Warnemuende and Berlin

Our tour of Berlin started out of the port at Warnemuende then a 2 hour train ride through what was East Germany to Berlin. We we struck by the lack of towns and people along the way. Much of that country still has limited population.


This year is the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. Much of it has been destroyed to open up the city. A few sections still exist and they have been repainting some of the art work that has covered them for the past 20 years. This section includes one American artist's work.

Elsewhere in the city they have memorialized the location of wall with these pavers where the wall once stood. Also along the wall and river there are memorials to those that attempted escape and gave their lives.







One of the highlights to our time in Berlin was a tour of the Pergamon Museum. The Pergamon has an extensive collection of relics from ancient civilizations. These picture are of the actual Ishtar Gate to the city of Babylon. It was discovered by a German archaeologist in 1902 and taken to Berlin where it has been reconstructed. As you can tell it is beautiful. The Ishtar Gate is from the time of King Nebuchadnezzar about 600 BC.










Near the end of the day in Berlin we finally get to the Brandenburg Gate. Here is Linda with our friend Barbara posing here in the square. Shortly after this picture we were surrounded by several gypsy families. Since we were traveling with several single women I believe they thought we might be easy targets for pick pocketing. As we passed the gate on the left the older kids tried to bump into us. Being the largest in the group I yelled at them and they dispersed quickly. Some in Germany still understand an unhappy American!

We were the last cruise boat out of Warnemuende for the year. The evening that we disembarked a large group came down to the town to the dock to see us off. They had music playing and a few boats that went out to the Baltic with us.