Thursday September 19, 2013

Sadly...our last day of this amazing vacation. Today we visited Europe's largest department store, KaDaWe, is immense with a spectacular selection of clothes from every designer and clothing line imaginable! The Gendarmenmarkt is a beautiful square, with matching Lutheran and Huguenot churches flanking the concert hall, all rebuilt - one of Europe's best. Currywurst Express is Berlin's native fast food restaurant - German sausages with a curry tomato sauce...and Carl's favourite. The Ritter museum, home of the Ritter chocolate bar ... Fiona's favourite.

This afternoon, we took Cormac's advice and went to see the Egypt exhibits at the Neues Museum. It was quite good especially for those of us who have been King Tutted to death.





It got its name because it only reopened in 2009, another victim of the war. Like any older building here, its exterior bears the marks of battle. One sees facades pock marked with bullet holes on quiet side streets.


Auf Wiedersehen Berlin!

Fiona & Carl

Location:Berlin

Wednesday September 18, 2013

A cold & rainy day in Berlin, so a good one to head to the Gemaldegallerie. Berlin's old masters gallery has first rate paintings but is notable for its large spaces and low attendance, making it an especially enjoyable experience.














We lasted there until our bodies gave out and then headed around the corner to the Resistance museum. There were a series of individual stories but the focus was on the Valkyrie plot most recently dramatized by Tom Cruise as Count von Stauffenberg. It is situated on the square where he was executed after the bomb he planted failed to kill Hitler. As with Sachsenhausen, the museum was full of 16 year olds.






Dinner tonight in a tiny gem of a place called Bandol Sur Mere on Torstrasse with cousin Cormac.


Fiona & Carl

Location:Berlin

Tuesday September 17, 2013

We got on the subway aka U-Bahn this morning and took the U2 to Zoo Station (they call it that, no kidding for you fans of Achtung Baby!)


where we met up with the tour of Sachsenhausen concentration camp -just north of Berlin. It was 10 years ago we went to Dachau near Munich and it must be said that the East Germans have done a much better job of memorializing the Holocaust. You will wonder why we would confront such horrors. Since we cannot describe it ourselves, we will leave it at they cannot be ignored or avoided. But we went immediately to a bar upon our return to Berlin with a Cleveland lady we befriended on the tour.




















(Nicolai, our tour guide. He was excellent)

Last night we ate the cheap Berlin specialty currywurst. Tonight, it was a tasting menu at a fantastic wine bar - Winebar Rutz. Each has its merits. The Rieslings were a delight but there is something special about a tasty sausage.

Fiona & Carl

Location:Berlin

Sunday & Monday, September 15 & 16

Arrived in Berlin around 2pm on Sunday. On our way from Dresden to Berlin we stopped at the town of Colditz. Colditz is famous for its castle which housed, during the war, Allied officers who were considered flight risks - several books and movies done on this subject. The castle was considered escape proof but as we found out that was not always the case. We joined a British tour group and got a guided tour of the castle. Many of the methods used by the officers to escape were quite ingenious - see photo of French officer dressed as a woman (didn't work though).


It's great to be back in Berlin - really love this city. Rainy day but we got up early today for an early appointment to see the Reichstag. Visited the local bakery to get a quick chocolate croissant and coffee. High security at the Reichstag...you have register at a website first...then show ID...get searched at the entrance etc. The huge glass dome at the top is an architectural wonder and gives impressive panoramic views of Berlin.



(View of the Brandenberg Gates from the Reichstag)

Then back to the bakery for a 2nd visit...From there we headed to the former Checkpoint Charlie - the best known crossing point between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. The museum there is quite good - gives a very detailed account of the postwar period in Berlin...quite fascinating accounts of all the escape attempts to the West.

(Carl standing at the old checkpoint)
Then on to a 3rd bakery visit. From there we headed to the Jewish History Museum. Daniel Libeskind designed the new wing of this museum - very dramatic and thought provoking...integrates and personalizes well the Jewish experience of the past 2000 years. Included a visit to the Holocaust Tower - an empty 80 foot high concrete silo lit only by a small slit near the top - in this unheated structure you stand and contemplate the victims of the Holocaust.

(Photo of old and new wing of Jewish museum. Looks a bit odd from the outside but the interiors blend very well)
And then on to our 4th bakery visit...and maybe not our last today.
Tschuss (Bye) for now!
Fiona & Carl

Location:Berlin, Germany

Saturday September 14, 2013

Tough drive here from Salzburg yesterday. 8 hours of heavy rain with visibility down to 75m at points coupled with several traffic jams. But all worth it today. Two facts define Dresden: first that was the capital of the kingdom of Saxony and second that the Allies firebombed and destroyed most ofit in 1945. So much of what we saw today has been rebuilt over the past 50 years - which has resulted in returning Dresden to the beautiful Baroque city it was. We started with the Old Masters art museum - the Gemaldarie which was 1st rate and included Raphael's Sistine Madonna as well as Giorgio's Sleeping Venus. The former is famous for those insouciant angels in the bottom who show up everywhere. Two of the three dozen Vermeers are found here as well.



We strolled around the old city all afternoon enjoying the architecture and the events of a busy Saturday. The ladies run followed the marathon.


We enjoyed Vespers in the Kreuzkirche with the famous all boys choir Kreuzchor - stunning voices. One can clearly see what few parts of various buildings survive the war as you can in these photos of the Frauenkirche. The dark stones are originals used to reconstruct a largely destroyed structure.


Too short a visit as we say everywhere. Our Westin is a bit Soviet but is located on the Elbe and across from the Golden Horse.


The wine isn't great but this is beer country anyway so no complaints :-)

Fiona & Carl

Location:Dresden, Germany

Thursday September 12, 2013

We start with a quiz today. What international beverage company is headquartered in Fuschl, the tiny town located near our hotel? Here is their office. Take a close look at the sculptured animals here for a clue.





We have dodged rain daily but our luck ran out today. This morning brought a first rate storm so we found a laundromat in Salzburg and headed off to a "bakerei" while we waited for some clean clothes. Then we toured around the city in the rain. It is a very touristy place so we did not spend long, especially since we had seen most of Salzburg and its fortress ten tears ago. The highlight was the main plate where we bought delicious sausages. Then another bakerei, this one with unique pretzels.


Note from Fiona - this bakery had the most delicious cherry and cream cheese pastry i have ever tasted! Thank God I don't live near it!

Back to the hotel by 2 pm and we set out for a 2h hike in light rain. We opted for relatively flat ground today along the Fuschlsee shore. We are regretting we did not book longer here at this gorgeous hotel but we will celebrate a very special place this evening. Tomorrow we leave for Dresden - 2 nights there and then on to Berlin.

Quiz answer: Red Bull. (Bet Kristin got it :-)

Fiona & Carl

Location:Salzbugerland

Wednesday September 11, 2013

Today we set out with our trekking poles and map just as the last rain of the day fell. We had no plan but ended up heading up Filbling. This small mountain is listed as 1307m but we are starting at Fuschlsee which is at 640m. Our goal was to reach Filblingsee which is a small lake surrounded by hills at about 1100m.


However, we fell in with a nice couple from Hamburg. Since they were even older than us we followed them to reach the cross on the top. It was tough going the last 200m, really steep, just rocks and tree roots. But the views that rewarded us were spectacular. We could probably see 40 km of alpine lakes, valleys and mountains in all directions.





Thankfully the descent down the other side was less steep. After 5h of hiking, ever grateful for those poles, we arrived back to the Finnish sauna and whirlpool.


Fiona & Carl

Location:Near Fuschlsee, Austria

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

The weather was working again in our favour so we decided to visit one of the most scenic towns in Austria - Hallstatt. The town, population 800 or so, lies on a lovely lake at the base of towering mountains - just a beautiful place. The houses are clustered together very tightly, adding to its charm.







One of the most unique/bizarre features of Halstatt is its Beinhaus or Bonehouse. In the Beinhaus are the skulls and bones of 1,200 former residents. Because space was so limited in the town, the cemetery often became overcrowded so bodies were dug up after 10 years and their bones placed in the Beinhaus. The skulls were painted with names, dates and floral motifs. Now that cremation is more common, no one has been added to house since 1983.


(All the skulls and bones neatly stacked)





(This is the last person to be placed in the Beinhaus - her skull is dated 1983 and if you look closely he has one large shiny gold tooth!)


(Carl in the tiny, cramped cemetery)


(When I was a child I completed a 1,000 piece jigsaw of this exact scene in Hallstatt. Here I am decades later taking a photo of it!)

We then headed off to take a tour of the ice caves. We took a cable car up to
the Dachstein mountains followed by a very steep climb to the cave entrance. A guided tour explained how after the last Ice Age underground water created strange ice mountains, glaciers and frozen waterfalls inside the caves - all very surreal looking. You have to be fit for this outing - the climb to the cave entrance combined with the 500 steps inside the caves is a good workout!










Pouring rain now...it held off until 6pm...hoping for a dry day tomorrow. Til then!

Fiona & Carl

Location:Schloss Fuschl, Austria