Author Topic: Poland, Germany, Denmark...... (Read 134091 times)

hangchoi · « **Reply #50 on:** 25 April 2018, 22:23:27 »

Southward of the Bebelplatz are the locations of the trio of Berlin, the French Cathedral, Deutscher Dom and Konzerthaus Berlin (Berlin Concert Hall). A good place to take pictures.

hangchoi · « **Reply #51 on:** 25 April 2018, 22:26:00 »

In Germany, you must not miss to taste Schweinshaxe (Pork Knuckle). We picked a restaurant recommended by Trip Advisor to have a platter for Schweinshaxe and sausages. Yummy. Beer Tasting as well.

hangchoi · « **Reply #52 on:** 25 April 2018, 22:31:56 »

After dinner, we passed by Checkpoint Charlie and revisited the soldiers there. Then we went to Topographie des Terrors. This place was the headquarter of SS and Gestapo. Now it turned into a museum telling their history.

Germany adopts a policy that they allow their citizen frankly discuss their past and history, maybe this is the reason that they can quickly recover from the war.

This museum is nicely built and at the same time, they had the ruin of the old headquarter, as it was bombed during WW2.

hangchoi · « **Reply #53 on:** 25 April 2018, 22:37:27 »

The night is still young. we decided to go back to hotel on foot. We passed by the government office and the Reichstagsgebäude (Parliament building), where we would go visit the next morning. You can compare the day and night of Reichstagsgebäude

hangchoi · « **Reply #54 on:** 25 April 2018, 22:42:04 »

Next day morning we went to Reichstagsgebäude and visited the roof top, as the roof top is a glass structure for you to have a panoramic view of the city. In order to go into Reichstagsgebäude, you need to make reservation via internet to get their permission letter. Severe security check at the entrance too. The view is very nice and you will have an audio guide to guide you through the route to see the city. They also have an exhibition there to tell you the history of Reichstagsgebäude

hangchoi · « **Reply #55 on:** 25 April 2018, 22:48:34 »

After the visit, we went to the museum island. The island that houses 3 important museums of Germany. We went to visit Berliner Dom first. This is the main church in Berlin, or even Germany. You can go up to the roof by walking about 200 steps. They have a underground crypt for the royal family too. The Church is huge and beautiful, but too many tourist.

hangchoi · « **Reply #56 on:** 25 April 2018, 23:02:20 »

That's the end of our visit in Berlin. We deliberately decided to sacrifice the tourist spots in Berlin if we did not have sufficient time to visit. This is because we are quite sure that we may revisit this city again if we would go to Germany again years later. Hence, we put our priority to those cities that we would not go again like Wittenberg, Bremen, etc.

We took an evening train from Berlin to Hamburg. Checked in the hotel and took a good rest for the next day because we had to wake up early the next day.

We arrived at Hamburg in the Sunday's morning. The Hamburg fish market is a good place to visit but it would be closed at 9:30am. Hence, we decided to go there for breakfast, just like what we did 2 years ago to Bastille marche.

The fish market comprises of a main building and the stalls along the road. There are a lot of food trucks too. A live band is playing inside the main building (well....live band in the morning). You may rightly guess that the main building was the godown / market for fisherman at that time, like the one in aberdeen. A lot of stuff selling there.

Walking to the quayside had two interesting things. One is the submarine. The other is a lot of seagulls. I tried to use single focus to take the picture of seagull without pressing continuous button and I can still take some nice ones.

hangchoi · « **Reply #57 on:** 25 April 2018, 23:09:38 »

Not far away from the fish market is the Beatles-Platz. As a fan of the Beatles, this is the must-go place. We went there to see Club Indra 64. They had a metal plate telling how significant they were.

ON 17 August 1960, the Beatles started playing in Club 64. Until they released their first red hot album Love Me Do in 1962, they were a regular performer in this club.

The Beatles-Platz only has a metal figures for them, nothing special actually.

hangchoi · « **Reply #58 on:** 25 April 2018, 23:22:53 »

We tried to pack our sightseeing so that we may have more time shopping on the next day. After we visited Beatles-Platz, we went to Bremen by train and had lunch there. Bremen is less than 1 hour train. This is a town with the story of "cock, cat, dog and donkey", so called the 4 musicians of Bremen.

At the time we arrived, we saw a lot of people drinking beer and yelling, they were all in green/white strips T-shirt. Then we found out that there was a football game in the afternoon. A bit scary that a bunch of drunkards wandering around the city.

The train station is nice, with sculptures along the route to the old town. A lot of 4-musicians statues are set up in the old city. The most famous one is located outside the city hall. There is a myth that if you held the legs of the donkey, you will get luck. Therefore, the donkey's foots were so shiny that they are kept polishing by people's hands.