Berlin Blitz

6fartsinacart
Aug 27, 2017
4 min read

4 August 2017, Friday: As the sun is shining we choose some photos for the blog and leave for Berlin around 11am. After stopping for a Lidl shop we arrive at Tempelhof Airfield Park, an abandoned international airport in the centre of Berlin. The airport played a major part during the Berlin Airlift of 1948 when Soviet Forces halted all traffic by land and by water into and out of the western-controlled sectors of Berlin. During the following 11 months the city's 2 and a half million residents were supplied and sustained by what has been described as one of the greatest feats in avian history.

Our main interest in Berlin is the Berlin Wall. After lunch we drive to the East Side Gallery situated between Oberbaumbrücke and Ostbahnhof where a long stretch of the notorious wall is still standing. We go for a stroll along the wall, looking at the variety of graffiti displays.

As we are in the 'green area' already, we carry on driving through the centre. Dad stops at the Brandenburg Gate and some of us get out for a photo session. Seen as Berlin's most famous landmark, this neoclassical monument was originally a gate in Berlin's city wall at the end of the Unter den Linden Avenue (a boulevard in the central Mitte district of Berlin). It reflects the country's turbulent past and its peaceful achievements like no other landmark in Germany.

A little distance further along the broad boulevard Strasse des 17. Juni (the western continuation of the boulevard Unter den Linden) we stop at the Soviet War Memorial which commemorates the Red Army soldiers who died during battle for Berlin in World War II. Slightly further on we reach a vast roundabout known as the Grosser Stern, with the Berlin Victory Column standing right at the centre of it. This is situated at the heart of Tiergarten Park and is another of Berlin's monuments that has reinvented itself through the ages, from a symbol of Prussian military victory in the 19th century to a favourite tourist spot today.

We start exiting Berlin's centre at 7pm driving northwest towards our park4night stop near Hennigsdorf, approximately 20km away. It is a lush strip of land next to the Havel River. Its main tributary is the Spree River which winds through Berlin in several branches to join the Havel River (also branching out into hundreds of smaller streams to make up the Spreewald Forest). As it is too late for Genève to make us the pie that was on the menu, we settle for Döner kebabs from a kiosk nearby before settling down for a peaceful sleep.

5 August 2017, Saturday: Today starts with a variety of activities. Dad and Emile try their luck at fishing while Genève starts preparing pies for supper, and Mum tries her luck with the sun (which we need for the inverter to be able to supply the laptop with power). The only successful one being Genève, we have communion followed by an early lunch at 12pm and leave in the rain for Templin where we can dump and fill up at a price. En-route to Zahren we have to take a detour because of roadworks, adding an additional 12km. We arrive around 5.30pm and are the 4th camper to park at this quiet and tranquil parking at a small lake. As the pies go into the oven we kids go play volleyball, with Dad pretending to be the intructor, until Mum calls us for supper. Each pie 'parcel' has a personalised pastry 'label'. Thanks Genève! We finish the meal off with watermelon and retire for the night around 10pm.

Berliner Mauer (Berlin Wall) - East Side Gallery

We're right here

Bright and cheerful

Even Nelson has managed to find his way here

Almost there, buddy

We were taught never to write on walls

Playing chameleon... and blending in

Chomp

Hang tight Mielie!

The Oberbaum Bridge is a double-deck bridge, crossing Berlin's River Spree. It links Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg, former districts that were divided by the Berlin Wall, and has become an important symbol of Berlin's unity

Berlin TV Tower (Berliner Fernsehturm ) - with its height of 368 meters (including the antenna) it is the tallest structure in Germany and one of the 3 tallest structures in Europe

Gilded medallion of Kaiser Wilhelm I on the front facade of the 1706 Zeughaus, one of the most important Baroque buildings in Berlin. It houses the Deutsches Historisches Museum

Brandenburg Gate

Horses and chariot on top of the Brandenburg Gate - Located in no-man's land between East and West Germany during the Cold War, this famous monument has long been a defining symbol of Berlin and both the city's division and unification

Soviet War Memorial

The Berlin Victory Column (Siegessäule) featuring a viewing platform and an iconic golden 'angel' (Victoria, the personified goddess of victory in ancient Roman religion)