Biking Berlin

Berlin, with it's many diverse neighborhoods, had a unique and hip feel.

We  managed to meet up with Sascha, a guy we met back near the start of our trip in Cuzco, Peru and a native Berliner. He took us out for some currywurst and drinks while giving us some tips on the city.

As part of the public transportation system Berlin had bike’s available with docking stations strategically placed all over the city. While many European cities have similar services available, we’ve often run into issues with registering with US credit cards (our technology is a little behind) but we managed to sign up and hope to use the bikes in all our German destinations. The system offers the first 30 minutes for free,  so we sped around town trying to get from one site to the next without being charged. 

Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral)

The view from Berliner Dom. 

The East Berlin TV tower.  Constructed in the late 60’s by the German Democratic Republic, the tower was supposed to be an imposing symbol to nearby West Berlin, but an ironic and unforeseen design effect causes a crucifix to appear in the middle of the ball when the sun hits it, giving rise to the name “The Pope’s revenge”.  Today the tower is the symbol of Berlin and the tallest structure in Germany at  1,198ft.

The Berlin Holocaust Memorial. The 4.7 acre site sits on rolling hills and is covered with  2,711 concrete pillars of various heights. You can wander through, around and on top of the pillars giving the memorial a limitless number of different perspectives. The memorial was designed “to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason” Underneath the memorial is an information exhibit about those murdered during the holocaust. 

The longest remaining stretch of the Berlin wall was converted into a 1.3 km long gallery of 100 paintings in 1990.

Checkpoint Charlie, once a heavily guarded crossing point between East and West Berlin is now a museum and touristy guard station.

Some of the original signs for the check point still stand.

The Prague Blog

During it’s 1,100 year history Prague served as the capital for two Holy Roman Emperors and briefly as the seat the of power for the Hapsburg’s and the Austro Hungarian empire (mentioned those guys it the last post) as well as playing an important role in the Protestant reformation. With a long list of historical moments from medieval empires to the cold war and famous residents, including Mozart, Einstein and Kafka, It’s long been considered as one of Europe’s original cultural, economic and political centers.

For all those reasons plus some stunning architecture and one very large castle, Prague has become a must see on nearly every European vacation tour….which was made abundantly obvious by the mob of tourists swarming over every inch of town. We’re not sure we saw one local resident of Prague the entire time we were down town.   Fortunately being the cheap asses we are, we stayed a little ways out of town , giving us an escape from the tourist hordes and a chance to enjoy a couple of really nice (but still cheap) meals in a more “real” setting.        

Staroměstské Nám (old town square) with the steeples of Tyn Church in the background

An astronomical clock from 1410, making it the second oldest still functioning and the oldest on public display.

Charles Bridge, built in 1357, across the Vltava River

Tower of Charles Bridge

The ceiling of St Nichlas Church, built in the 1730

The Prague Castle, the largest castle in the world according to Guinness. Though once you get up to it, it’s more like a walled city on a hill than a stereotypical “castle”

The ominous looking gate to the castle

St. Vitus Cathedral, located within the castle grounds

The Cathedral had spectacular and intricate stained glass designs.

One of the several views over the Prague skyline from the castle

Wenceslas Square located in Nové Město, or new town founded in 1348. 

The Old-New Synagogue. Dating back to 1270 it’s Europe’s oldest active Synagogue. The name’s a bit confusing but basically there was an older one until it was torn down in 1867, and this one became the oldest.

Powder Tower where Prague’s arms where once stored.

Vienna- Home to a Vast Empire, Opera and More

Vienna- One of the two capitals of the once great Austro-Hungarian Empire which stretched over modern day Austria, Hungry, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, and parts of Italy, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine from the early 1800’s until 1918.  Knowing only a vague outline of the city’s history before arriving we were taken aback and pleasantly surprised by the grandiose and powerful architecture evident throughout the city.

Vienna City Hall

Austria’s Parliament building 

The National Library, which is part of the old Hofburg Palace.

We decided Vienna was a good place to take in some upscale culture (with our “student discount”) and we managed to snag second row seats at the Hofburg-Orchestra.  The concert hall was located in the Imperial Palace where Mozart and Beethoven among many other famous composers once performed.   

 Along with orchestra there was also several opera numbers performed  This is the finale with all five singers belting it out.

 The pterodactyl hanging in entry way to the Natural History Museum. The Museum  displays thousands of the once great empire’s vast collections. It’s said to be one of the oldest and largest natural history museums with the collection dating back more than 250 years  and with an inventory of some 25 million items.

One of the most extensive and impressive exhibits were the minerals, stones and meteorites from around the world (and space). The rows and rows of packed display cases filled five huge rooms.

Sue doing her best wooly mammoth impression.

 The “Venus of Willendorf”. The 5 inch tall figurine is about 25,000 years old and was discovered in 1908 on the Danube river. Remarkably similar statues have been discovered all over the Eurasia continent among the remains of hunter-gather tribes,  but their specific significance is unknown.

The Austrian National Library houses a globe museum, the only one it’s kind worldwide. 250 globes from over 5 centuries were on display, with many of the early ones missing the Americas entirely and slightly later versions showing the gross inaccuracies of the time (both geographically and with depictions of cannibalistic Native Americans or sea monsters)

Roofline of the Church of St. Peter.

Next up heading back east to Prague to sample some famous Czech beer.