hitler's extermination camps were located.  Hitler's goal
was to destroy all of the Russian population so that Germany could occupy the fertile land there.

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The mustard was a little spicier than I like but the price of 1,50 Euros was right and 
the mustard tasted perfect when I got down to the bun.

Image result for berlin hot dog




Then back onto bus 100 to get back to the hotel and 
dinner from Jim Block

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