Berlin A week in Berlin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Some great playgrounds just next to our hotel |     We were very close to Checkpoint Charlie. This is where the Berlin Wall stood. | Everywhere there were gypsies trying to scam people. It's so obviously a scam, but I guess it doesn't need to be so sophisticated in order to make money |   Checkpoint Charlie from the nearby McDonalds | Finally, we see the shell game scam. We saw it operating twice in Berlin, both times at Checkpoint Charlie, where there's lots of tourists. |   Eating the Berlin specialty of currywurst | The view from the top of the Franz�sische Friedrichstadtkirche |   I took this picture to remind me of something unusual that I noticed in Berlin - huge, wide streets, with no pedestrian signaling at all, nor any other signals (stop signs, etc). I believe it was part of a policy to make everyone watch out and not rely on signals. Don't know how effective it was. It felt weird crossing the road. | At Checkpoint Charlie |   The Jewish Museum |   We did a tour at the old airport - Flughafen Tempelhof. The Americans had officer's quarters there after the war, and also the previous incarnation of Lufthansa had some offices there, before the war. | The old officer's quarters |   The airport terminal hall, closed for years now. |     Peter got tired during the guide's long explanations | This looks very 1930's to me. |   In a former film repository, which burned after the war |   At Mauerpark - lots of street life, markets and and musicians. |   Also lots of litter |   These swings were scattered about oddly over a wide area - maybe an old playground? |   Remnants of the Berlin Wall |   At the AlexanderPlatz |   Walking throught the Museum district |     A famous chocolate store on the Gendarmenmarkt |   At the Holocaust Memorial |   A Russian war memorial close to the Tiergarten |   The kids had lots of fun trying to make it up these very slippery rocks. | The Berlin Wall went right through here as well |   Peter and his rock collection | At the Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin - lots of interesting things, though not very interactive. |   An old railroad, from the 1500s |   This windmill rotated, and was turned via this long post |   Some ruined old buildings next to the museum |   In Potsdam. This was my favorite part of our Berlin trip (though it wasn't actually in Berlin) |   Old East German era buildings in Potsdam |   We spent most of our time in the grounds of the Sanssouci palace. It was lovely. |         More rock collections |     At the Chinese house |     Peter showing off his gun |   I never quite figured out exactly what this sundial type thing was |     On beautiful little island in the park |     Interesting old fence on the perimeter of the park |   At the Eastside Gallery - where there's a long stretch of the old Berlin Wall, with all kinds of graffiti on it. |   This one is quite famous |  No toys? No problem! Just play with rocks! | | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||