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Viewing the landing through the camera was quite entertaining as the
runway approached the plane, or vice versa. I had a very short
connection time in Copenhagen Kastrup airport and just caught the
end of the queue to board my next flight. The next flight was
relatively short and it took me from Copenhagen to Berlin Tegel
airport on SAS flight 679 where I would meet up with my father who
had already arrived from Chicago days prior.
Upon retrieving my luggage at Tegel, we took a local BVG
bus and then subway to where we were staying at Parchimer Allee.
I was surprisingly feeling awake so I dropped off my personal items,
took a shower, and then we were off to have dinner out and then
visit Oma and Opa at their apartment off of Bayericsher Platz.
I held up relatively well but then began to feel serious jet-lag
shortly thereafter.
The next day I felt much better so we decided to pursue several of
the tourist sites that I had on my list to accomplish this
trip. Despite my having traveled to Berlin since a very young
age, there are many attractions that I just had not yet been
to. The first on my list was to visit the Egyptian Museum
located directly across from the Charlottenburg Palace. It was
a very interesting visit and I attempted to get a few good shots of
the collections despite the 'no flash photography' policy in place.
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Among
the most popular features here is the Bust of Nefertiti from
1340 BC. |
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Located
just across is the Schloß Charlottenburg |
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After
having visited the Egyptian Museum, we proceeded toward the
Brandenburger Tor and visit the sites that are offered in the
surrounding area. The weather on this particular day was cool
and overcast so the quality of photography is reflective of that.
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Berlin's
Reichstag, Home of the Bundestag / Parliament. |
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On
this day there was a particularly long queue to enter the
Reichstag. |
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| Myself
standing just before the Brandenburg Gate. |
Berlin's
Fernsehturm |
S
Bahn station 'Under den Linden' located just adjacent to the
Brandenburg Gate. |
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A
view of the Reichstag with a dome designed by Sir Norman
Foster. |
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I
was interested to see a 24 Hour Fitness here in Berlin located
atop a Karstadt department store.
I never did make it to use my membership pass, however. . . |
.
. . nor did I ever figure out what's going on in this statue
that we saw on the way back! |
Given
the amount of time that I wound up being away from my 'home base' on
this trip, I did find it necessary to check both professional and
personal e-mail. There is an excellent venue located on the
Kurfürstendamm. There is nearly identical version that I
found in London, England later on in the trip. It is part of
the umbrella term 'Easy Everything' that hosts a variety of
amenities throughout Europe. This part is called the Easy
Internet Café. One buys a ticket with a particular amount
of time in a vending machine and then he or she can log on to any
one of hundreds of workstations to read e-mail, chat, or browse the
Internet.
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A brief view of the expansive Easy Internet Café on the
Kurfürstendamm. |
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I spent at least
one complete day along the Kurfürstendamm seeing many of the sites
that I had done previously but had not appropriately captured on
camera.
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Kaufhaus des Westens (Ka
De We), the biggest department store in Berlin. |
The
new and old bell towers of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche. |
Standing
in front of the Globe Fountain, built in 1983. |
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The Globe
Fountain along with the Gedächtniskirche.
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The
sculpture "Berlin, Berlin" located on the middle
promenade of Tauentzienstraße. |
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| The
Berlin venue of the famous European department store, Peek
& Cloppenburg. |
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The
Feinschmeckeretage
on the sixth floor of the Ka De We offers an endless variety
of specialty foods and venues to dine as well. |
It
is about a twenty minute walk from the Berlin city center to
Bayerischer Platz where my family lives (Oma and Opa). There
are always interesting sights to see along the way including shops,
restaurants, and customary German apartment housing.
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| A
colorful version of the 'Smart Car' which is very popular in
European countries. |
Myself,
Oma, my father George, and Opa. |
As
with previous trips to Berlin, we spent each evening with my family
at their apartment. It is always a great chance for me to be
immersed in the German language so that I can practice my
skill. We discuss current events, personal lives, watch
classical German movies, and enjoy German wine.
As
with other trips to Berlin, this particular week went by very
quickly and I could hardly believe that I was heading back to Berlin
Tegel airport to continue my journey. On Wednesday, July 9th,
I flew from Berlin to Copenhagen on SAS flight 678. This
particular flight was on a propeller / commuter plane which was no
issue whatsoever. One thing that I admired on this flight, and
on other inter-Europe flights, is the fact that they still served
breakfast despite the short travel time!
It
was very timely for me to have combined Berlin yet again in
conjunction with a broader Europe trip and I definitely look forward
to getting back to see my family in the not-too-distant future. |
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