Month: February 2008

Almost two weeks ago now, Anna and I visited Germany’s young, hip capital, Berlin. Although not quite the architectural gem that other European cities are, it has a number of merits.
We began with a visit to the Bundestag, Germany’s house of parliament.

We took a night tour through the Reichstag Building (which until the World War II era was the name the Parliament). It was great to see the structure, but obviously didn’t afford us a chance to see a live session.

This facility was built at the end of the 19th century, and functioned as the house of parliament until it was burned down in 1933. That act of arson (who committed it has been a point of contention ever since) was the beginning of the end. It was the catalyst for the rise of Hitler’s Nazi party and all the atrocities that followed. Upon reunification in 1990, Berlin was again chosen as the capital city and soon after re-construction began on the original 1894 building. The renovation work gutted the interior and added this modern glass dome. As you can see below, there is a long shaft with mirrors to radiate natural light into the chambers below. The work to restore this building was complete in 1999 and it’s free to visit.

At the top, the bench and open roof are perfect for viewing the night sky.


The city scape from the top was very nice. This is the very famous Brandenburg Gate.

Over the next couple days, we went to tons of museums. As you can imagine though, not many photographic opportunities presented themselves. Even though I still have philosophical opposition to traditional zoos, we decided to go see our second zoo of the year. We assumed since it was Berlin, there would be a very … nice zoo. Unfortunately, the primates, like this gorilla, looked incredibly sad. I think that’s probably in part because they are such anthropomorphic creatures.


The Berlin Zoo claims that they have the largest number of species in the world. That may be true, but they also claim to keep the animals in “natural” settings. At least these two seemed to be enjoying themselves.

This leopard didn’t seem too happy, but he is a beautiful creature. It’s a shame he is in a cage. Although I have my doubts about zoos, there is a lot of good they do to promote wildlife conservation and bring people closer to the wild world, not normally accessible. However, after spending a lot of time chasing these same creatures in their natural setting, it seems hollow to watch them impotent in these cages.

It seems that sea lions can play anywhere.

Part of the same complex is a three story aquarium. This cuttle fish greeted us as we entered.

The aquarium is renowned for its jellyfish and this guy did not disappoint.

These next two images are of one of the most pre-historic looking fish I’ve encountered. It’s named Arapaima and is found (among other places) in the Amazon river. You can see how large this fish is. Interestingly, it can breathe air through its mouth, which allows it to survive long droughts, or places like the often oxygen deprived Amazon.

Yep, he’s a big one!


After the city was ravaged by World War Two, the Allied powers (USA, UK, France, and USSR) broke the city into four sectors to administer. Soon thereafter, the Soviets decided to segregate their part of the city. In 1961, they built the infamous wall to physically make the separation. It was also the manifestation of the Iron Curtain that Sir Winston Churchill described five years previously in his “Sinews of Peace” speech.
To commemorate those 28 years of separation, bricks now trace the former path of the Berlin Wall.

Although virtually all traces of Hitler has been wiped out, the former headquarters of the SS and Gestapo has been excavated to reveal its foundation. Along with these ruins, there is a riveting story-board display to recount the history, rise and pain inflicted by National Socialism in Germany.


This is the view of CheckPoint Charlie going into the American sector of former West Berlin. You’re probably familiar with CheckPoint Charlie, did you know that CheckPoint Alpha was the border crossing between East and West Germany at Helmstedt. Bravo was the autobahn checkpoint outside the city in Wannsee, but hasn’t been used since the 1960s and has all but disappeared. Also, CP Charlie was the only crossing that foreigners could use.


Conveniently, for those who wish to obtain an East or West German passport stamp, there is a well dressed actor, happy to oblige. The face he is making here is a very German one.

He did well interrogating those applicants on the details of their passport. Do you know what your passport number is?? You probably should…


Here is another image of the Brandenburg Gate, built in the late 18th century, now an icon of the city. It was originally designed to be a courier of peace, but after Napoleon temporarily commandeered it, it was re-crafted to represent a goddess of victory.

After an intense few days, we drove back home, very satisfied. This capital has an exhilarating story to tell. Although we only got the abstract, we loved it.
So, until the next adventure.
–Jim

Last weekend we decided to head to the nearest ski hill, in the French region of Alsace. Fortunately, it’s only a couple hours away. So, it’s close enough to make it down and back in a day. However, we decided to stay the night in the charming village of Colmar (which you may remember from our earlier post on this region). The next morning, we made it to the ski hill and had a very enjoyable day on the slopes (albeit a warm one … it was 11 degrees Celsius that afternoon when we left). However, we left with enough time to stop by one of the 146 Most Beautiful Villages in France … Riquewihr.

This is a village that hasn’t changed much in the last 400 years. Although it has become very touristy, it is still very charming.

Since it wasn’t tourist season, we almost had the place to ourselves.

It was fun to wander around and see the beautiful architecture.



After we had sufficiently meandered through the streets, we hopped back on our steed, err, car and headed home.
So, until our next adventure (Berlin)…
–Jim

OK, so I’m a little behind in my posts. So, I am going to attempt a quick three to catch up.
These are from a couple weeks ago. I had the opportunity to go to England again. Unfortunately, I spent most of my time working, and only had a couple opportunities to go sight seeing. The one that beckoned me the most was Stonehenge (plus, Anna isn’t a fan of driving several hours to see a bunch of rocks and she decided not to join me on this trip). So, off to see the ancient site of Stonehenge…
Although we still don’t know exactly why or who created Stonehenge, the one thing that is certain is that it took a lot of effort for people to create this massive monument.

Initially, the site was a large earthwork (a bank and ditch) called a henge. This done about 5,000 years ago by the people of the neolithic era. Although popularly believed to the work of Druids from the Celtic people who lived nearby, there is nothing proving that theory. The only thing that seems to be certain is that the second phase of construction aligned the stones with the sunrise on the summer solstice.

While, I was a little early for the summer solstice (also the only day people are allowed inside the ring for the last 30 years), it was still quite majestic to watch the sun set through the massive (some up to 50 tons) stones.



It was an impressive site to behold. I was very glad to have the opportunity to see it firsthand to truly understand what an impressive feat it was to create this monument.
So, until the next adventure (in France)…
–Jim