Ich Bin Ein Berliner.

Sat 14 to Tues 18 September 2024. Sunday was Wife Appreciation Day.

Potsdam to Berlin – 41km.

I have been very lucky to avoid the torrential storms that have been affecting Central and Eastern Europe. Places I have visited have been struggling to cope with flooding!

It has been very appropriate to celebrate Wife Appreciation Day on Sunday. I do appreciate Janice very much and we have had a great visit to Berlin together.

Saturday mainly involved me cycling into Berlin, checking into the hotel and sussing out the way to get to the airport to meet Janice around 6pm. I’m glad to report that all went smoothly.

On the way I did stop at Cecilienhof Schloss, the location of the Potsdam Conference after the Second World War. It was very historic.

Cecilienhof Schloss.
I was wrong to say that Atlee was there. But I was right too. Churchill was there for the first week, lost an election and was replaced by Atlee for the remainder of the Conference.

I pedalled on into Berlin. Nice hotel and then out to the airport.

It was great to see Janice for our little holiday together. Exciting….and my legs needed a rest!

We managed to pop out to the Brandenburg Gate.

Sunday was busy for us.

It was a full day around the Charlottenburg Palace. Built by Frederick I of Prussia and his later family.

I was more impressed than I thought I would be by Berlin. It was more spacious and less crowded than many capital cities. Lots of grandeur too.

Here are more highlights…

Victory Column.
Reichstag.
Humboldt Forum building that was rebuilt on footprint of the Berliner Palace. The Palace was bombed in the war and demolished during the East German period. A blocky Republican Palace was then built and subsequently dismantled. Since 2008 this building was rebuilt to the facade of the original Palace but with a modern interior. It was beautiful.
Janice in Lustgarten!!! The Berliner Dom Cathedral in the background.
We went up the TV Tower.
More importantly, I bought some new trainers at Decathlon and threw away my old grubby white ones. I felt like Jack Reacher who only buys new clothes when his current ones need washing!
East Side Wall Terrace. Probably the longest section of existing Wall that has been muralled! The history is very interesting.
Holocaust Memorial and Museum. Every time I learn more of the holocaust it gets more gruesome.
Checkpoint Richard.

We have had a great city break. We have covered the main attractions of the city. I thought that Berlin would be a tight city with a mix of modern ugly buildings with older buildings but the reality was spacious and impressive. The buildings along the Unter den Linden, main road are superb and I haven’t enough space to show the range of buildings. I will do another one of the Brandenburg Gate.

If you didn’t know the title is the quote from John F Kennedy, he claimed to stand with Western Berliners in the struggle against the Communist Bloc.

It has been so lovely to have this break from my cycling trip, to see my darling wife and see a city that neither of us have seen. Tomorrow Janice will fly home and I will be back on my lonesome for the next stage of my adventure.

Published by

middlevern
Categories: , , ,
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Leave a comment