Last week I was in Berlin for the 16th triennial Small Angle Scattering conference. This was my third visit to the city - the first being in August 2004, the second in December 2005. So it's about ten years since I was there last, and although a lot was familiar, a lot has changed too.
Day 1: Berlin (Saturday)
One of my favourite buildings in Berlin is the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtnis Kirche (memorial church), which was damaged during bombing in WWII and has been retained in a partially ruined state.
The Siegessäule (Victory Column), in the middle of Tiergarten - which was really pleasant to walk through.
Two famous landmarks - the Fernsehrturm (TV tower) and Brandenburg Gate.
I took a river cruise which was a different way of seeing the city. The Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral) is in the background.
On the cruise we passed a park that was very popular!
After the boat cruise I wandered on to Alexanderplatz, where there was a 'festival of churches', including this group that were singing gospel-style songs in German!
Finally I took a wander along the East Side Gallery, part of the Berlin Wall which has been turned into a display of all sorts of street art.
Day 2: Potsdam tour (Sunday)
I went on a day trip to Potsdam through
Original Berlin Walks and would highly recommend them. Our guide, Jess, was studying medieval history at masters level and was very knowledgeable and passionate about Potsdam.
A street in Potsdam
The new old and old new. One thing that struck me about Berlin, and that I also saw in Potsdam, was how many of the buildings rebuilt since the war and especially recently (or in planning) are being rebuilt in the original style and then people are told, 'The palace was built in 1620, was partially destroyed by fire in 1850 and rebuilt, destroyed completely in World War II and rebuilt in 2005'. It's all very well rebuilding according to the original design, but it seems a bit misleading starting with the story about 1650 and implying it's the same building...
Sign in Potsdam denoting where Germany was reunited at the fall of the Berlin wall
Cecilienhof, site of the Potsdam Conference in 1945.
Walking through Potsdam
The Brandenburg Gate in Potsdam. (The name of the gate denotes the direction where it leads going out of the city. Hence both Berlin and Potsdam have a Brandenburg Gate.)
Sanssouci palace
