Now back to blogging my trip - Berlin

Berlin was awesome. Just the feel & friendliness on the streets (after Italy which had been very stand-offish).

Also just being in such an important city of recent (modern) history felt really good.

This first photo is of the Brandenberg Tor [s?] (gate). This was the built to be the primary entrance gate into the city of Berlin - and it was here that the Cold War kicked off with the Berlin wall being constructed in front of it (the gate was isolated in the no-mans land for the duration of the cold war. Those cars in front of it are all taxis - and all mercedes (sigh). This view is looking West from what was East Berlin.

This statue on top is very famous - having being placed here, then stolen by Napolean, then returned later.

This is the re-creation of Checkpoint Charlie - the most famous of the Berlin Wall crossing points. The really interesting thing is that they have marked the location of the former wall with a double line of cobblestones around the city.

This is another set of famous buildings in Berlin - it has a wonderful collection of old and made to look old buildings around it. The girl in the foreground is our guide for the day - from New-Europe tours (New-Berlin specifically). She was absolutely brilliant - really knew her stuff. This photo shows her as she was - hands constantly emphasising the information she was providing - part of the reason she was so good was she obviously enjoyed her work & sharing the history of this great city.

This photo was taken from the taxi as I was heading to the train station (to catch a bus to the airport - don't go there). This is the TV tower - built by the East Berlin government to be a land mark of their greatness (similar but smaller version of the one in Moscow). Unfortunately for the East Berlin government (who had banned all signs of religion from being displayed) - when the sun reflects off the dome, it highlights a golden cross (just a natural occurance). Just another fact of Berlin for your information.

I didn't take a lot of photos in Berlin - not sure why. Anyhow - I am back at it & will have some more photos up soon (York, Edinburgh & London coming next).