More snapshots of Berlin

Unter den Linden is one of the more famous avenues in Berlin. It's a gorgeous promenade of restaurants, historical buildings and offices that lead to the Brandenburg Gate. 

King Friedrich II by Christian Daniel Rauch

Humboldt University

The Opera House under construction

A clock in the square in front of the Humboldt University where Hitler burnt books

Did you know that Nefertiti is right here in Berlin? No? Well, she is. Safely ensconced in the Neues Museum just off Unter den Linden. She really is quite stunning. Unfortunately, there are no photos here, as visitors are forbidden to take any photos of her in the gallery where she resides.

The Neues Museum

The Ishtar Gate of Babylon was commissioned by King Nebuchadnezzar II. Dedicated to the Goddess Ishtar, it was one of the Seven Wonders of The World until it was replaced by the Lighthouse in Alexandria. The reconstruction below is the smaller of the two gates that were originally built. It is said that the larger gate is in storage as it was too large to be reconstructed in the museum.

The Ishtar Gate of Babylon in The Pergamon Museum

A short walk away from the Pergamon Museum is the magnificent Berliner Dom. This immense reconstructed church is beautiful inside. You can walk all the way up into the dome and look out on Berlin if you like.

  

Berliner Dom

If you walk past the Berliner Dom and beyond, you come to Hackescher Markt. Thursday and Saturday are the market days. If you go on one of those days, you will be dazzled by the fantastic variety of fruit, vegetables, knick-knacks and sweets on offer.

Hackescher Markt and the made-to-order potato chips that were out of this world!

Near the Humboldt University is St Hedwig's, the first Catholic church in Berlin after the Protestant Reformation. This church was burnt down completely during the World War and has since been reconstructed.

St Hedwig's

Inside St Hedwig's

On the other end of Unter den Linden is the great Brandenburg Gate. It is round the corner from the Holocaust Memorial and the Reichstag. 

The Brandenburg Gate

Reichstag during the day

Reichstag at night

We are almost at the end of my photos of Berlin, so how can I not finish with some shots of FOOD!

Berliner Bouletten - Pork meatballs served with potato salad

Sweet, crunchy, delicious biscuit studded with caramelised nuts

Snapshots of Berlin

There were so many little things about Berlin which I fell in love with. The lovely apartment in the city which was my temporary home; the unassuming little perfume shop of scented dreams; the endless beauty of its museums; the quiet determination to rebuild a city to its former glory; the disciplined preservation of all things; the year-round Christmas shop; Fassbender & Rausch for their mind-boggling array of all things chocolate; walking all over the city in the evenings without fearing for my safety and oh... who can forget the delicious food!

The apartment was in a strategic area in the city. A stone's throw away from Checkpoint Charlie and other interesting places in the city. Thank you J for letting me stay over. I had a lovely time of good company, laughter and ice-cream!

I shared a space with Nefertiti. The apartment affords a fabulous view of rooftops :-)

The view from the apartment at night

Across the street from the apartment is street full of curious shops and restaurants. I found this little perfume shop Frau Tonis Parfum which sells German perfumes. If you're ever in the area, go in, ask for Eva and tell her you want to smell the perfume Marlene Dietrich used in her heyday or spend the next one hour the shop sniffing at all the perfumes in the shop until you decide which one you'd like to take home with you!

The perfume shop of scented dreams

Down the road from the perfume shop is the Topography of Terror. It is built on the site of the former Reich Security Main Office in World War II.

The Topography of Terror

One evening, we went to the Schloss Charlottenburg. It is a gorgeous place with a beautiful garden surrounding it. We walked and walked through the lovely gardens and by the canal. It was a wonderful experience.

Though we first stopped for a bite to eat. Yay!

Currywurst... Berlin street food

Then, we headed on to the Schloss to enjoy its beauty in the evening light.

Schloss Charlottenburg

The Schloss from the side

The Schloss is surrounded by a beautiful garden full off brightly coloured flowers

The canal by the Schloss

We were hungry after the Schloss and stopped for a bite to eat (again) at a brewery called Brauhaus Lemke. As we both didn't have the beer, I cannot vouch for the quality of the drink!

Cosy dindins of schnitzel, wine and good company

Checkpoint Charlie

Checkpoint Charlie with actors pretending to be soldiers with the Museum in the background

Checkpoint Charlie is a stone's throw away from Leipzigerstrasse, where I stayed in Berlin. The building you see in the photo is a copy of the original from the 1960s. The actual building and signboard that were removed during reunification in 1990 are currently in the Allied Museum.

We passed the Checkpoint while walking along Freidrichstrasse for the famous doner kebab. There were tourists there - many of them - like me, who had come to look at what once was a very important crossing between East and West Germany.

I wondered that night if anyone of us visiting would ever be able to even come close to imagining what it was like for the people who were shut-out from part of their city/country whether they liked it or not. It must have been painful and terrible.

I suppose all any of us can hope for now is never to let history repeat itself. 

The signboard that meant a lot when the wall was still up

It's nicely decaying don't you think?

Lessons we learn from history

This is how The Wall is remembered throughout the city where it divided the city in half

Part of The Wall that's still standing... with The Topographie des Terrors in the back

I suppose I mustn't publish the photo below, because it's not quite in keeping with the theme of The Wall and Checkpoint Charlie. However, it was my dinner that night and it did give me the energy to walk across town to Potsdamer Platz for ice-cream!

The doner kebab from the shop around the corner

You scream, I scream, We all scream for ICE-CREAM!

Berlin. An old hurt.

In this brief half life spring the morning feels delicious,

All wounds explained here, All hurts let fall,

All knives bandaged, All empires arrested.

All castles unbuilt, All symbols embarrassed,

A fragile glass crown at the broken heart of Europe

- The Holocaust Memorial and side-by-side Hiroshima Strasse.

Never again please Israel,

Never again please Iran,

Never again please America,

A day will still come when without losing your individuality you will all lay down your arms.

Robert Montgomery

Refugium

I was tired - though I didn't quite know it until the next day - after getting to the airport too early because I was anxious not to mess-up dropping off the hired car at Avis (which went off without a hitch) and having the plane delayed almost an hour for take-off. 

Since I had all the time in the world to make friends with Heathrow Terminal 5, I wiled away time by popping into WHSmith for a chance of more books, getting a neat little baby white Ice Watch Solid to swim with and spending a ridiculous amount of time sniffing perfume at the Jo Malone counter.

I was met at Tegel by my cousin. We went to drop the luggage off at her place in the city and then popped out again in search of a good dinner.

Refugium means a place of refuge or hideaway in Latin. I'd like to think this old-grand-dame-of-a-restaurant on Gendarmenmarkt next to the Konzerthaus Berlin we ended-up in on my first night in Berlin is exactly that.

The full moon, a glass of Chardonnay, luscious dessert and a view of the Konzerthaus cafe

While my cousin was more restrained in ordering, I went the whole hog for a 3-course meal and wine. I had juicy langoustines in jus and risotto; a delicious main of veal dumplings sat on a bed of mashed potatoes with touches of beetroot and wasabi on the side, and finally a Mirabelle. A delightful confection of salted caramel ice-cream, chocolate and mirabelle sandwich.

I had no problems sleeping that night but had trouble waking-up the next morning. Alas! My tiredness manifested itself in the form of a migraine, and so I spent my first day in Berlin in bed. 

Windsor. The castle I didn't get to see.

I tried to get into Windsor Castle on two occasions. Problem is it was summer and the queues were long, and I should have done the smart thing to buy the tickets online, which I didn't. I also wasn't up to lining-up to buy them. 

I did, however, manage to walk through the town and pop into little shops here and there. Still, I missed the castle. This simply means I must return to England somewhere in the future to visit. 

You must pardon these last photos. They're not the nicest I've taken in England, but they need to here as they're my memories of this place. 

Just opposite the Castle

The only part of the Castle I saw

The Last Supper in the Windsor Parish Church

The altar in the Windsor Parish Church

Windsor's Crooked House

After Windsor, I took a drive in my KR13JKK Peugeot 207 Sedan on to Maidenhead in search of a Monsoon. Then, it was back to the hotel for one last night.

My home for 4 nights

Milton Keynes. Stories of berries and princesses.

What a road trip England turned out to be. First Heathrow, then Peterborough, Watford for Welham Green, Olney, Cheshunt for Enfield and finally to land in Milton Keynes on Thursday on the doorstep of a friend who had rice and chicken curry on the stove when I walked in!

Fueled by rice and curry, we went for a walk by The Grand Union Canal, which is perfectly situated just behind her home.

Come walk through me, it called. 

Aaahh... the Weeping Willows...

The Grand Union Canal

Pretty hedges on the way

I had to be very patient to get this photo of a bee on lavender

A pretty yellow rose for my mother. She would have loved the abundance of flowers in all colours of the rainbow 

They're really DUCKS. :-) Except for the swan and my walking companions of course

Can you see how I've slyly sneaked in yet another photo of my darling blackberries?

I was probably exhausted when I got into Milton Keynes (even after lovely Olney), but it really hit me on Friday after the visit to Daventry when I almost crumpled in a heap on her carpet. I was too tired to even go out to the shops that evening. That never happens to me. Never. Needless to say, I slept very well that night.

The next day after a leisurely dosa breakfast, we went to Grove Farm. It is a pick-your-own farm. Oh my... a pick-your-own farm. I didn't quite know what to expect when I was bundled into a jacket and red polka-dot wellies other than - Oh dear, this going to be a very wet and uncomfortable day out in the drizzle.

My thoughts proved to be SO wrong! I ended-up pulling out carrots and potatoes from the ground; cutting off courgettes from the stem; looking out for perfect cauliflowers and cabbages in a patch; making eyes at some not-yet-ready fruit; saw more blackberries, discovered that redcurrants look very pretty but are actually quite sour to eat and the best thing of all - picked so many raspberries! I know this is a bit of cheating, as you're not supposed to eat while you pick, but I will admit to popping a few (maybe more?) raspberries into my mouth as we picked.

This was perhaps one of the best experiences I've ever had in my entire life

Beetroot, courgette and courgette flowers... we looked and looked but couldn't find a marrow

I love thee oh redcurrant, even in all your sourness

Ladybird, oh ladybird

More blackberries and a view of the farm

Carrots galore, perfectly polka-dotted red wellies and some farm bunnies

This is the day I fell in LOVE with raspberries

Then on Sunday, after a night of prep by mummy, a mad dash to the shops (where I was introduced to Princess Sophia) and feasting on some delicious biryani, we had a Princess birthday party for one of the farm bunnies who turned 3. Look at the cake and cookies. All perfectly iced by mummy. What a lovely memory!

Cupcakes, cookies and hot chocolate for a Princess' breakfast plus a cake to match

Then - while this birthday party was still going strong - yours truly had to leave and head back to the hotel in Heathrow as my visit to England was drawing quickly to a close.

Jerusalem

An excerpt from Milton

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?

And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic Mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!

I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land.

William Blake