Arriving in Berlin

We arrived in Berlin on the 1 st August to stay with Hanns and Ilse our Homelink Hosts. They were wonderful hosts telling us where to visit, giving history lessons and providing tours of the area. Near their house was a lake where people swan (sometime naked, if you were beautiful enough) Bathers if not! They jogged, cycled or walked. At one of end of the lake was a cafe that sold great breakfasts and coffee. We felt very much at home and thought about our friends we were missing having coffee with.

The Jewish Memorial

A huge memorial was created in memory of the Jews that were murdered in the second world war.

Käthe Kollwitz

Käthe Kollwitz is one of my favourite artists and when I found out she had a museum dedicated to her I was really pleased. It included paintings, drawings and sculpture. Her work was full of emotion and she is by far the only artist who has stirred me as much as she did. You could really feel her pain and sorrow. Her son was killed in the first world war at 18 and she never got over it. Families crying and dying of hunger are shown in her work. Being a Jew, she was made to hide during the second world war. It was a very moving experience seeing her work.

Public Transport in Berlin

The public transport in Berlin was excellent. The trains were clean, on time and very efficient. The stations were clean easy to navigate and also they sold really healthy food. No Fried stuff - just lots of whole grain salad rolls. Oh, and the most amazing cakes!

The Berlin Wall

Staying with Hanns and Ilse has allowed us to learn a lot about the history of Berlin. In particular about the World Wars and the Berlin Wall. They were fortunate to live on the west side but only just. They had friends and reletives who lived on the east.

We visited one of the only remaining sites of the wall as most of it had been demolished. 191 people died trying to escape from the east. Then in 1989 the wall came down.

Prague - Czech Republic

Prague is a very much talked about city with it beautiful buildings and wide streets. There were many old churches and unusual architecture and some very unique large clocks. Everyone spoke about the castle, it was supposed to be the largest in the world! ? so we walked along way up to the castle climbing many many steps. When we arrived it looked more like a huge House of Parliament and a part from its size was not very unusual, no turrets or anything like that. More of a palace I think.

There was an interesting photographic exhibition in the gardens of the castle which we were very impressed with. The topic was rather controversial with nude figures of brothers and sisters - young and old. I'm sure this would not be allowed in a public space in Australia.

Kunta Hora - Czche Republic

This small town near Prague was an interesting place listed in the Lonely Planet, we thought we pay a visit.

A small church in the town incorporated a crypt which house the bones of 40,000 people. Apparently they died in the 14th century from The Plague. When the crypt was discover about 100 years ago an artist was employed to be creative with the bones and constructed a kind of sculpture with the bones. How bizarre is that?

Cesky Krumlov

A small town called Cesky Krumlov, located just north of Austria in Czche Republic, was a very appealing town to visit. With its cobbled streets lines with old buildings with red tiled roofs, with a fairytale castle and a river winding through the town. However in the diatance not too far away was the reminder that it was an Eastern European country with the towering blocks of flats - just in case you`d been takening in too deeply by the romance of the place.