Berlin: fascinating and freezing

The Brandenburg Gate

The Reichstag

We arrived in Berlin in thick snow on the 11th December.  We had found a parking lot to stay in over night that was not pretty but had good access into the city centre.  We later found out that this spot was originally part of the Berlin Wall and we would have just been inside East Berlin   Due to the weather conditions (snowy and -4 falling to -7) at 4.00pm we found ourselves walking the 2km into the City.  Our first stop was at the Reichstag (the German parliament) where we booked ourselves in for a free visit the following day. It was all very well organised as you would expect and we were pleased we had brought in the necessary ID. I was quite taken aback by the beautiful modern buildings that surrounded the parliament.  These looked even more wonderful when we returned the following day in the morning.  I found out that these were the offices were the politicians met for their meetings and the other beautiful building with its large circular windows was the parliamentary library.  I don't know whether the light conditions with the sunshine and  snow were perfect for showing  these buildings off but they did look really good.  However going back to our first evening.  After we had made our reservation we wandered around Berlin.  

Library with white crosses marking
where people had been shot
 for attempting to cross Berlin wall

Parliamentary library

We visited the Brandeburg Gate and just before that a lovely peaceful water memorial to all the 'gypsies' who had been murdered by the Nazis.  It was very dark when we arrived here.  The water in the pond which is the focus of this memorial was still and jet black and was surrounded by dark trees.  Haunting and yet peaceful music echoed from speakers which had been placed high in the trees.  It was a lovely tribute.  We quietly walked towards the Brandenburg Gate which then led onto Unter den Linden.  This is a very fashionable route and has been throughout the years.  One thing I loved about Berlin was the amount of signage so that you could read about the history of everything you saw without having to delve into books.  With temperatures of minus 7 that night that was a huge advantage as you could leave your gloves on.

parliamentary offices

  We walked all along this road down to the Alexander Platz where the icoinc TV tower is located.  En route and under the tower we passed two Christmas markets. Neither was as good as others we had visited but we were entertained by two black jazz singers.  Mike was looking really cold by now.  Minus conditions for over  4 hours is not something he can tolerate well.  We walked back home, ate a welcoming chilli and went to bed.

Inside the cupola

The cupola

Inside the cupola

Our first stop the next day was  for our appointment at the Reichstag.  We turned up at time with our passports and went through security.  They confiscated temporarily my bungee clip - what harm was I supposed to be able to do with that?  At least it made for an amusing conversation as I discussed with the female security guard what 'bungee' translated into.  The highlight of visiting this building is being given access to the glass cupola designed by Norman Foster.  It is possible to walk right around the inside of this cupola via a walkway with an audio guide giving a very interesting commentary.

View from cupola

Unfortunately snow that lay on the glass did obscure some of the skyline views but it was still an amazing experience and one I would recommend to all.  The only downside is that the top of the cupola is open to the elements so by the time we had walked all around we were both freezing and if I was cold Mike could only be extremely cold.  We decided to have an expensive cup of coffee and hot chocolate in the cafe at the bottom of the cupola before setting off again.  I think the cost was justified as it probably prevented frostbite!

We walked to the back of the building and looked again at the wonderful parliamentary buildings.  These had been built right up to the waters edge which had formed part of the Berlin wall.  White crosses marked where people had lost their lives when they had tried to cross this border.  We collected our bikes and cycled back towards the Brandeburg Gate.  The huge 'Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe' lay just the other side.  This memorial consists of  2,700 huge slabs arranged at differing levels.  I think we lost some of this visual perspective due to the covering of snow.  Again we quietly, reverently, walked through this monument.  Time and time again on our travels we had been reminded of the Holocaust.

Leaving this area we cycled to where Hitler's bunker had been.  This was blown up at the end of the war, past the SS headquarters, now hosting an exhibition known as 'typography of terrors' and onto Check Point Charlie.  This area has the usual tourist trappings but was also filled again with huge information boards giving a very clear understanding of the history leading up to the creation of the Berlin Wall.  It brought all my GCSE history to life - perhaps this is how it should be taught.   As we had our bikes we were able to continue cycling through this amazing city, we stopped for some food and a warm drink and visited some shopping areas.  We were both absolutely frozen to the bone as we had been out for over 6 hours in freezing conditions. We had one last stop to pick up some milk and cycled back to get warm in our snug van.

Dresden by night

 December 10th: 

Dresden by night

Although the snow had stopped during the night it restarted as soon as we left Prague.  Although we were on 'A' roads these were quite slushy and as we approached the German border just outside of Treplice we really struggled to get up a hill.  Thank goodness we had got our winter tyres on.  Mike very carefully nursed our van along but it was clear that we would have to turn round.  We drove back about 20 kilometres and were able to pick up the motorway which was much clearer.  We arrived in a very snowy Dresden at around 2pm and had our usual soup and sandwich lunch before trudging to the supermarket to stock up with more food (and drink).


We had found a great parking place to stay the night which was only a five minute walk away from the City Centre and although it was very snowy it felt warmer than Prague had done.  As you are probably aware Dresden was very heavily bombed at the end of WW11 and it was interesting to see how well the buildings had been rebuilt.  There was also a lovely Christmas market: the stalls seemed more original than others we had visited and they were all beautifully decorated.  We bought a few Christmas gifts and then trudged back to the van in the snow.

Roof top decorations

Roof top decorations

A winter's day in Prague

December 9th: A Winter's day in Prague

Charles Bridge

It was minus 4 degrees when we caught the tram to take us into the centre of Prague. We got off the tram just below the famous Charles Bridge which we walked over in the morning sunshine.

View of Charles Bridge

Changing the Guard

We took the steep route up the hill to the castle and the cathedral.  Our timing was good as we caught the Czech version of the 'changing of the guard, which was accompanied by bugle and drum playing. We wandered around the castle and cathedral complex and were surpised that even some of the streets such as Golden Lane could only be visited at a cost.  Both Mike and I had visited Prague some years ago and we could not remember having to pay so much for everything.  As we had only changed a few of our Euros for Czech currency we decided to view things from the outside.  The downside of this approach was that we were both getting colder by the hour.  The views from around the castle were really clear and I got some good photos of the skyline but we needed to get warm.  We traipsed back over the Charles Bridge which was now much busier with tourists and entertainers and headed for the old part of town near the astronomical clock.  We picked up some delicious cherry punch en route and sampled a pastry spiral flavoured with vanilla, cinnamon and almonds that was cooked over an open stove. Both were delicious and slightly took off the edge of feeling cold.

Christmas Market in Prague

The Astronomical Clock

There was also a Christmas market set up in this area and we browsed around it comparing it with the others we had seen.  Our next stop was to be Wenceslas Square.

Mike in Wenceslas Square

 As we were so cold now we kept popping into shops to warm up temporarily.  Millie benefitted from this as we found a sweet pair of crystal earrings.  We decided that if we were to prevent frostbite from setting in we had to find somewhere warm to sit down.  We always try to avoid the really touristy places and we ended up at a Czech micro brewery called Pivovarsky Dam.  Here you could try samples of all sorts of lager including banana and nettle but we just went  for our favoured white and dark versions.  We also had some good food there.  Whilst we were sitting there it started to snow and so after an hour or so we grudgingly left our warm haven and found the tram back to the van.  We had to trudge the last few metres in deeper snow but the good thing was that once the snow arrived the temperature lifted a little.

It's getting colder

 5^th December : Vienna

Lunch stop in Wachau Valley

As we drove out of Salzburg we realised that more snow had fallen.  We wanted to take the scenic route around Mondsee and Achensee and we did manage this although I think Mike was glad to get back onto the motorway.  We had also realised that we were getting low on gas and we had not realised that LPG was difficult to get in Austria.  We decided to get a cylinder of camping gas to keep us going but then found that difficult to obtain too despite the numerous camping sites in the area. We continued watching garages for LPG on the motorway but came off after Linz so that we could pick up another scenic route through the Wachau valley which follows the River Danube.   The weather had improved and we were able to stop for lunch on the roadside in the sunshine surrounded by orchards and grape vines.  We arrived in Vienna in the early evening.  I cooked supper but then the gas ran out which meant that we had no heating and it was zero degrees outside.  We fortunately had internet access at the campsite so we searched the internet for LPG suppliers and after a long search found one supplier about 16km away.

 6th December

We woke to find more snow.  Getting gas was imperative.  We set off using our sat nav only to be disappointed when we reached the garage to find they no longer stocked LPG (well they had it in cylinders but not for refillable ones).  Back to the drawing board and another trip to use McDonalds free wifi.  After another long search we found another potential supplier a further 10km away.  We drove there not feeling very hopeful but were pleasantly surprised to find that indeed they had some.  Interestingly our German adaptor to fit the nozzle to our tank would not work and we had to use our Spanish one (but at least we do have a variety to try).  By now it was lunchtime and we decided to use our own park and ride version again.  We drove reasonably close to the centre (about 5km) away, found a free parking place and got on our bikes.  Driving around the outskirts of Vienna had not prepared me for the centre.  I was wowed by it.  There were street after street of really grand buildings.  We locked our bikes near the cathedral and headed for its tower so that we could get a panoramic view of the city and get our bearings.

It was snowing quite heavily as we walked around the Hofberg, home of the Imperial Palace, the Spanish riding School and other state treasures.  We continued onto the Rathous which looked fabulous.  The whole area had been beautifully lit with the Christmas market in front.  All of the trees were heavily decorated with hearts, hot air balloons, owls etc.  It must have been enchanting for the children.  The snow continued to fall and it was now dark so we headed back to our van which had come to no harm whilst we were  then drove back to the campsite where we were very pleased to turn on our new gas supply.

7th December

The following day we had to get up early to get to the Spanish Riding School to see the morning training session of the Lippizaners.  We decided that we take the tube in to the centre today as our campsite was a bit too far out (and it was very cold). We spent 2.5 hours watching these beautiful horses being schooled and I couldn’t stop thinking about Louise and poor Swift. You could see that it took hours and hours of training of both riders and horses to achieve what they did.  Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos of the horses although I though a bit of flash photography would add to their training.  We followed our experience here with a welcome cup of hot chocolate for me anf a beer for Mike and then felt ready to tackle some more sightseeing.  We started off with a visit to part of the palace that housed the imperial treasures which turned out to be a rather dull experience and then we went back to the town hall where we were able to listen to choirs from Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Vienna sing festive music.  It was a pleasant way to end the day. However when we got back to the van we found that it had dropped its water – this is a safety feature to prevent pipes bursting when it goes below freezing.  This had to be sorted so that we could get the boiler refilled and heated so it was 10pm before I could start cooking supper and midnight before we went to bed.

4th December Munich

4^th December:  A day in Munich and on to Salzburg

A 10 euro train ride from the sports arena (our overnight parking place) into town convinced us to develop our own park and ride scheme.  This involved parking nearer to the centre of the city and then cycling in.  We found a good spot about 5k from the centre, got our bikes off the van, locked up and pedalled in.  Fortunately it was a straight road in which meant it was easy to find our way home later on in the day. We headed straight for the newer of the town halls (although this was a neo gothic building) that was famous for its rather tuneless glockenspiel played by clockwork figurines at 11am and midday.  We missed the 11am as we couldn’t find the building originally so wandered around looking at the other historic buildings until midday.  It was nearly worth waiting for!  Mike and I had promised ourselves lunch in one of Munich’s bier halls.  We chose Hofbrauhaus, famous for being the largest and most famous, noted for its painted walls, large tables, and ‘oompah’ style music.  Being traditionalists we had bratwurst with sauerkraut, washed down with a white wheat beer for me and a dark one for Mike.  There was a good atmosphere in this beer hall and we had a good time there.  Unfortunately I left my camera at home and so there are no pictures today. We did some more wandering around and then decided that rather than spending another night here we would push on to Salzburg.

The River Salz at night

Salzburg at night

Evening traffic leaving Munich was busy and it was nearly 8pm when we arrived in Salzburg only to find our intended campsite closed.  You are not supposed to ‘wild camp’ in Austria but we decided to risk it and parked along the river Salz. Mike and I had had an enjoyable few days in Salzburg a few years back so we were familiar with the city.  We revived some of our memories with a late evening walk around the town.  

We crept back into our van trying not to draw attention to the fact that we were sleeping there overnight, wondering if we would be moved on.  All was well and we were only disturbed at 6 am by a road sweeper.  We also realised that the road that we had parked in for the night and had been full was now empty apart from us so we decided to get up and have an early start.  

3rd December Nuremburg Rallies and onto Munich

Today was basically a travelling day but before we left snowy Nuremburg we wanted to visit the Nazi Rally site that was adjacent to our camping site.  It must be difficult  for the local people to decide whether these areas should be kept as a monument.  It obviously costs a lot to maintain the buildings to keep them safe but it might not be appropriate for them to fall into ruins and this bit of history be forgotten.  Mike and I certainly found the sites fascinating.  It is unbelievable that these sites held up to 200,000 people who all vehmently supported Hitler.  Mass hysteria must have been a big part of it all.  Having left this area we then drove across Nuremburg to see the courts where the Nuremburg trials were held before moving on.

En route to Munich

Mike in Regensburg

Our plan had been to take smaller roads but the snow was quite heavy and made driving tiring for Mike so we cut across to the motorway to take us to Regensburg.  This pretty town is divided by the River Danube and there were many fine cruise boats moored.  I think this probably explained why things were more expensive in the town. We had lunch there and then continued on the snowy roads to our overnight stay at the Alliance Arena, home of Bayern Munich's football team.  The dome of the stadium was lit up at night and it looked like an alien spaceship.  It was rather a strange place to spend the night but it would give us easy access into the city. 

The Allianz Arena camping spot

A busy week (part 2): Frankfurt and Nurembourg

Thursday 29th November (Lou's birthday) saw us leaving Cologne and heading out for Frankfurt.  We had decided on taking the scenic route along the Rhine Gorge.  The river is certainly very impressive along this route but the weather was not good.  It rained (with sleet on the higher ground) and so we felt we did not get a proper view of the landscape that we were passing by.  In fact today was not very successful.  Again it was a long day and we arrived at our overnight stop to be met by a very brusque (if not downright rude) German male.  He eventually softened a bit when he realised we could speak some german.  I decided we needed to do some laundry and have supper before we headed off into town.  This was a mistake as by the time we got there it was around 8.30pm we found out that the market was closing at 9pm.  I don't think we did this city any justice as we had already planned to leave the following morning. Still it was a lesson learn't - we need to spend at least two nights at each stop.

Friday 30th November to December 3rd
We managed to get ourselves up and out quite early this morning but we lost most of that time trying to fill up our LPG tank.  This may sound stupid but this was the first time we had used a direct LPG fill and the german instructions were not that useful.  First we had to get the right european adaptor - we have three: one for france, one for Spain and Portugal and one for europe! All would have been ok if the hose hadn't hidden the all important button which released the gas.  By the time we finished there was a queue for fuel going back onto the carriageway and an angry tanker driver who could not get his vehicle off the forecourt and we still hadn't got our diesel.  Mike decided to drive round the block and come back for the necessary fuel.  Anyway we know  how to do it (in Germany at least). On route to Nuremburg we stopped at a mobilehome exhibition place and enquired about snow chains: at 186 Euros we decided to leave it but we may regret this decision.  We also stopped off at McDonalds and used their free wifi service to catch up on some e mails and to do some more route planning.  This meant that once again we were going to arrive at our destination in the dark but our wonderful Sat Nav directed us there without any problems.  We found ourselves at the back of a huge sports complex right adjacent to the area where Hitler held his Nuremburg rallies.  Something else to explore.

Pretty Nuremburg

Interesting Architecture

Christmas Market Area

My birthday sweatshirt and apfelstrudel

Golden Fountain

December 1st is my birthday.  I did awake during the night to find Mike fixing up fairy lights!  Mum and the kids (plus Chris) had sent presents with Mike so it was good to be able to start the day with cards and pressies.  Richard and Louise and Chris had bought me a lovely long sweat shirt. 

It was perfect for the day as it had begun to snow and was very cold.  Mike and I cycled into town about 6km away.  We first cycled around the medieval city walls ending up at the Imperial Castle. We both wandered around the outside of the building and then Mike went for the guided tour.  I didn't fancy an hour and a half of german so I explored the local area on my own. I was also hungry so had a nuremburg sausage roll and a mug of gluhwein to keep me going.  I found a church that had a free concert and this kept me warm until I met up with Mike again.  Mike was hungry by now so we found a cafe where I could have apfelstrudel and a second mug of gluhwein whilst Mike had a nuremburg sausage casserole. We then continued to explore this lovely city.  the market areas were incredibly busy and we heard more english or at least american english voices here although I am not sure why.  Soon it was getting dark and the temperature had dropped to minus 3.   We cycled home as quick as we could to get warm although my hands were frozen.  We found that our boiler had dropped its water - this is a safety device to avoid frozen and then burst pipes so that meant Mike had to sort that out before we could get the van warm but it did not take long. However, more gluhwein called for to warm us up (we now have supplies in the van) followed by a local reisling and a birthday supper. A wonderful day. 

Church of Our Lady

. 

Imperial castle

view from castle

The following day we had a day of rest.  Well a catch up day.  Mike washed the van and checked we were snow and ice proof .  We were delighted to discover we have got winter tyres after all.  This is just as well as it has snowed all day. I spent most of the day on line (3.5 euros) to catch up with some marking, skpye with my Mum, Millie and Louise and some route planning .  Tomorrow we plan to look at the area of the Nuremburg rallies in more detail before heading to Munich.