Tuesday, 26 October 2010

Berlin weekend - October 2010

We have just come back from a great long week in Berlin with James and Clare. We flew on Friday evening and got back Monday afternoon so we had two full days of exploring. On Saturday we did a 4.5 hour Third Reich walking tour with a guide which was fascinating. At one point we were standing on top of the bunker where Hitler and Eva Brown committed suicide in 1945.

Then on sunday we hired some bikes and cycled through the Tier Garden, which is the big park in the centre of Berlin which is beautiful, especially as it is autumn.



Brandenburg gate at in the distance

The Reich Stag Building / Parliament Building.

Hitler's bunker is just down the road to the right of this building. It is 12 metres underground and has walls that are 4 metres thick. Apparently it is ceiled off now so now one can get in.





The memorial to the murdered Jewsof Europe or better known as the

Holocaust Memorial

This apparently was not based on a cemetery although it looks like it is. The idea is that when you walk through it is a personal experience. You can hear the voices of others talking and you can't tell where they are coming from, as well as the "maze" kind of effect gives you a feeling of disorientation which the jewish people would have felt being taken away in the middle of the night having no idea where they going.


There are 2711 concrete blocks in this 19000 square metre area arranged in a grid on a sloping field.









The remains of the Berlin Wall


The Belin wall with the exhibition in front of it called the Topography of Terror






A well deserved beer after our walk


Or Russian chocolate for Clare - its a hot chocolate with vodka ; )




Checkpoint Charlie. For those of you that don't know this is the name given by the Allies to the Berlin wall crossing point between West and East Berlin during the Cold war.




Dinner at Zur Letzen Instanz restaurant - we had german dishes like crispy pork belly and calf's liver




In a bar near our hotel for a nightcap! Ok well maybe a few nightcaps : )






Setting out on our bike tour

In the Tier Garten






Wednesday, 11 August 2010

July & August

Dog sitting Barney weekend. You can only imagine how much we loved this weekend, completely in our element and Barney is such a sweet little guy.





King of the castle dog!


Barney becomes one with our rug




Lynchy's beautiful balcony garden - we have begonia's, geraniums, parsely, rosemary, mint & even a little chilli plant




This one's for Jen : )





Kate and Afera came to visit from Ethiopia - Lynchy, Justin and I headed down to Kate's parents place in Oxforshire to visit




Lynchy - King of the games room!

Our trip to York & Scarborough for my birthday
View of Scarborough Caslte




Hels and I in York on my birthday

Monday, 17 May 2010

Dream Lodge in the Magaliseburg

After our amazing time with all the others in the Pilanesburg, Lynchy and I had 2 nigths on our own at this place Dream Lodge.



This rondavel is in the middle of nowhere and only has gas and candles for lighting and the water is solar heated.

Breakfast and dinner is provided for you, they bring it up from the main house in the landrover!






We spent quite a few hours lying on this bench reading & sipping beers.


























Dinnertime : )

























































Lynchy loving the fire, getting to put his pyromania into use
























Our visitor who was very welcome : )
































Sunset over the Magaliesburg mountains