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Published: October 16th 2006
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Brandenburg Gate
This monument in Berlin stood in the 'Death Strip' between the East and West Berlin Walls. This travel blog is harder to keep up with than I thought. So much happens in such a short time span it is difficult to keep up. From memory I last published in Berlin, although I had not yet told you about Amsterdam, so here we go.
Amsterdam is pretty much everything we expected it to be. Lots of half naked ladies and you can not escape the smell of a certain type of smoke as it is everywhere! Steve and I checked in at our hostel, quite a clean room with a nice view to the brothel next door. Our first evening we went for a wander through the red light district and were both amazed by the quality of some of the women in the windows,but as you head down some of the side streets the quality diminishes rather quickly. It was an interesting place and unlike some other red light districts that we have passed through, this was neither sleazy or intimidating, but actually good fun. The second day we were there we did a bike tour of the city. I know that sounds pretty standard, but bikes rule the road in Amsterdam. There are more bikes
Berlin Wall
Steve and I in front of one of the last remaining sections of the Berlin Wall. than people and when they sweep the bottoms of the canals every year, they find 15,000 bikes that have been stolen. So when you cross a road, it is bikes you watch out for. I suggest this tour for the brave, the tour was not all that informative although we did get to visit a cheese and clog factory in Holland! Definately an experience to remember. We also did the tour of the Heiniken Factory. The beer is now made elsewhere, but the tour was fun and you get 3 free beers along the way. The photo is in the last blog. As far as the 'Coffee Shops' go, Steve and I didnt give them a go I am sure I was high half the time just from the amount of it in the air! All in all it was an interesting place.
Next stop was Berlin. Neither Steve and I knew what to expect from this stop. Berlin is not all that pretty to look at. It has some cool buildings, but they look like many other buildings that we have already seen. It does however have a vibe that no other city we have been to has
Unity Festival
We were lucky enough to witness German Unity Day in Berlin where they shut off the main street with stalls and concerts. had. The day after we arrived we did a walking tour of the city. I think you really need to do one to appreciate the depth of this city. The place that we started the tour was near the Brandenburg Gate. If we had been in the same spot only 20 years ago we would have been shot dead as this was a 'death strip', the place between the wall around East Berlin and where the wall for West Berlin stood. Just over 50 years ago we probably would have been dead as well as Nazi troops patrolled the area. Our walking tour took just over 4 hours and we only covered the basics. We saw one of the last remaining parts of the Berlin wall, stood on top of Hitlers Bunker, walked through the memorial to the murdered Jews, visited Museum Island, and that is just to name a few. Steve and I both by the end of this tour had fallen in love with the city that even after being through so much, has refused to say die. It is a vibrant, fun place with more to see than meets the eye.
The next day in Berlin
Prague
Prague Castle up on the Hill we took the tour out to one of the concentration camps about an hour out of the city centre. This was one of the original camps set up as a 'working camp' which is more like slave labour. It originally held political prisoners at the beginning of the war and then many Jews and others came to the camp. I wont go through our whole day there although I feel compelled to share these stories as I think what they suffered deserves to be recognised. Let me just say that I have never been so horrified as I was that day. Over the 9 years of the camp it housed 200,000 people, it is estimated that 80,000 of them died either through excecution or illness. As disturbing as it was we are both really glad that we went.
We luckily landed in Berlin for German Day of Unity so there was a festival with a concert on the main street. Steve and I tried Bratwürst and were both so impressed that we went back for another 😊 In summary we both loved Berlin and would love to go back if we get the chance, there is still so much
Prague at Night
Prague looks best at this time of the day to see there, sadly there were no Hoff sightings on this trip 😞
From Berlin we headed to Prague. We arrived in time to go over the road to watch an ice hockey match. It was good fun as we went with new friends that we have made on our travels. The following day we went on a walking tour and it wasnt really that informative. Saw most of the city though and finished at Prague Castle which is huge but looks more like a palace than a castle. Although Steve and I enjoyed our time here, I think we expected bigger things from it considering what we had heard. The following night we headed into the city and that was when we both enjoyed it the most. Prague looks beautiful at night and has a real romance about the city.
Next was Cesky Kromlov (where?) It is in the Czeck Republic, not too far away from Prague. A very quaint little town which we both very much enjoyed, despite the fact that it was FREEZING! I think it is a little higher than Prague and sits in a little valley which made for some frosty air. It
Cesky Kromlov
Such a pretty place also had a lovely castle with a spectacular views over the town. We just relaxed for the couple of days that we were there and it was the perfect place to do that. Hollywood was also in town and we saw filming for the sequel to Hostel..... Hostel 2! That was a litte exciting. I would suggest that anyone near that area in Europe should visit, it is a really nice place.
I think that I will leave it there for this entry, hopefully there will be another one to follow soon that will update you on Vienna, Salzburg, Venice and Rome which is where we are at the moment. I will also update this blog with photos soon as well. We are both still having a great time and have made some good friends. We cant believe that we only have 2 weeks left before a dreaded winter in London.....
Miss you all a bunch.
Liz and Steve
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Roy Furtado
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Avant Garde - Berlin
I also enjoyed Berlin. It has a sophistication about it especially when you go to see some of the cabaret acts. I also booked a hostel in the Sex Expo block of buildings wich impressed my daughter Jacqueline. Sounds like you'll are having an exhausting but fun time. Keep meeting people especially locals. It adds such meaning and relevance to the trip. Keep communicating its priceless. Roy