As I was heading towards the car I thought it was strange it doesnt react to my remote opening attempts. “The remote control battery must be done”, I thought. Turns out the car battery was done. Shit. I had all the luggage with me, was heading to meet O. in Munchen. Ok. Thinkthinkthink. Check trains. Takes 5 hours, leaves in the afternoon. Not good. So I took the scooter, quick to check the service I use to go to / closed. Saturday morning… On the way back I saw an open door at a Renault service right across the street, went in – there was an elderly gentleman sitting at a desk. Hurray! He helped me out, so I eventually still got to Munchen that day.

Meeting O. was great, as expected. Strolled through the city, sat down for a coffe in the main square,

and on Sunday we visited Deutsches Museum, the technology museum in München, big and at times spectacular

where I had the pleasure to discover a whole wall dedicated to Hermann Oberth,

albeit no mention whatsoever of the fact that he was born and raised in Romania.

On the way back to the hotel we saw people like these

probably preparing for the Oktoberfest:

Which we wish you as well.

does not lie in Berlin. But in Potsdam, but nobody worries, no matter how persistently it rains – maybe because Potsdam is the former capital of the Prussian empire, or maybe because the palace is called Sans Souci, i.e. “no worry”.

Built by Friederich 2nd, a.k.a. The Great, a.k.a. Old Fritz, built this summer residence, of course with terraces

and an orangery

a Chinese house

and other stuff, culminating with another, larger, palace at the other end of the garden

The interiors are stunningly rococo, unfortunately no pictures allowed.

Before leaving we went to see Cecilienhof, the place where the 3 little… hm, personalities, Truman, Churchill and Stalin signed the “Treaty on Germany” in 1945. We were awaiting some more rococo, but stumbled upon a british-style old mansion!

Cool, they withdrew here, far from the rizzrazz, to be able to chat unbothered.

Day ended in Spandau, a small suburb of Berlin, which kept some of its medievalbohemian air.

What makes Berlin special though can hardly be captured in pictures. It is in the air, in the people, in their minds. The atmosphere, spirit, life which pulsates from every corner. Maybe because of so many hardships, some lasting till very recently, Berlin feels a city ALIVE, with capital A, L, I, V and E.

Our walk started at the Alexanderplatz, whith the World Clock

and, of course, the television tower, second highest in Europe. Compare with the church tower to its left…

Before seeing the Dome, we stopped for the Neptune fountain in front of the red City Hall

and then saw the Dome, on the river banks – what river crosses Berlin?

The Spree.

Inside, the Dome is even more spectacular, both upstairs

and downstairs.

Outside, relaxation,

totally.

We then finally reached a “classical” point, Unter den Linden. The Berlinese Champs Elysees is not as large, but chic.

and ends with an equally symbolic construction, the Brandenburg Gate.

From there, on to the Reichstag, the Parliament,

which you can visit for free for a rainy panorama

from the pantheon-style (but modern) dome

The Holocaust Memorial is in controversy for its weird style,

But I liked it. It is absurd, which fits.

Gendarmenmarkt is one of the nicest squares in Berlin. Especially cool the two domes, one for Germans,

one for Hugenottes

Potsdamer Platz is where we entered a different era. The Wall era. Few pieces are left over from the wall, some here

and in the meantime they are fixing several “memorial centres”

One of the important ones is Checkpoint Charlie, one of the 7 border crossings between East and West Berlin.

Before 1961 it looked like this,

today it looks like this

This is the best way to learn history. First you learn in school, but then visit the place, to be able to feel what must have been going on.

Now i wonder – how was this possible?!? And then I remember that not too long ago, the concept of “east and west berlin” was very “normal” to me. And that scares me – people forgetting so easily, this makes all sorts of horrors to be able to happen again, and again…

I first heard the words below in a music clip. Now i understand them much better.

Well, it was a very pleasant surprise. The first sight after emerging from the underground parking lot was this church

in this square

from where I randomly walked along this road

and then this road,

all very cozy, very colorful, but laid back, just like these people must feel enjoying a sunny day.

Stolen by the atmosphere, I got lost. Time for a map – asked for one at the first hotel I saw, and a kind gentleman gave it to me for free – getting a grip, I soon found the Residenz, apparently the largest palace in Germany, a UNESCO monument.

Monumental indeed, with a nice garden around it.

That being ticked, on to the next objective, fortress Marienberg – but on the way, time for a quick look inside the dome, where this interesting… candled ornament was posted at the entrance. To me it looks Hannukah-like.

Moving on, got to the river (Main), and to the fortress

which I admired only from downstairs, from the impressive Alte Mainbrueke – it was already too late to climb up.

On the way back

there was still time to discover some randomly spectacular church

and the famous university

The town impressed me a lot. It is accidentally beautiful in the sense that no matter where you go, you can accidentally find something to please your eye. Speaking of which, I found a suspect agglomeration of aesthetically pleasing-looking young ladies. Felt like in Romania. Probably the huge University is the key.

What stands for sure is that the grey spot for “Würzburg” is gone from my mind, with plenty of things on stock to replace it.

With that, on to the next planned stop, Leipzig.

And when I saw it from far away

it reminded me of a book with germanic fairytales from when i was a kid, where they were talking about a dark count of Zollern.

And indeed, i was to find out that this hill was called Zollern hill, and at its top

was the impressive Hohenzollern burg, site of origin for the famous royal family of Hohenzollern.

Walked up on a steep path with a green sealing

to finally get to the fortress gate.

To get to the courtyard you had to pass through a spiraled way guarded by a tall wall

and then through a tunnel

where you could see stuff like this through the windows

and bang, the main courtyard

of course featuring a canon, skillfully operated by a brave warrior.

Did the fortress tour, guided, unfortunately no pictures. Pretty neat. One of the highlights was the family tree right at the beginning, featuring Carol I, Carol II, Ferdinand I and Michael I of Romania – the kings of Romania between 1881 and 1947 were from the Hohenzollern family.

After the tour, i checked out the dungeons (is this the word?), where you can see the rock which the foundation was built on, and some cool corridors.

Out in the sun again, i enjoyed a traditional german gourmet meal – sausage and french fries, and, after a last look at Svabia extending beautifully in front of our eyes,

I left.