Wednesday, July 31, 2024

Olympics, extremism, warfare, torture, views, archeology, art, statues, film, music, food and drink...

Playlist
Various - Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selection 2024 Vol 10
Various - Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selection 2024 Vol 11

Awake rather early...


July away...

A trip was planned for today...


...but, first, to the trams and along to our old haunt, Prenzlauer Allee...





...where we stopped off at Schokochino for breakfast...






...boiled egg roll for me, pain au raisin (or Rosineschnecke) for Anne... 


...then the U band down to Alexander Platz...


...and another out to the Olympiastadion...












We walked around in the, once again, roasting sunshine...

While we did not go into the stadium itself, we had a good walk around the grounds and,beyond the fence in the pic below, found the Hertha Berlin team, training, but were not allowed to take any pictures or, indeed, to stop and watch...


 On to the S Bahn station...




...and a further trip to the Berlin suburb of Spandau, where we took a walk around the town...




...visited the cathedral...






...and sat down by the river...



...before enjoying some lunch from a local bakery...




...followed by some ice cream....


 ...some purchasing of the Communist Party manifesto...


...and beers to cool us down...


...before we walked to the old town and across the river to the citadel, which was most impressive and most interesting...










 It took quite a few hours to go round the entire site. involving a museum regarding the history of the Citadel and its military uses, including the Nazis development of lethal gases during the Second World War...







We also went up onto the tower, from which we were able to enjoy excellent views of Spandau, and, in the distance, Berlin itself...

































Once back down, we found the venue for a series of concerts, which was about to take place which we will, of course miss...


...and, round the corner...



...down in the basement, archeological digs on the history of all the buildings which have graced what is now the site of the citadel...



Further on, we discovered a modern Art Gallery, the contents of which were reminiscent of the Documenta exhibitions in Kassel... 















After that, in this building...


...we found a further exhibition, this time of statues removed from their original situations, which made them look rather strange and, quite possibly, more interesting...




















Albert Speer and Adolf Hitler's frankly ludicrous idea for a big hall (with the Brandenburg Gate next to it for perspective)...













Then, not content with all of that, there was a museum dedicated to the film industry here - we saw a couple of old favourites amongst the posters on the wall...



After that, it was time for more drinks....


 ...before a train back into town and we found ourselves at the Kurfurstendamm and they old destroyed church...


 ...before getting the U-Bahn back up to Prenzlauerberg...


...for beers at Morgenrot...





...the purchase of the third CD of the trip (2 Euros)...


...and a very tasty dahl soup and a biryani is at a Sri Lankan restaurant...






Then, back onto a tram and over to the hotel for the end of another top day in Berlin...








Highlight of the Day : The Citadel...

Today's New Music:-