Germany

Berlin today is known as a 'Party Town' with bars, nightclubs and strip joints for all – except us. However, we enjoyed an early evening visit to a Munich Biergarten, with a Bavarian oompah band, (two guys in tight lederhosen playing souped up keyboards), where the beer was good and the roast pork knuckle enormous...

We also took an afternoon cruise on the city's waterways, but we were not alone...

Several people, including the staff at the tourist information office, had been skeptical that the river cruises were still running this late in the year so we were amazed to find ourselves in the midst of a procession as we meandered past ancient, (though largely rebuilt) stone edifices like the Berlin cathedral...

...and under newly erected ivory towers of the government...

However, the truly iconic symbol of both Berlin and of Germany is the Reichstag...

This parliamentary building was built in 1884 but was badly damaged by an arsonist in 1933. Hitler used the fire as a reason to seize power by claiming that the fire was started by the Bolshevics. But many people believe that Hitler's supporters started the fire to give him the excuse he needed to strip the populace of their rights and impose strict martial law and Nazi domination. World War 2 followed in 1939 and it is impossible to escape signs of that dreadful period here. It is also impossible to escape the Berlin Wall. Most of the wall was torn down soon after re-unification but sections have been replaced with steel railings that trace its path through the city...

Alongside the railings and throughout the length of the wall are plaques commemorating the people who escaped from the East, and often died in the attempt...

Straddling the line of the wall in one place is the Mauer-park flea market where hundreds of stallholders sell everything from fur coats to cranky bikes, creaky old LPs, and huge numbers of biersteins...

Now, autumn is catching up with us in these northern climes so it's time to head south to the Mediterranean for a family holiday. We will be back with you in a week or so as we continue our quest for Athena in the Aegean on the island of Rhodes, but for now, Prost and Auf wiedersehen from Berlin...

Insane politics, nationalism and mindless populism, under the banner of “ Make Germany Great Again”, led to the virtual destruction of the once great capital of Berlin just 75 years ago. And then, just as the world was attempting to get back to rational order, the Soviets built a mighty wall that divided this once great city and the world. To have straddled this spot after 13th August 1961 would have meant instant death...

It would be nice to believe that insane politicians, rampant nationalism and walls no longer divide us – but...? As we travel the world we meet wonderful people everywhere – people like Sabine who couldn't believe the size of the Wiener Schnitzel served at the restaurant she invited us to in Berlin...

Sabine is a relative of a Canadian friend and she welcomed us royally with an evening tour of the German capital that included the beautifully restored Deutscher Dom cathedral at Gendarmenmarkt...

We are staying in Alexanderplatz, an area that was totally destroyed during WWII, but has risen loftily from the ashes and is now home to many highrise hotels and the Fernsehturm tower...

This 368 metre communications tower was constructed between 1965-69 by the East German Government as a symbol of Communist power and, as intended, it was clearly visible from most places in both East and West Berlin. Berlin suffered massive destruction from the allies and the Soviets during WWII and thanks to the Cold War much of the damage was not repaired until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. One building that survived, though severely damaged, was the iconic Brandenburg Gate...

German history was made here. Built on the site of a former city gate in 1791 it was inspired by Athen's Acroplis and was the grand entrance to a boulevard of Linden trees. The gate was crowned with a statue of Victoria, the goddess of victory, but Napoleon's troops took it as a war prize after beating the Prussians in 1806. The Prussians won it back 8 years later and in 1933 the Nazis used the gate and its symbolism to celebrate Hitler's rise to power. The Soviets blocked the gate as part of the Berlin Wall and it became an emblem of the East/West divide until 1989. Another iconic symbol of the Cold War was Checkpoint Charlie...

Today the border crossing is nothing more than a hut in the middle of the road with some fake Americans in uniform pretending to guard it. Prior to 1989 anyone crossing without a permit was liable to be shot by either side. Berlin is a united city in a united country today but, we are told, all is not quite as rosy as it appears – xenophobia and nationalism are on the rise again. However, we were heartened to see this silent demonstration against worldwide slavery by many young people...

And we were delighted to be given chocolates by Katrina...

Katrina is the sweet fraulein at Berlin's answer to London's Harrod's – KeDeWe, the department store properly called Kaufhaus de Westens...

Once we've finished our chocolates we'll get back to our day job of sightseeing in Berlin.

Following the death of Queen Anne in 1714, through a convoluted secession process, the Prince-Elector of Hannover, George Louis, became the first Georgian king of England. And so began the German dominance of the British royal household – the House of Hanover. That could be the history lesson for today, but the truth is that here in Hannover, (spelled with only one 'n' in English), history is all around us. Herrenhausen Palace on the outskirts of the city was the summer home of the Hanoverian princes and today the Great Garden, dating from 1683, is considered one of the most distinguished baroque formal gardens of Europe...

We had splendid weather as we strolled the majestic linden walks that surround the garden and led to the great fountain...

All around us were magnificent plants and statues, but most surprising were the huge trees growing in seemingly tiny planters...

By talking to the gardeners we discovered that all of the trees are kept inside during the winter and their roots trimmed to restrain them, as has been the practice at Herrenhausen for some 350 years.

Although Hannover is truly the seat of the present British royal family, when Germany started the first World War the Brits changed their name to Windsor to distance themselves from their German cousins.
Despite the war the Brits kept ownership of Herrenhausen Palace and asked the RAF to give it a wide berth – Oh well...we all make mistakes – at least the Great Cascade of 1676 survived...

Herrenhausen Palace, along with 90% per cent of all the buildings in Hannover were either totally destroyed or damaged beyond repair during 88 air raids on the city during World War II. It is almost inconceivable to us today as we walk the wide pedestrian precincts amongst throngs of friendly locals, that some 75 years ago nearly one million bombs, mines and incendiaries were dropped on these streets killing some 7,000 people and injuring countless others. Hannover was a beautiful city of half timbered medieval houses until the night of October 8th. 1943, when Britain and its allies finally decimated the place with thousands of bombs, but the majestic city hall survived...

Despite its Gothic appearance, Hanover's Rathaus was only finished a little over a hundred years ago and it has an intriguing original secret. The lofty dome of the city hall is reached by an elevator that curves as it rises to the summit. The elevator has both a glass roof and a glass floor so you can appreciate the unnerving phenomena – if you don't close your eyes. However, the view from the top on a fine day is superb...

Unlike Hannover, the nearby town of Celle was never bombed during the war and it is rumoured that it was spared at the request of the British King because of its beautiful 16th century buildings like this one from 1585...

There are some 500 medieval buildings still in existence and in daily use in Celle. It is quite surreal to walk street after street of houses and stores more than 400 years old and to imagine the lives of the merchants and people who walked these streets in Elizabethan times...

And what would they have made of the ubiquitous bicycles...

Celle is a beautiful medieval town but its history is forever horribly stained by its close association with the nearby Nazi concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen where some 60,000 prisoners, including Anne Frank, died during the war.

So, now we are in Hamburg – and discovered that real hamburgers are raw ground beef on half a bun topped with chopped raw onion. No self-respecting Hamburger, (a Hamburg resident), would dream of spoiling it on a grill. In the late 1800s German immigrants in New York ate the traditional raw minced beef patti, then some yankee stuck it on the fire, added mustard and a bun, and burgers were born.
Hamburg is one of the busiest ports in the world with hundreds of wharves servicing fleets of mighty ocean goers like this...

But the docks closest to the city have been cleaned up and are home to a fleet of tour boats, ferries, and several museum ships including one of the few surviving U-Boats...

Our hotel gave us free passes for all public transport during our stay so we had a great time riding the buses, the trains and the ferries to places like the Elbphilharmonie...

This modernistic concert hall sits atop an old warehouse and to reach the observation deck we rode one of the world's longest curved escalators...

Ferries also ply downstream from the city docks and we spent a warm summery day by the seaside at Blankenese, an old fishing village that has been gentrified. Long gone are the fishermen's cottages and the herring trawlers of old. Today it is home for some of Hamburg's poshest residents, but they have to contend with the passing traffic...

However, being so close to the North Sea meant that we could get a taste of delicious herrings at a beachside restaurant...

From the fjords, the Viking longships and historic ships in Norway, to the Vasa and the hotel ships of Sweden, and the numerous ferries of Denmark, vessels of all kinds have played a large part in our trip so far. Our ferry crossing from Sweden to Germany carried an entire intercity train together with 340 cars and trucks and was hybrid electric. It was clean, silent and smooth, and from the deck we saw dozens of the wind turbines that were fuelling us. Hopefully, this is the future of sea travel.

The sea has been the lifeblood of Hamburg for many centuries but much of the city was destroyed by fire in 1842 and what was left was flattened by the Allies exactly 100 years later during World War II. One building that survived the war is the city-state's parliament – the Rathaus...

This fanciful Gothic style building replaced the old parliament at a time when Germany was a series of independent states and, to impress the neighbours, the businessmen of Hamburg spared no expense in making it one of the most lavish parliament buildings in the world....

A 500lb British bomb fell on the market square outside the Rathaus near the end of the war and would have totally destroyed the building had it exploded. Luckily for the Hamburgers, it didn't. However, the detonator was removed and now has pride of place in a glass case in the Rathaus...

Despite the incredibly warm weather, autumn is catching up so we are now heading further south to Hannover in search of the ancestral home of the British monarchy.

Although Munich is renowned today for its annual vomiting contest, (generally known as Oktoberfest), it is equally famous as the home of many of the world’s most successful manufacturers like BMW, Audi, Adidas, Puma, Grundig and Siemens. Munich is also home to some spectacular historic architecture including the enormous gothic city hall which is at the centre of the city’s Christmas Market…

Bavaria was ruled by members of the Wittelsbach family from 1180 - 1918, although by the time that the flambouyant Ludwig II took the crown in 1864 the real power was in parliamentarian’s hands. However, despite the fact that Ludwig broke the royal bank with his madcap buildings, the family kept a firm hand on their crown jewels and chief among them was their colossal palace, The Residenz, in the centre of Munich. Building began in 1385 and continued for centuries. The palace simply grew and grew as subsequent monarchs added big lumps to suit the times and their tastes – sometimes a little OTT...

The palace eventually had 130 major rooms around 10 courtyards with hundreds of ancillary chambers and staff quarters. Fortunately for our knees only 90 of the rooms are currently open to the public – although some of the halls are a route march in themselves. This banquet hall – the Antiquarian built in 1385 – is more than 200 feet long…

Allied bombing in WWII destroyed many of the buildings in the Residenz complex but it has been faithfully restored. However, while the Allies were flattening Munich in the 1940s, the Nazis were knocking big holes in London. It too survived and has been restored to its former glory – and what a glory it is. We often enthuse about all the amazing historic buildings we see around the world, but none compare with the architectural magnificence of London. This is The Royal Albert Hall…

Along with numerous royal palaces, the thousand year old fortress of the Tower of London and the capital’s iconic parliament buildings, there are hundreds of truly breathtaking buildings in this historic city. There are vast museums like the Victoria & Albert, the Science and the Natural History…

However, entry to all the national museums and art galleries in London is always free so there are crowds – everyone loves ‘free’ - but with museums like the Victoria & Albert having more than ten miles of exhibition galleries it’s always possible to find a quiet spot…

London has street after street of Georgian and Victorian masterpieces dating from the mid 1700s…

Regent Street, a mecca for the world’s wealthiest shopaholics, was built in the early 1800s and rebuilt a hundred years later. If you have to ask the price here you definitely can’t afford it. But it costs nothing to wander up and down and gaze in awe at the spectacular Christmas lights...

There is much more to England than London so now we are heading off to the country - to the beautiful Cotswolds. Hope to see you there in a few days.