From Prague we stopped in at a small town called Meissen (internationally known for Meissen porcelain) for a couple of hours. The town had a great little town square; we picked up a couple of bratwurst from a streetside stall and had a good wander round.
Meissen town square
Meissen
Sewer cap - each town has their name on the cap with city emblem
Old town castle entrance in distance
We then travelled north to Berlin to meet up with our friends Liz and Paul. The night before we picked them up from the airport we stayed at a campground in Grunewald. The town was tiny (3000 people) located half an hour out of Berlin. The night we stayed Germany was playing Greece in the Euro2012 soccer competition - a great opportunity to slink down to the local beer garden and sample some German beer and footy atmosphere. It was a great game - especially with the beergarden having a rule that every time Germany scores a goal, Jagermeister shots are on the house!! (Final score 4-2 to Germany.) There were high fives from drunk locals and some were even buying us beers towards the end of the game. We were also informed that we were the first kiwis to EVER visit the town (this was decided between the campground owners son and Thurston - a local guy who we got chatting to).
Arrived at the airport the next morning a bit dusty but on time to pick up Paul and Liz coming from London. Found that they had missed their flight, so set off for a day of sightseeing (and water and coffee), most of which involved the wall and history of the nazi regime. It was interesting to understand the reasons for the wall - basically the Soviets wanted to stop people crossing over into the American, French and English sections of Berlin after WWII. So they constructed a wall preventing anyone crossing over from east to west and vise versa. This resulted in a number of families being separated with some living on opposite sides of the street and not being able to reach each other.
We found that Berlin had a real edgy feel to it. Plenty of people dressed up in crazy punk outfits, quite a diverse population but no real city centre. Most of the restaurants and public spaces were spread out with the metro providing the main connection.
Berlin - TV tower
Weisbeers
Brandenburg gate
Reichstag (Parliament)
Berlin wall - section remaining that has art works
Berlin artwork
The interior wall
The thickness of the main wall
Memorial
Liz and Kat next to the wall memorial
Permit for a limited stay over the wall
Paul, Liz and Kat inside the footprint of an old church
A remaining section of the wall
View of main and interior wall with guard tower and lighting
Checkpoint Charlie - The asian guy in this photo pulled the nazi salute (cue gasps of shock from the crowd) moments after I took this photo... idiot. The actor posing as an American soldier smacked his arm down. Unbelievable.
Sections of the wall used as a canvas for art
Pork knuckle and sauerkraut
Lunch with Paul and Liz
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