Berlin

I got up at 5 am to catch the Berlin-Warsaw Express, which left just after 6 am.  Another nice long train trip, but this was was only a mangeable 5 hours!

Here is what makes Berlin so cool to me: I spent one winter and spring living there while I was a college student. Back then it was WEST Berlin and EAST Berlin. Sooooooooo different now! Most of you probably won't understand this post or why I put the pictures places I do here. But it carries a lot of meaning to me ... In fact, I was almost overcome, emotionally, while standing where the wall used to be, looking at the Brandenburg Gate. It used to on the other side of the wall, guarded by a brutal Communist dictatorship. It meant certain death to try to walk up to it and touch it. I was almost overcome again while I stood looking at the difference in Potsdamer Platz, a bustling intersection now, a bull-dozed over no-man's land just beyond the wall back then. Anyway, here are some of my pictures.



Arriving at the new Berlin Hauptbahnhof.

The handy map!

The KuDamm, the major shopping street, I lived a block from.

Believe it or not, the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, enshrouded while they clean and renovate it.

Here's how it used to look, the bombed-out shell of a church left that way as a memorial after World War II.

Crazy for soccer!

My old street!

Entrance to my Pension.

The outside ... it still looks the same!

The train station down the street.

The great Berlin curry wurst, with pommes frites!

The ever-present fruit store.

The train station where we used to enter East Berlin.  The rail line ended here back then and the East Berlin border guards spent about an hour with your passport before being OKed to enter the east.

And this used to be the exit from the border crossing onto the streets of East Berlin, which then had a mostly bombed-out appearance, very grey and drab, still from WWII.  Now it opens up to new buildings, just a few steps from a lively shopping area.

The Russian embassy, still in the prime location in Berlin.

THE main street in old Berlin, used to be in the east, now regaining its once-prominent position.  Several of the best museums in the world are just down the street.

The Brandenburg Gate, from the east.  This area used to be no-man's land.

Where The Wall used to be.

My pic, standing where the wall used to be.

One comment:  after all these years, I STILL could not go up to it and touch it!  Back then it was a communist dictatorship that kept you away.  Now it was Cocal Cola and Hyundai, who were sponsoring a "fan mile" for the soccer games.  Thousands of fans were assembling in the other direction to watch the game on this big-screen TV, behind me in this picture.  I'm sorry, but but it is just wrong to keep people away from such a symbol of freedom and democracy.  It shouldn't make anyone compare it with the old Communist East Germany!
  (By the way, shouldn't it be a "fan kilometer" in Europe?  Just wonderin').

Same spot, back then, with the communist East German flag flying on the top.



Potsdamer Platz.



Same place back then.  You can still see a couple of the buildings in the background.  This is a photo of a picture that was on display there.

A section of The Wall on display in Potsdamer Platz.

On to Warsaw



The beautiful Polish countryside.



This is the furthest east I have ever been.  Warsaw has so much history surrounding it, that I had to see it.  Unfortunately, so much of it has been destroyed over the years becasue it is sort of the crossroads of history, always being taken over or partitioned by other countries.  It is now a real mixture of the old standing right next to the ultra modern.  There are more skyscrapers here than any other European city I've been to.



I saw the stadium in which Germany played Italy the NEXT night in the Euro 2012 soccer chanpionship.  I guess I'm glad I missed the crowds.  I saw most of the game on TV the next night and didn't see much celebrating around here (I'm now in Berlin) because Germany lost.



The Soviet-era Communist government building.  Pretty interesting.

Especially for you, Ryan!  Lots of police on the streets, for the Euro 2012 game.

Memorial to the 1940 Jewish Ghetto, destroyed by the Nazis.

The old mixed in with the new in Poland.

From the primitive to the luxurious:  my room on the 19th floor!  More of a full apartment than a hotel room.  Niiiiiice!

The kitchen area.

Warsaw Old Town.  Notice the Italian soccer fans unfurling the huge Italian flag.

The beautiful old town.

My special Polish friend.

The old town square.

The soccer stadium, awaiting the next night's game.

Polish sunset from the 19th floor.

More Krakow

I got up and hit the streets at 6:30 because it was such a beautiful day and there was so much to see in this beautiful town.

The view out my hotel window ... a 1700s church.

You can read Polish!

Bread rings for sale for breakfast all around town.

Decoration detail on the town market building.

Entrance to the dungeon at the castle.

A beautiful park that goes completely around the old wall around the old town.

Inside of one of the beautiful churches.  There is almost literally a church on every corner.

Baroque decoration on a coffin inside a church.

I have NEVER seen this before!  All the churches depict and worship Jesus Christ.  This is the only church I've ever seen in Europe that shows God the Father.  Christ is on his right hand.  Have you ever seen this, Kristina?

Especially for you, Kristina!

Krakow, Poland

Call me nuts, but you don't have to, because I already know.  Why take a 10-hour train trip?

Well ... it was an adventure ... I got to pass through Prague and the further east we went, the more "primitive" everything seems to be.  The Prague-Warsaw express had to slow down to a crawl a number of times because the tracks were in such bad condition.  There were lots of worn our places to be seen in the towns along the way.  Much of it due to being under Communism for so many decades, so that progress was forever hindered.

Things were very different here in Krakow, Poland, though.  It is a miniature Prague!  So beautiful and so well-preserved.  Many churches with fantastic paintings and sculpture and about the nicest town square I've seen anywhere, lined with sidewalk cafes.

Hard to get to, but well worth it!

And the train trip was a trip back into time!

Crossing the Moldau into Prague

The Czech countryside

In Polish

The Square in Krakow, Poland

The "Passages," like in Prague

Especially for you, Sonya!

And, that's about the size of it!  (a European single room, that is)!