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Urlaub 2016

Franken - Brandenburg - Berlin

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Hier ist die Urlaubsreise vom September 2016 im Überblick.



Foto vom der Berliner Morgenpost geborgt
The trip started with a flight from San Francisco left) to Berlin (right) via Newark, NY. After an unexpected two-hour delay because of a flat tire in the landing gear, I arrived in Berlin on August 26.

Almost immediately after arrival, I went to see my brother, who now works in one of the many refugee camps in Potsdam.

The building has a rich history. It was built in 1804 by King Frederick William III for his wife, Queen Louise, was turned into a Military Academy in 1902 and into the Imperial Archive in 1919. After World War II, it was used by the Soviet Military Administration and from 1952 until 1989 it was the seat of the Communist Party's district committee. From 1989 until 2013, it was the seat of the Brandenburg State Parliament.

Not far from that building is Potsdam's Albert Einstein Science Park with its famous astronomical observatories and its even more famous Einstein Tower.
This was the first of many uphill hikes during this trip.

The next day, I went to Berlin's central bus station, just across the street from the Berlin Fair area and the old West-Berlin Radio Tower. Here, I boarded a bus to Erfurt, where Julia picked me up and took me to their new home in Coburg, Franconia.

Julia's and Kay's new home town Coburg is a really pretty place!

Walking past Ehrenburg Palace, we went on a pretty serious hike up to Veste Coburg, one of Germany's largest castles.

Veste Coburg dates back all the way to the year 1225.
In its almost 900 years of history, the castle has never been taken by enemy forces.

The next day, Julia and I took a trip to Bamberg, slightly larger than Coburg - and even more beautiful.

Picture borrowed from guelcker.de
Dominating building in Bamberg is the Imperial Cathedral; built over 1,000 years ago in 1012 and containing the tomb of Emperor Heinrich II.

Bamberg is also home to Germany's oldest rose garden.

The last day in Franconia was spent in Nuremberg, visiting its city wall, its churches and its famous castle.

Before returning to Potsdam, I spent two days in Berlin, revisiting some familiar places
and checking out some new ones.

Berlin was originally called Bear-lin and the bear has been the towns heraldic animal for over 700 years.
Lately, so called buddy-bears have been placed all over town. Here are some examples.

One of the places I visited was the Red Army cemetery in Berlin-Treptow; the largest Russian World War II monument outside the former Soviet Union.

Another World War II monument was the Bendler-Block, the place were German patriot von Stauffenberg and his comrades were executed after a failed assassination attempt on Hitler.

There are a lot of places in Berlin documenting the history of the Berlin Wall. The latest is a small statue of Conrad Schumann, known as the "First Defector." Ordered to guard the construction of the wall, the 19 year-old soldier jumped a barbed wire fence and escaped to West-Berlin on August 13, 1961.

One of the many towers I climbed during this trip was the 200 feet tall Victory Column, which commemorates the "Wars of Unification" between 1864 and 1871.

Another icon of Berlin history is the Olympiastadion, site of the 1936 Olympic Games.

Both the Victory Column and the Bell Tower of the Olympic Stadium offered great views over Berlin.

Going back even further in history, I went to Berlin's northern edge to visit Spandau Citadel, built in the 16th century.

And here we are at the birth place of the state of Brandenburg, the Schildhorn, where the last Slavonic King, Jaxa of Köpenick was defeated by German Margrave Albert the Bear in 1157.

Back in Potsdam, I caught up on a number of castles that hadn't been part of our previous visits: Cecilienhof, the Marble Palace, and Charlottenhof.

Another, very much less pictoresck place I visited was the former East German Secret Police Prison in downtown Potsdam.

A huge part of my visit was just climbing stairs.

al the climbing culminated in the Brandenburg Tower Day. One day every year, all the towers in my old home town Brandenburg are open and Jutta, Steffen and I climbed as many as we could..

And of course, all the traveling around was paired with meeting friends and family.
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