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.

Friday 12 September

Waiting at Prague train station for the our train's platform number to come up.....not that we knew where the platforms were exactly, but we followed the crowd, like sheep.

It was a very comfortable train ride to Berlin, rainy and foggy outside. We seemed to follow the river for most of the journey, I took a few photos but there really wasn't  enough light. It was however gorgeous scenery.

Our street..in which we have a very nice apartment, clean, spacious and lots of windows letting the light in....we will be here for the next 6 nights, the longest we have stayed in one place...

After starting the washing machine we headed off to the supermarket , just 5 minutes down the road. I absolutely love grocery shopping in other countries. It is so interesting to look at all their products. As we have been eating out so much we are looking forward to some home cooked meals here in our apartment in Berlin. These are a few of the items we bought today. The ice cream was a bit of a mistake as we have no freezer!

Thursday 11 September

Today was another sensational day in Prague. We decided to start the day early and see some of the most popular sights without the crowds, which was just lovely. The first photo is of Pete walking towards the famous Charles Bridge.

From the Charles bridge ...

These two were taken on or just near the bridge, I played with the photos a bit as there wasn't much light but they do capture the atmosphere of the morning. Charles bridge is lined with statues of the saints, and in these photos , the Prague castle can be seen.

One of the most popular tourist spots is the Old Town Square, usually full of people with cameras. This morning it was quiet .

An empty street in the old town....

After our early morning walk through the old town we walked up to the Prague castle...we spent hours looking at the cathedral, basilica, palace....but this was what caught my eye...the floor in one of the rooms of the castle. I have loved examining all the cobblestones in Prague, there have been so many different patterns and stones used throughout the old town, but this floor from the castle was amazing!

In the afternoon we caught a tram into the new town ( which is not that new)... There are plenty of them and they are very comfortable to ride.

Before dinner we had to try a "trdelnik"."..a sweet cinnamon and sugar coated pastry from street vendors in Prague. I am so glad we didn't try them sooner or I would have eaten them all day, so yummy.  In the evening we had a pizza for dinner and then went to an excellent concert at the Rudolfinum.

Wednesday 10 September

What a wonderful day we had today in Prague....we walked up into the parklands surrounding the old town ( beautiful views of Prague) , then onto the paths behind the castle ( more views) ...the deer moat.....then into Letna Park where we stopped for lunch( again more stunning views). We explored the Jewish quarter ....and old town....ventured into a couple of shops ( and bought shoes and bags!) and stopped along the river to take photos of the bridges and white swans. We found a delightful place for dinner and then ended a terrific day at the U Maleho Glena , a cellar jazz club...soooo good,

Tuesday 9 September

Beautiful Prague.... On a sunny afternoon, we just wandered, a little tired but happy to be here.

Monday 8 September

For several weeks now we have been thinking that the volcano in Iceland might disrupt our travel plans, but no, it was a bomb scare. We arrived in Luton London at 2.10 pm only to be told we could not leave the plane as the airport had been evacuated due to a suspicious package having been found by security. This photo is taken from the plane, no movement on the tarmac. Five hours later we left the aircraft having missed our connecting flight to Prague from Stansted. 

We weren't the only ones , the airport was in chaos. We went to the bar, had a beer and wine, Pete took out his phone and we booked tickets on the first available flight  to Prague which was from Gatwick the next morning at 8.50 am. We then caught the bus then train to Gatwick. 

Thank goodness I had an excellent book to read....thanks Jeremy, you always give me a good book x