Berlin highlights

The Berlin Bear has become a symbol all over Berlin. Each one is painted a differently. Berliners love color and modern design.

The 4 horsemen of the Brandenburg Gate.

The Bombed out church from WWII remains a reminder to pursue peace. This is my brother and his family who joined us in Berlin.

The Berlin Cathedral is beautiful inside and out.

Next to the Berlin Cathedral is the Pergamon museum. There are many items related to Biblical archeology, such as this lion from a gate that the Biblical Daniel would have seen in Babylon.

A wonderful meal of roast duck, potato dumplings and red cabbage.

Getting around Berlin

We took a train to Berlin. It was a 6 1/2 hour trip and we changed trains once. Around town we took busses, a boat tour, subways, we walked... and my brother took us around in a rental car. It's a large city, but we enjoyed finding our way around.

The new train station is beautiful.

http://www.s-bahn-berlin.de/englisch/

Former East Berlin

The Checkpoint Charlie museum exists today to remind people of the limitations of the East side of Germany during the communist era, and the many who tried to escape over the wall or through Checkpoint Charlie.

We were amazed at how much Russian stuff was available and that things were written in Russian in the area.

My brother used to live in the Eastern side of Berlin. He took us around. We were astounded at the sameness of miles and miles of apartments.

Some buildings still have some renovation necessary.

Our son was especially impressed with what has been dubbed by some as "The Pope's Revenge." After the wall went up, the communist government of East Berlin decided to build a TV tower that would be a monument to man's achievements. All crosses on churches were taken down. Still, everytime the sun shone, a cross would form on the TV tower. Even when they tried to put more dull metal on the TV tower, it still formed a cross. God would not let himself be hid.

Berlin: The River tour

We river tour of downtown Berlin. Our charming guide dressed up in an 1800s military costume. He spoke in German while we followed an English guide.



Here are apartments along the older part of the city. Berlin built up along the river around 1200 AD.







This is the Berliner Dom (Cathedral).

Museum Island houses several important museums.

The Reichstag/Bundestag is an older government building still in use. The glass dome inside is

Berlin pride's itself on modern architecture. This double pedestrian walk is interesting.

You can see our tour boat and another modern building reflected in the window.

This is a modern parliament building. A bell tower is in the background.

The German Eagle graces some bridges.

This tour gave us a great overview of the downtown area.

This last view was not on our River Tour. But this sculpture on the River depicts East Germany's struggle and quest for friendship.

Erfurt: Where Luther was educated

Imagine a young Martin Luther sitting in this window chatting with a friend. This old market place in the photo above was right next door to the church where Martin Luther was ordained.

These are the streets where he walked.

Notice the narrow streets because there weren't cars and trucks in those days.

Many, many church spires dot the landscape of Eurfurt. This massive Catholic church stands above the largest public square in Europe.

There is often a market in the square.

All the towns associated with Luther's Life are located in former East Germany. We were a bit surprised at the number of places with graffiti. Until I took this photo intentionally, all the photos I took I managed to get graffiti free. I wanted at least one to show the norm covering very old buildings.