Berlin Tag Vierzehn

This shot show the TV tower at Alexander platz (a landmark), the gold dome of the New Synagogue, and the cable car lines above an intersection.

The Reichstag. We will be climbing the ramps inside the glass dome on Sunday. We have a dinner reservation in the restaurant at the top of the dome.

A bell tower in the Tiergarten about 100 yards from the Tipi.

The U6 metro station close to our flat in Berlin.











Our guide (A member of the Berlin Unterweltin) at the flak tower.











A view of one of the towers, while standing on the other tower.








This is all that is visible from the street. The combination of mounds of rubble from the surrounding area, and vegetation growth have almost concealed the flak tower.

Hello All!

Wir haben einen guten Tag heute! Heute ist meine geburtstag! We are having a good day today, and today is my birthday. Our first tour today was one of the "Flak Towers" that was built by the Third Reich. We had to climb many stairs to gain entrance to it, but not as bad as St Peters! Entrance is at the top of the tower now and they take you down. This tour is done by the Berlin Unterweltin Society and they control the tower and some Bunkers now, and have made it safe for people to take guided tours. We had to wear a hard-hat upon entering as it is classified as a "Ruin", and it is always possible that perhaps something like bits of concrete could fall upon you. The walls were 3.8 meters thick (around 12 ft), and the ceiling as well. The amount of rebar in the concrete is astounding! The building had originally 4 towers, the other 2 collapsed in a demolition attempt but they were unable to remove the last 2. This flak tower (Humboldthain) did not surrender to the Soviets until May 3, they were directly across a valley full of railroad tracks and the Germans shot the Soviets up from April 25th until the day after the surrender of Berlin and only when the commander killed himself! It was a great tour and perhaps we will go back and do some of the bunkers in Berlin.

Tonight we went and saw "Gayle Tufts Rocks". What a great show! Mark and I both enjoyed her, she is an ex-pat from America living in Berlin. It was at the "Tipi" in the Tiergarten. We had a nice dinner there before the show, and dessert during intermission. She asked how many Americans were in the audience, and there was only 2. She asked how long we had been there and where we were from, and I told her. Sprechen sie Deutsch? I answered "Ich sprechen bisschen Deutsch". She said my Deutsch was perfect and asked how much of her monologue I understood? I told her about 3 out of 5 words and she explained that all I needed to do was drink more and it would all come together! She couldn't believe that we had only been here a week! She sang mostly American and British rock in our native tongue, she has a great voice! If you are ever in Berlin go and see Gayle Tufts - she really does rock! I had been looking forward to this show for some time and she did not disappoint. We took a taxi home, many horns beeping and people yelling as Deutschland beat Portugal in fussball tonight.

It was interesting how much of the show had in some way to do with America. Although she is an ex-pat, the audience was all German nationals with the exception of a few people. She had some interesting monologue on America: Barack asking her for money in emails, the airport police going through all her stuff as if she was "Gayle Bin Laden" and the American obsession with botox, plastic surgery, and TV. In addition, all this grain bread is highly overrated and the Deutsch don't eat it!

I also found it interesting how Germans are so aware of their country's history. Gayle sang a song about the country's history of persecution of individuals and groups, and it was a touching song. Additionally, there are many "documentation centers" here in Germany that fully document, (with text, photographs and video) the history of the Third Reich and WWII. We have visited documentation centers in Nurnberg, Berchtesgaden (Obersalzberg), and also the Topography of Terror here in Berlin. German students even study it in school. We even saw what was obviously teachers with students on a field trip when we were at the documentation center in Nurnberg. History is everywhere here, and everyone is fully aware of it.

Well, es ist spat, gutta nacht!

Pat and Mark

Berlin Tag Dreizehn

The Reich Aviation Ministry building. Now a Finance building.

The June 17, 1953 memorial. The anniversary was yesterday, notice the roses.

Some pieces of the Berlin wall, now an art piece.

The Topography of Terror exhibit. Notice a remaining portion of the Berlin wall behind it. This is the site of the original Gestapo and SS Headquarters.

Pat standing at the site of Hitler's bunker (The Fuhrer bunker)

The Jewish Holocaust memorial. Ironically just yards from where Hitler's bunker was.

A nice shot with the Brandenburg gate on the right and the dome of the Reichstag in the background.

A front view of the Brandenburg Gate

This is right down the street from our loft. It is the charite clinic that was in use during WWII. It received a lot of damage, and a lot of it is still visible. The building complex is very large, this is one a portion of one building in the photo.

A sample of some of the war damage that is still evident. This is in the wall surrounding the charite clinic.

It's us again - Guten Morgen!

Feeling better today although I seriously considered calling a doctor last night I was feeling sehr schlecht! Nose is still very dry and bleeding some but we made our way to the pharmacy (here = apoteke) and was able to explain to the pharmacist in German what was going on and what I needed (saline nose spray!). She laid out two sprays and I was able to let her know that I just wanted wasser fur trocken nase, nein decongestent!
That little spray bottle has gone everywhere with me today and it seems to be somewhat better as long as I use it every couple of hours.

We set out on our own intending to meet a walking tour, but either they did not show up or we just missed then in two different spots! The weather today is beautiful, sehr schon! We decided to just follow our tour book and look at the sites we intended to see. We found the Reichmarschalls Air Ministry, CheckPoint Charlie (a major tourist trap!), Topography of Terror, the Jewish Memorial and the site of Hitler's New Reich Chancellery, and the Fuhrer bunker (which is directly across the street from the Jewish Memorial!). We stopped and ate lunch then went and toured the model of Hitler's "Germania" which was used in Der Untergang and a German film recently regarding Albert Speer. Then off to the Brandenburg gate and Pariser Platz. Lots of walking today so we decided to head home and make some dinner. Salad tonight with leftover pasta. Tomorrow we plan on taking a couple of tours with the Berlin Underwold Society which should be fun. Besides, Donnerstag es ist meine Geburtstag!

Tscheuss,
Pat and Mark

Berlin Tag elf und zwolf

Our loft in Berlin. The architecture is very modern.

Hello Everyone:

I am a day behind in writing the blog, as I had to take a "krankheitstag" (a sick day)! I was just so worn out after all the traveling and running around that my body said stop!

We got settled in our new Berlin apartment, it is very modern and is in a loft style. We did go out to eat last night at a great Italian Restaurant that our loft recommended. We had a bottle of wine that we have not seen for the last three years, as we have been unable to find it in the US. When we traveled to Italy we brought back a case of Castle Brolio Chianti and ran out of it in 2005. Mark had ravioli stuffed with ricotta cheese and truffels grated over it, right in front of him. The waiter asked if we were from the USA (in German, sounds like USR) and I said yes-he gave Mark some extra truffels! I had ente (duck) cooked with espresso and curry, it was all delicious. Back to the loft and we both hit the sack.

Tag zwolf:
Ich bin heute krank (I am sick today!). I got up and just wasn't doing well, my nose is soooooo dry and bleeding and I just feel like shit! We did manage to go grocery shopping (always fun in a different country!), and got our laundry done. I found the dryer here interesting, as it does not exhaust! It had a condensor that water collected in and you could empty after a load or two. Talk about hot - wow! We partially dryed the clothes because I didn't want to bake them to death, aber alles gut kam hervor (but all came out well).

Earlier, Mark ventured out on his own while I was in bed and found a teller machine (Geldautomat) so we could withdraw cash to pay our bill (If paying by credit card = 5% of total added on to bill-$75!). But he had an adventure as the first bank sent him down the street links (left), then rechts (right) and no teller machine. He walked back and found that it was just across the street - who says the Germans don't have a sense of humor!

When he got back I cooked pasta and mixed it with butter, garlic, olive oil and pesto - yum! After that I hit the sack and slept till 8am today. Mark stayed up doing his research for morgen till late.

Gutta Nacht,
Pat and Mark

Munchen nach Obersalzberg, tag acht, neun und zehn

The Kehlsteinhaus (Eagle's Nest)

Inside the brass lined elevator that goes up to the Kehlsteinhaus

Pat in Eva Braun's tearoom

Pat in the tunnel that leads to the elevator

Mark outside the entrance to the tunnel

Your's truly at the Kehlsteinhaus

View from our balcony at our hotel "Hotel Zum Turken". The driveway going to the left is where the Berghof used to stand

Machine gun nest in a bunker

Sign in the bunker

A bunker entrance

Our hotel. Pat is standing in the guard house the SS used

Another view of our hotel. Our room was on the second floor with a balcony

The only remains of Hitler's Berghof

A view from the Kehlsteinhaus

A view from the trail leading to the summit above the Kehlsteinhaus

A view from the Kehlsteinhaus. The large horseshoe building is the Intercontinental Hotel. The Hotel Zum Turken is to the left with the green roof.

Munchen to Berchtesgaden, Tag Acht

We are writing the blog on the computer today but will be unable to post till we get into Berlin. We checked out of our apartment in Munchen, and were so sad to leave. Gabrielle and Josef were so good to us we definitely plan on coming back!

Our drive to Berchtesgaden was a good one, the highway was rather crowded today with lots of tourist and buses on it. Top speed today: 200 KPH, and only for a short time. We crossed right over into Austria no problem but the border was rather crowded. With cars lining up to get a “Vignette”, which you have to have to drive on the Austrian Autobahn or they will fine you! Sure enough when we exited, they were on the side of the road and flagged us down….as we slowed he saw our Vignette and waved us through. Good thing we knew!

We arrived around 12:30, and found our way to the Hotel with one stop to ask for directions. We ended up asking two wood cutters on a narrow road where the Zum Turken was, the answer: Rechts! We backtracked and found the Hotel. You have to ring the bell at the hotel, as the front door is never unlocked. Being a historical building Frau Scharfenburg keeps the door locked at all times. We rang and told them who we were and Pat came and answered the door, in perfect English! Pat has come to the hotel for the last 27 years and helps out in the summer, she is from Boston. We got checked in and shown to our room. Obersalzberg is such a beautiful place, perhaps one of the most beautiful that I have ever seen. The room was cosy, bed comfy and the view spectacular!

The Hotel Zum Turken was the building that Hitler’s personal body guards the "Leibstandarte" stayed in. This hotel was here long before Hitler but has been made famous by him. It was damaged at the end of the war but the building remained intact and the Scharfenburgs restored it and is now once again a hotel. No internet or TV or telephones in the rooms, very old fashioned but wonderful. The Bavarian government has tried to take it and is still trying. Many of the buildings associated with the Third Reich have been destroyed by the government. They want people to come to Berchtesgaden and Obersalzberg for other reasons. Not something I quite understand since it is an enormous tourist draw, and there are many other things to do here but don’t try to cover up the past history. The Platterhof (General Walker Hotel) was demolished a couple of years ago, along with several other important buildings. Frau Scharfenburg keeps up the fight to keep her hotel running. It is a beautiful place and she deserves much praise for the condition and cleanliness of the building. Not a speck of dirt anywhere! Anyway, after checking in we went and met our tour for the “Kehlsteinhaus” and Obersalzburg. Our tour guide was Sharon and she was from Zimbabwe. She is married to a German man and her English was perfect. We toured the Documentation center and the Platterhof bunker that is underneath it, and had a driving tour showing us buildings that still exist and the places where others used to be. Last stop was the Kehlsteinhaus. Unfortunately it was overcast but none the less what a drive and view! It was given to Hitler for his 50th birthday, but he only visited it 14 times. Seems he was afraid of heights! Eva Braun spent much time there. After the tour we made our way back to the hotel and Pat recommended a good place to eat, the “Holzkafer”. Dinner was fantastic! I had the ofenkartoffel mit turkey and a salat. Mark had Schwein Schnitzel that was sehr gut too! We made our way back to the hotel and stopped in at the bar (an honor bar) and had a beer and listened to some music. Then off to bed, we slept well.

Tag neun:
Das wetter ist schon! Our first stop today was to go and explore the bunkers underneath the hotel which are quite large and have many passageways. We went in at 9am and were the only ones inside and it really takes your breath away as it is very eerie. It makes your heart pound and I had to just stop and relax for a few moments (which it did!). Clear skies and cool so we decided to go back to the Kehlstein haus. I can’t say enough about how beautiful it is up here. We took pictures and had a beer on the terrace with some coldcuts. Just to sit there and look out at the valley below and mountains. Some of the most infamous people in the world partied here, and to think we are where they once stood, really cool. After the Kehlsteinhaus, we made our way to Lake Konigsee and took the tour. To get to the boats you have to go through a tourist wonderland, like your at Six Flags or Disneyworld! We were disappointed by the “Tourist Trap” that the lake has become. As we got up to one of the windows there were another group of people beside us complaining in English that they couldn’t understand and needed to know the costs. I asked for 2 tickets round trip in German and the man at the ticket window understood me perfectly. I asked if my German was correct, he answered and said it was “sehr gut” (very good). The lake itself is very beautiful, but if you do the complete round trip beware that it takes some time. On the way back we picked up some passengers from the monastery and two Russian men sat across from us speaking loudly the whole time, not to mention that they smelled liked they had smoked two packs of cigarettes …in the last half hour! It was so awful that Mark actually opened a window so we wouldn't suffocate! We have many pictures for all to see and hope to post some soon after we get to Berlin.

Tag zehn::
We got up early today to make our way back to Munchen and return the rental car. We hit a top speed of 210 KPH today on the autobahn. Finding the garage for the rental car was quite difficult and Mark stopped and parked and went into the office to find the right garage to return to. While I was sitting there I decided to translate the sign on the building in front of me: “Be Careful, dangerous area and pieces of the building may fall during storms!” That made me feel a little uneasy as I looked up and saw that we were parked at the peak of the building…….. Good thing he came around the corner as I sat and squirmed! We found the correct garage and took the S-Bahn to the Hauptbahnhof. Our ICE train was waiting there and we hopped on board and found a seat in first class. We both fell asleep for a while and when we woke found chocolates in front of us on the table.. nice touch! We have been watching the countryside on the way to Berlin, it’s so neat to see how other people live in other countries. Lots of Solar Panels in this Germany, perhaps we in the USA should think more about doing this. I had some soup and a beer while sitting and listening to my IPod and typing in the blog.. We should get into Berlin at 5pm, plenty of time to get to our apartment before 6pm. We had a grand time in Berchtesgaden and perhaps it is one of the most beautiful places in the world. We met many Americans there working which we were amazed at. Our waitress at the restaurant was from Virginia, Pat at the hotel is from Boston. Funny!!

We arrived on time at the Berlin bahnhof and walked to our apartment. We met Ellenore and she showed us the unit, and I told her we were pleased and how nice it was to meet her in German. Mark's eyes bugged out! It is nice to speak more than one language. It is very modern and quite nice, sehr nett! We settled in and then went out for dinner. We had a great meal at an Italian place down the street and will elaborate morgen as it is sind spat hier, und ich bin mude! (very late here and I'm tired!).

Pat and Mark

Munchen Tag Seben

Hello all that are reading,

We posted some pictures today on the blog for some of the days, so you'll have to go back and check out Amsterdam and other days to see them. We were going to go to Freidrichshafen today but decided that we really needed to take an easy day, so we hung out in the city and drove a few places. We made breakfast, an omlette with ham, cheese, and spanish bacon with toast. Very tasty!

Our highlight of the day was mailing a package and some postcards, and having lunch at the Hofbrauhaus. First the package: Gabrielle told us where the Deutsch Post was so we found a spot to park and walked over. The "Schlange" (line or snake) was quite long so we waited and finally made it up to the window. Got the package taken care of but had to mention that the Deutsch is more than just a post office, it's also a bank and offices of DHL! A one stop place to take care of your mail, money, and if you need to ship something. No way would this go in the USA. We also saw some police park and get out of a car, they were wearing street clothes but had holsters on with a gun. They look like everyone else, you would never know until he/she flashed a badge at you.

Second: The Hofbrauhaus: Wow, it was crazy! You walk right in and just look for a seat, if you see one you ask if anyone is sitting there and if not, it's yours. We sat at a table with another German couple around our age and watched all the craziness as the soccer fans where in force. Lots of Team songs, and in between the Oom-pah band playing. Beer comes in 1/2 and 1 liter glasses here. The gentleman across from us polished off 2 liters! Mark and I had 1/2L, then split a 1 liter....very German to do so! We actually left before we finished it off as we are not quite used to drinking so much!

We got back home and spoke with Gabrielle and Joseph to find out we're leaving the day the Birthday celebration of Munchen starts taking place (850 years)! We sat around and drank some tea and had a pretzel, talked and relaxed. Started packing for tomorrow. We plan to leave for Berchtesgaden around 9am, and take the autobahn down into Austria and back into Germany. We will be out of touch for 3 or 4 days. We will post another blog when we get to Berlin, or if we find a Internet Cafe there. Take care all.

Pat & Mark

Munchen Tag Sechs

Hello Again!

Es regnet mit donner und blitzen! (It's raining with thunder and lightning) right now and it's coming down hard, we are glad to be back home for the night. We had an exciting day. This was our "Castle Day", we went und saw Neuschanstein, Hohenschwangau, und Linderhof. We started early and pulled the car out to hit the road. The car has a nice navigation system and it came in handy today.

Top speed today: 223 Kilometers: 138MPH! That E-Class rocks! The highways are beautiful here, no pot holes, just pristine condition. They are a pleasure to drive. The Germans evidentally know the rules of the road (I would suspect that if your paying 1800 euros for your license, you ought to!) and no problems. The Mercedes just hummed on the Autobahn. We left before the rain started and as soon as we got off the Autobahn, it started. As soon as we got to Neuschwanstein, it cleared up, was cool und schon. We toured Hohenschwangau first, then up the hill to Neuschwanstein. If you have never been it is absolutely beautiful! After the tours, we went into Fussen to get something to eat. I had fresh strawberrys with cream. Then on the road to Linderhof......more rain. We crossed into Austria and went through a checkpoint, he waved us through but he had young travelers on the side with 3 or 4 agents going through every single bag they had! It's such a spectacular drive but we had rain the whole way to Linderhof. Once at Linderhof we had to run for the last english tour and when we finished it was still raining. We programmed the navigation and it led us back home, but when we got to the Autobahn, it wasn't raining. So we made very, very quick time back to Munchen averaging over 200 KPH the whole way, that's over 124MPH!






















What didn't we see today? No wrecks. No cars pulled over on the side of the road. no trash on the roads. We really like it here, so much more than Amsterdam and even more than Italy. We've had a few trials and will elaborate on that later in a funny situatiuons blog for the trip. We have eins tag mehr in Munchen and feel a little sad to leave. If you've never been do yourself a favor and come and visit!

Pat and Mark

Munchen/Nurnberg Tag Funf

Hey out there in the USA!

How's everyone doing? We had another fine day, das wetter war dewerked (the weather was cloudy) and cool and since Nurnberg was supposed to be warm and sunny we decided to go. We lounged around this morning, ate fruhstuck und trinke kaffee. We caught the ICE 1508 at 11:22 and got to Nurnberg at 12:32.

We headed for the Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelande. Germany has done a great job of documenting National Socialism and this museum was sehr gut! From the beginning to the end it's all documented here. We spent 3 hours going through the exhibits, and then walked to the Zeppelin field.. It's a hike from the museum and we were quite disappointed to see trash everywhere! They evidentally had some sort of festival or soccer game and the park and the rally grounds were trashed. They were busy cleaning up but, what a disappointment to see this in such a beautiful place. We got to the Zeppelin Tribune and climbed up and took some pictures. After we were through we headed back to the Altstadt and decided to have dinner. Mark had Cordon Blue and I had Bavarian pot roast. Dinner was very good and we headed back to the hauptbahnoff. We caught ICE 721 with 2 minutes to spare at 18:02! We got back into Munchen at 19:04, the highest speed today:289 kilometers!

Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelande


Congress Hall


Zeppelin Tribune


Pat on Tribune speaker platform


Structures that supported flags and cauldrons surrounding the field


Dinner in Nurnberg




Trains here in Germany are very good, always clean and tend to be on time unless there is a problem. Very different from Amsterdam! Our country really needs to learn how to set up mass trasit like it is here, Mark and I are very impressed with their system.

Es regnet heute Abend mit donner (it is raining tonight with thunder) and the weather is going to get cooler. We plan to go to the castles tomorrow, I hope that we are able to get some clearing but the forcast is not hopeful. Hope everyone is well, send us a comment!

Pat and Mark