Last three days in Germany (by Leen)

Hello darlings! The next couple of days we are going to visit cities in northern region of Germany. But first of all I am going to share some general information, history, culture, … with you.

Friday 29 April 2011: visiting Berlin

Berlin, located in north-eastern Germany, is the capital and also the largest city of the country. The city is one of the sixteen states and has a population of 3.4 million people. Approximately one third of the city's territory consists of forests, parks, gardens, rivers and lakes.

Berlin has a temperate climate, which means that changes between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate. Summers are warm with average high temperatures of 22–
25 °C and lows of 12–14 °C. Winters are cold with average high temperatures of 4 °C and lows of -2 to 0 °C. Spring and autumn are generally chilly to mild.

Now I am going to tell you something about Berlin’s history to refresh the worst things that happened.

On 30 January 1933 Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power. Nazi rule destroyed Berlin's Jewish community. The Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass) was a series of attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on 9 and 10 November 1938. After that night thousands of German Jews were put behind bars in the nearby “Sachsenhausen concentration camp” and in early 1943, they were transported to death camps, such as Auschwitz in Poland.

During the Second World War, large parts of Berlin were destroyed. At the end of the War, victorious powers divided the city into four sectors. The sectors of the Western Allies (the United States, the United Kingdom and France) formed West Berlin, while the Soviet sector formed East Berlin. The tensions between East and West culminated in the construction of the Berlin Wall between on 13 August 1961. The Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) that completely cut off West Berlin. The Soviet-dominated Eastern Bloc officially said that it was built to prevent the "will of the people". However, in practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that characterized Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post–World War II period.

In 1989, a radical series of political changes occurred in the Eastern Bloc and after several weeks of civil unrest, the government announced on 9 November 1989 that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin. An euphoric public and souvenir hunters chipped away parts of the wall. The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for German reunification, which formally took place on 3 October 1990.

I guess that’s enough history about Berlin, so now I am going to describe our day. Today we visited the Brandenburg Gate, “Under the linden trees”, the Reichstag building and Charlottenburg Palace.

The Brandenburg Gate ( : “Brandenburger Tor”) is a former city gate and one of the main symbols of Berlin and Germany. The Gate is located west of the city center and is the only remaining gate of a series through which Berlin was once entered. One block to the north stands the Reichstag building, which we visited too. The Brandenburg Gate is the monumental entry to “Under the linden trees” (in German: “Unter den Linden”), the renowned boulevard of linden trees which formerly led directly to the city palace of the Prussian monarchs.

The Reichstag building is the traditional seat of the German Parliament, renovated in the 1950s after severe World War II damage. At the very top of the building there is standing the large glass “Reichstag Dome”. The dome has a 360-degree view of the surrounding Berlin cityscape. The main hall of the parliament below can also be seen from the cupola and natural light from above radiates down to the parliament floor. Construction work was finished in 1999 and the seat of parliament was transferred in April of that year. The dome is open for visitors but the waiting queues can be very long, especially in summertime. So luckily we hadn’t had to wait long.

At the end of the day, before we went to our hotel to have dinner and get ready for a party in town, we went to Charlottenburg Palace.

Charlottenburg Palace (in German: “Schloss Charlottenburg”) is the largest palace in Berlin and was built at the end of the 17^th century. During the 18^th century the palace was greatly expanded. A large formal garden surrounded by woodland was constructed behind the palace. In its grounds there are various buildings, such as a mausoleum, a theatre and a pavilion. To the south of the palace there are two more museums, the “Bröhan Museum”, which contains art nouveau and art deco articles, and the “Berggruen Museum”, which houses modern art, in particular works by Picasso and Klee.

Now let’s party & goodnight for you!!

-xx-

Saturday 30 April 2011: visiting Hamburg

Hamburg, situated in Northern Germany, is the second-largest city in the country and the eighth-largest city in the European Union. The city’s official name is the “Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg” (in German: “Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg”). The port of Hamburg is the third-largest port in Europe, after the Port of Antwerp and Rotterdam. It is also the eighth largest in the world. The harbour is located 110 kilometres from the mouth of the Elbe into the North Sea. Although the port is situated so far from the Elbe, it is considered as a sea port due to its ability to handle large ocean-going vessels.

The Port is also one of Hamburg's largest attractions, both as a living, industrial and logistics center but also as a backdrop for modern culture and the ports history.

Furthermore Hamburg organises several festivals and regular events. Some of them are street festivals, such as the “gay pride”, “Christopher Street Day festival”, the “Alster fair” and the “Hamburger DOM”. The last one is the biggest fun fair which is held three times a year. “Birth of the Harbour” (in German: “Hafengeburtstag”) is also a funfair but this one is to honour the birthday of the port of Hamburg with a party and a ship parade.

Besides getting to know the city, we also enjoyed a typical Hamburg visit with a sightseeing bus. This visit included a tour of the city hall, the grand church St. Michaelis (in German “Michel”), visiting the old warehouse district (in German: “Speicherstadt”) and the harbour promenade (in German: “Landungsbrücken”). Additionally to the sightseeing tour, we took one of the harbour boats tours. Fortunately for us it did not rain and we had quite nice weather.

Tomorrow, before leaving to Denmark, we are going to visit the last city Kiel.

Good night and sleep tight! Kizzz !!

-xx-

Sunday 1 May 2011: visiting Kiel

Kiel is the capital city and most populous city of northern state Schleswig-Holstein. This state borders Denmark on the north, the North Sea on the west, the Baltic Sea on the east and the German states of Lower Saxony, Hamburg, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on the south.

The city is known for a variety of international sailing events, including the annual Kiel Week, which is the biggest sailing event in the world. In English it is known as the Kiel Regatta and it always takes place in the last week of June. Many thousands of boats and ships of all kinds take part in this parade. Besides the Keel Week, The Olympic sailing competitions of 1936 and the Summer Olympics of 1972 were held here.

 Likewise Kiel is known for its opera houses. The Kiel Opera House (in German: “Opernhaus Kiel”) is the city's major venue for opera, ballet, and orchestral performances. The first performance at the house was Beethoven's Fidelio on 1 October 1907.

Furthermore this capital city has a major shopping district, with the Holsten Street (in German “Holstenstrasse”) as one of the longest shopping miles in Germany. Here we spent the afternoon before going back to the hotel to pack our bags.

Tomorrow we will post another message on our blog when we are in Denmark.

Bye bye! Have a nice day! –xx-

link: http://www.auschwitz.dk/auschwitz.htm