Berlin

We spent the weekend in Berlin which was a first for Col, a second for me and about the fourth of fifth time for Ruth & Rhett. Berlin is definitely a city that you want to return to. One of the main reasons is that the next time you're there it will probably be different to the last time. There's so much construction going on. Buildings being torn down, old districts being revitalized, palaces that haven't been around for decades reinvented and built exactly as they would have been. It's a city of renewal both in an architectural and social sense and it's a focus for some of the best and worst things that Germany has been through in the last few centuries. It has a fairly long and involved history that's pretty impressive for a city built on a swamp. Most of what we learned about Berlin came from the excellent Insider Tour that we went on with our guide Mike who was quite possibly the most passionate history buff that I've ever encountered. He loved Berlin and its history with a vengeance and his enthusiasm infected all of us on the tour. If you ever get a chance to visit Berlin and haven't done this tour - you should! Highlights included the Käthe Kollwitz memorial, the building with glass on the outside of stone and the incredible number of buildings that Karl Friedrich Schinkel managed to get built in Berlin during the neoclassical period.

We did a whole lot more in Berlin but none of it very interesting: shopping, eating, wandering around, so I'll have to let the photos do the rest of the talking.