Eastern europe day 8

This is Checkpoint Charlie. To be exact, it's the wall opposite the actual checkpoint. This is the point of the crossing between East and West Berlin. If i remember correctly, when i took this picture i was in no man's land, it's a street that was created after the wall came down. This area was between the two barb wired walls. I could be wrong though :-), we saw the wall at several locations and so i might have mixed it up. :-)

Eastern europe day 8

This is the famous Bradenberg Gate. It is here that Germans gathered by the thousands to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall. It must have been a very exciting time to be a Berliner then, it must have been a really emotional moment for them. I certainly remember see the pictures of the momentous moment on the news. Berliners still gather here in the thousands yearly but for a very different reason. They gather here on new year's eve to celebrate the coming of the new year.

Eastern europe day 8

We saw so many buildings and passed so many places of interest that it's embarrassing to have to admit that i seriously don't know what more than half of them are called. This is a photo of one of the more important and famous rivers in Berlin. I know when i return to singapore, i will have to do a fair bit of research to fill in all the blanks.

Eastern europe day 8

Our Berlin guide, Ita, was originally born in Malaysia but she's lived in Germany for so long she says she's practically german. She told us that there are many Turkish workers in Berlin. These workers mostly live in apartments that have few windows or no windows, i'm not entirely sure which. So on the weekend or on a holiday, the park you see in the photo above is one of their favourite haunts. They like to gather for picnics there. Reminds me of the foreign workers in singapore and how they like to gather at certain spots just to catch up and hang out. Now, i'm not sure if the people in the photo are Turkish, but that is certainly a photo of the biggest park in Berlin. It is near the statue of the lady of victory.

Eastern europe day 8

We had a pretty busy day in Berlin today. Even though our guided city tour was 3hours long and our Berlin guide let it run for 3 1/2 hours, still i felt that it was too short. It was a pretty day in Berlin and fantastic for walking but unfortunately our city tour took place mostly on the bus unlike the city tours in Krakow and Warsaw. There many notable buildings in Berlin. Lots of old and new architectural styles, so i think in the end my group was so busy snapping photos, that they were unusually inattentive today. I was one of the culprits as I certainly was too busy taking in all the sights to hear most of what she said. Pity... I usually like listening to the guides.

Eastern europe day 8

We're now in Berlin, Germany. The drive here was quite smooth and we arrived at the restaurant for lunch about 11/2 hrs early. Now going to eat. Itadakimasu. :-)

Eastern europe day 8

It's day 8 of my eastern europe tour. We're leaving the city of Poznan and the country of Poland now. It'll be several hours before we reach Berlin, Germany, our next destination. The weather is lovely today. The sun is out and the weather report for Berlin is good and it will probably be about 22 degrees in Berlin. When we reach Berlin, we're scheduled to do a city tour first then we'll have some free time. We also agreed as a group to pay a little extra for an optional trip to Dresden on the day after. Okie dokie, that's it for now. :-)