The Final Countdown - Last chapter

Wednesday 6th
We packed up and left Prague today and it wasn’t long and we were back in Germany again and you could tell by the condition of the roads. This is only one area of infrastructure but it certainly shows that the Eastern Block countries have a long, long way to go to get back, if they ever will?? to any wealth of past centuries after being raped by the Communist philosophy. (Does that sound like a political statement – maybe!!)

Arrived at a lovely camp just outside of Dresden just after lunch and decided to chill out for the afternoon.

Thursday 7th
Up and off into Dresden today. The bus stop was just out the front of the camp which is adjacent to a residential area. When we walked out we realised we’d just missed our bus No.66 and thought ‘O damn’ and another bus was approaching No.63 and a lovely German lady came up to us and indicated speaking in German to follow her and get on, then after 3 stops she indicated to us to get off and change to No.11, we got off and thought ‘O God’ where to from here and thankfully another lady indicated that we needed to go around the corner and catch the No.11 TRAM which took us right into the Alstradt which was further than the No.66 bus would have taken us, so we were thankful to the German lady.

Dresden is a city that has had to be rebuilt after being virtually flattened during the war with over 35,000 people dying during the bombing. A number of buildings particularly public buildings and churches have been rebuilt using what could be resurrected from the original buildings and rebuilt to the same design as it previously had been. The 1st building we went into,

The Kreuzkirche

The Kreuzkirche (a Protestant Church, not Catholic – amazing!!) totally looked like a centuries old church from the outside but very austere and lacking the usual elaborate interior. This poor church has had a chequered existence having previously been extensively damaged and then destroyed in fires over the centuries and then WW11. It was then a short walk to the town square and the Frauenkirche, another rebuilt icon.

the Frauenkirche

We decided to venture up to the dome to have a look out over the city. Being a rebuilt building it had a lift at least half way up. We then had to walk up a spiral walkway until the last section where there were a further 127 steps (no worries, a cinch for us fit people!!!)

At the top

The view was quite nice looking out over the city of over 300,000 with the River Elbe running through it. Walked along the riverfront and looked at a number of important buildings which, it is obvious to see that a lot of the original stonework was re-used as they are quite black from the damage received during the bombing raids in contrast to the new work and appears that it has been done on purpose as a stark reminder of this era in time.

The Theater or Opera House

After this it was then, of course time for lunch. It might seem that eating out is more important than visiting museums etc but we find it’s good to try out the local cuisine and beverages to really get the feel of the place we are visiting.

Back to the camp on a hot day and it was time to try out the pool, I put my feet in and said ‘eh no not for me, too cold’. Rob braved it though and a number of others came in and took fright at the temperature too although I was the only piker.

Friday 8th
It was on to Berlin today, our last city to visit. I had earmarked a camp place just outside Berlin at Potsdam at the ‘Sans Souci Campingplatz’ which is on The Promenade, I felt quite at home!!!!!!

Our Campsite at 'Camp Sanssouci'

There is a huge estate here called Park Sanssouci which contains the Neues Palais (new palace) and the Schloss Sanssouci (a huge stately residence) Apparently this is where the Potsdam Conference was held in Aug’1945 and split the capital, Berlin and the rest of Germany into 4 zones to be occupied by the British, US, France and the Soviet Union. It was only after we were in Berlin that we realised that West Berlin was actually completely surrounded by East Germany the Soviet sector and after the Soviets in 1961 blockaded their sector to exclude the exodus of people to the west that the only way the West Berliners could travel outside their city was to fly in definite flight zones. It was like they lived on an island.

Saturday 9th
Into Berlin today to join a 4 hour walking tour. Our guide was Finn an Irish guy who’s been in Berlin for quite some time studying the language, culture, history, I think a brainy bugger he was like a walking encyclopaedia who talked like a thrashing machine!! But as you would imagine very informative. He intends to write a book on the Third Reich. We covered all the important areas of history, The Berlin Cathedral, The Brandenburg Gate, Gendarmenmarkt, The Memorial to the Murdered Jews (a most unusual memorial), the remnants of the infamous Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie and much more, needless to say when it ended we were well informed but exhausted and happy to head back on the train to camp.

the Brandenburg Gate from the East side

Another view of the Memorial to the murdered Jews

Part of the Memorial to the murdered Jews

a photograph of the real Checkpoint Charlie

Rob at Checkpoint Charlie

The Berlin Cathedral

A city of contradictions - old and new

On the walk we came across this ugly ultra-modern building and I thought what a blight on the environment but was informed by our guide that it has only recently been unveiled and its purpose is to help raise money to build the former palace that was on the site. Apparently the project was supposed to have been finished but they couldn’t raise the money needed so they have built this, obviously to raise people’s awareness that they don’t want this ugly monstrosity to stay and for people to donate to the rebuilding of the former palace.

I felt this was a blight on the area but it there for a reason see blog for explanation

Sunday 10th
We had planned to take a cruise on the lakes at Potsdam today but didn’t realised it left earlier than we thought so decided to have a rest day and get the chores out of the way ie the washing and also get on Skype to the family.

Monday 11th
We woke to rain today so put off the cruise again and headed back into Berlin to look a bit more in depth at some of the places we’d been on the walking tour and to check out a couple more things. Eg. The Reichstag, the permanent seat of the German Parliament. It is just around from the Brandenburg Gate and just inside the Gate is the Adlon Hotel, the most expensive place to stay in Berlin (top suite 17,000 Euros a night) and made more famous by Michael Jackson when he dangled baby Blanket over the railing.

Hotel Adlon MJ was at the window above the open window

Unfortunately a couple of museums we were interested in were closed as a lot do on a Monday.

The Berlin wall from the East

The Berlin wall from the West

At the Berlin wall on the western side there is an outside exhibition of photographs and storylines about the times during the War. This area has been excavated to reveal the lower or basement floors of part of the German SS headquarters. A newly constructed museum stands nearby called the Museum of Terrors.

The outside exhibition

I have to say here that even though the German people have acknowledge the perpetration of horror that was wielded by the Third Reich during the WW11 and they fully lay the blame on the Nazi Party and Hitler and his henchmen plus they also talk of the restoration that has gone on since, we found no reference or memorials to those Germans, mostly civilians, I would imagine, women and children, who lost their lives during the air raids and bombings, particularly of Berlin and Dresden. We did see a couple of cemeteries along the road on our way out of Potsdam today with lots of similar headstones and wondered if these might be the graves of people lost during the air raids. There was mention of raping and pillage particularly by the Soviet troops when they finally overtook and occupied Germany but that was about it.

The weather cleared up by lunchtime and came out quite hot so on returning to camp Rob decided to take a dip in the lake with a number of other campers/holiday makers. He reckons it was ‘alright’.

Tuesday 12th
Finally we got on to our cruise of the Lakes of Potsdam a 4 hour leisurely time atop a long boat called ‘MS Sans Souci’ again I felt right at home.

Very nice thank you

A beautiful boat and such a relaxing time. The cruise did a full circuit of the lakes returning through a couple of, I would say, man made canals. We cruised past our camp site which gave a different perspective to that from our van in the camp. From the camp we appear to be in a national park, the only other buildings we could see were those directly across the lake from our camp but from the cruise we were astounded to see that nearly all around the lake system there was residential areas to be seen with a number of very impressive resorts, churches and stately homes. Such a surprise. After returning to Potsdam we walked around the old town, another quaint historical township.

Wednesday 13th
We left today for our final destination, having done a full loop, returning to the place where it all started, Frankfurt Am Main.
We have a full day tomorrow to clean and sort out the van before returning it on Friday morning and then heading to the airport and hopefully getting on a flight to London before heading through Hong Kong and home.

When we arrived here this afternoon, we weren’t sure how we felt. Sad that it’s all over??? Thrilled to have had the opportunity to see, experience and do so many things…….but also at the same time happy to think that we will be heading back home ……..as everyone who has travelled will understand…….to sleep in your own bed and have a shower in you own bathroom……yeah………and finally to see our loved ones. Talking and seeing them on Skype is wonderful but to be able to kiss and hug them is something else……we just can’t wait.

• **** See Photo gallery for more photos