After seeing so many white swans while we were away , it was pleasant to see our beautiful black ones on Lake Monger, they are much more slender and elegant than the European white ones...sometimes I think we take their beauty for granted. I ran into Helen as I walked around the Lake, another of my friends who has been away, so more chat about holidays.

 

In keeping with the flower theme, I couldn't help taking a photo of this gorgeous grevillea ...next to the 10th green on our golf course. I had a better score today playing with Jane, Janine and Celene.

 

Another red flower photo! These are some of the beautiful azaleas flowering at our golf club ...Pete and I enjoyed a game this morning, a little wet at times but the sun shone occasionally.

 

 I was looking forward to my first Saturday morning beach walk and swim since our holiday. It wasn't quite how I pictured it would be.  There was a howling wind and very rough ocean but it was great to catch up with Pauline and exchange holiday stories. (She and I were the only ones there as everyone was either ill or away)

 

There seem to be hundreds of bottle brushes blooming all over Perth..we have a huge one over our back fence in our neighbour's yard.

 

Chatting before the game...Margaret, Shirley, Barb and Jenny behind...the weather was beautiful and I so enjoyed being back.

 

Our front garden....

 

The fire station in Hay street( which can be seen from my work)  is being torn down. The work started before I went away , it looks quite different now...the jackhammers on the roof are enormous and very loud., it is quite a spectacular site.

 

Monday morning coffee with Nat and Cathy...

 

Home Sweet Home....all my roses are blooming.

 

Home...first glimpse...Rotto on a very clear and fine day. So great to see Jeremy and Tash .

 

We arrived in London yesterday evening and spent the night at an airport hotel. This was a first for us and quite a good experience, excellent meal, nice wine and a good sleep. We flew out of Healthrow early next morning on this very new UAE 380 airbus. 

Thursday 18 September

Our last day in Berlin....we visited the Nikolaiviertel,  Berlin's oldest quarter....in the centre of which is Berlin's oldest church , Nikolaikirche...recently renovated , it was beautiful.

Also in the area is the Berliner Rathaus, town hall...it was built in 1861.... I rather liked this stained glass window in the front of the building.

The Ephraim-Palais..a baroque palace in the area...just love the little windows at the top.

A nice photo of Pete looking at the Spree River and enjoying the sunshine...what a fabulous day it was.

On our walk from Nikolaiviertel to Museumsinsel I noticed these sculptures...so cool...especially with the two guys sitting next to them!

Our last stop...the Alte Nationalgalerie...which has also been beautifully restored....housed paintings by some of Pete's and my favourite painters. There is this very pretty fountain outside ....

Goodbye Berlin xx

Wednesday 17 September

Inside the Reichstag....we were the first group allowed in this morning....awesome place...such history.

Just down the road is the Holocaust memorial....underneath the memorial is the information centre....both were rewarding experiences. 

Still in the same area of Berlin is the Tiergarten and as the weather was just perfect , we hired a couple of bikes and spent a couple of hours riding around the park.  Again the trees were so impressive....

From the Tiergarten we walked up Unter  Den Linden to Museumsinsel...as we did yesterday....but today it was earlier and the sky was a much brighter blue. I thought the Dom looked completely different in the bright sunshine. We decided to go inside, thought we were just paying to see the inside of the church but we were allowed to climb to the top (base of the Dome). the views were amazing.

The view in one direction from the top of Berliner Dom...the River Spree and   left is the Alte Nationalgalerie.

Ample men...the East German pedestrian traffic light symbol....so Berlin!

Our final night in Berlin....we walked up the road and had dinner at a delightful French restaurant opposite the above church. It was warm enough to sit outside ....there were lots of people still out and about...the food was delicious....a lovely evening.

Tuesday 16 September

This morning we visited the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Potsdam, a 45 minute train ride from Central Berlin, and what a treat it was. This is Nikolai-Kirche in the town of Potsdam.

Walking through the Central streets of Potsdam was a joy, pretty old buildings, cafés , cute shops...we stopped and had coffee and pastries ( as we do).

Our first glimpse of Schloss Sanssouci....

I just loved how colourful it was, especially today with the blue sky.

I partcularly liked the Orangerieschloss with all the sunshine coming in the eastern windows.

but most of all I loved the meadows in the Parklands....the trees, oh my goodness, they were just beautiful, giant oaks....were the only ones I could recognise...but everywhere you looked it was like a painting .

This was taken near the Schloss Charlottenhof....

It was one of the warmest days of our holiday . After a brief rest and shower we headed off to a Vietnamese restaurant within walking distance that Tash had recommended . We had a delicious meal and then strolled to Museumsinsel...above The Berliner Dom and below part of the bridge over the River Spree.

Monday 15 September

Blue skies and sunshine today, so we set off rather early to make the most of the glorious weather. First stop East Side Gallery... Thought Pete blended in rather well!

Then we caught the train to Kurfurstendamm, one of Berlin's most attractive shopping boulevards....and very expensive too. Obviously the shops were full of winter gear so I wasn't too tempted to buy anything.  We did stop and have delicious pastries and coffee in KaDeWe, Europe's largest department store...the gourmet food section was extraordinary.

Towards the end of Kurfurstendamm is the Kaiser-Wilhelmina-Gedachtnis_Kirche...the tower of the original church...next to the new tower being built....serves as both a memorial and reminder of the terrors of war .

After a small rest and some lunch at home we rode out to Potsdamer Platz....I really enjoyed seeing this area, the architecture was simply amazing. The area was wasteland for many years after the destruction of its buildings in WW2 but after the fall of the wall it became Berlin's biggest building site.

Above and below are taken in the Sony Centre, Potsdamer Platz....

I am standing on an enormous strip of grass...parkland...in the middle of all the buildings in Potsdamer Platz. Only a few hundred metres away is Kulturforum which we were keen to see especially the Philharmonie, home of the Belin Philharmonic.

This is our park next to our apartment block at nearly 7pm as we were walking back from the station...we were so surprised to see all the people!

Sunday 14 September

Since it was raining when we woke this morning we decided to lay in bed for a while. In keeping with the sad grey day we decided to visit the Jewish Museum and Topographie des Terrors.

The Jewish Museum was unique, never have I been so captivated in a museum....the architecture was amazing and the layout of the exhibits was so easy to follow. We spent hours there. This is a photo of one of the rooms on the museum.

This is a photo of a pool of water in the centre of the Topographie des Terrors ....a museum? They call it a documentation centre in the area where the three terrifying NAZI institutions...the SS , Geatapo and SD were before and during WW2. Below is a photo of the remains of the cellars where prisoners were tortured.

A beautiful window of the school of Arts andCrafts which was occupied by the Gestapo during WW 2, the building survived the bombing when everything around it was destroyed.

A statue of Axel Springer in front of his publishing company building in Kreuzberg , which was right next to the Berlin Wall....

Whilst walking in Kreuzberg , we saw these jolly chappies, drinking their beer and pushing the pedals.

Saturday 13 September

A street in Scheunenviertel ( barn quarter) near our apartment....we were on our way to the Berlin Wall Memorial. I have been surprised and pleased to see so many trees. The Scheunenviertel was once the Jewish quarter, it has changed dramatically of course...damaged and decayed after WW 2 but now has been revived and is full of lively cafés and fashionable boutiques. There is still a lot of the old quarter remaining though...

A grey wall on a grey day....a wonderful memorial to visit, very informative and done in a thoughtful manner.

From the memorial we walked to Hackescher Hofe, Berlin's largest and most attractive group of restored commercial buildings....the whole area was a real treat to walk around...so different ...

After exploring many of the streets and sights in the Scheunenviertel area we walked home for lunch. This is the park next to our apartment block, it was such a still day and very overcast...so challenging to take a good photo!

In the afternoon we caught the train to  the Brandenburg Gate....I always find it thrilling to be somewhere that I have seen in books and on television ...it is surreal...and I wasn't disappointed. The photo below is of one of the sculptured images in the walls of the gate.

We also visited the Reichstag and other parliamentary buildings nearby. We are going back for our visit to the Reichstag dome on Wednesday so I hope to have some better photos as the weather is predicted to be sunny.