BERLIN!!!

I took the train last week to Berlin, Germany's Capitol. With so much history and so much stuff to do I found it hard to get everything I wanted done and seen on this trip. The first day I set out on foot and walked all over the city taking in the sites and sounds. The second day was spent in museums and art galleries. Before I knew it I was back on a train for Wiesbaden. Here are the highlights of the trip!





Pieces of the Berlin wall still erected near Potsdamer Platz


At the Pergamon Museum: The reconstructed Ishtar gate of Babylon

The Spree River splits creating the Museum Island which houses 5 different Museums

The Berliner Dom at night

The Berliner Dom, the biggest church in Berlin

Checkpoint Charlie; on the east side looking west.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

In front of the Brandenburg Gate built in 1791.

The Brandenburg gate at night

The front of the German Reichstag Building, Germany's Parliament

The Reichstag Dome's spiral staircase

Me in front of the German Reichstag Building and Spree River

The Kaiser Wilhelm Church was bombed in 1943. The belfry was never reconstructed but still holds services today.

The Schloss Charlottenburg is the largest existing palace in Berlin, home of Frederick the Great

Rudesheim

Above the wine fields on the way to the top of the Niederwald


A few weekends back a friend took me to see a little town down the Rhine river called Rudesheim. It's a small town nationally known for its white wines. We drove there early in the morning and took a boat tour that ferried us up the Rhine river a couple of miles. All along the river were small towns and castles. Pretty awesome looking on the nice clear day that it was.

After the boat tour we took a cable car ride to the top of Niederwald mountain that towered over the city. On top was a 132 meter statue built to symbolize the re-establishment of the german Empire and Germany's unity. It was erected between 1877 and 1883. It is considered on of the most important statues for the German people.


A view of the Rudesheim area from atop the Niederwald


Germania, holding the imperial sword and wearing the German emperor's crown


Burg Rheinstein, as seen from the Rhine River.