Berlin and Poland 2017

This is our photoblog of Berlin and Northern Poland in October of 2017. 5 nights in Berlin, 7 nights in Poland, 3 regular cameras, 2 iphones, 5 hotels, 1000 rental car miles, 20+ miles on foot, and barely enough mastery of the local language to get something to eat. But we survived and had a great time doing it.
On this first page is a sampling of some of the best pictures of the trip. (Your opinion may vary). Each photo is geotagged so you can see the spot on earth it was taken

Berlin Album

Spending 3 full days in Berlin is certainly not enough to even scratch the surface. As is our method - each morning we picked a direction and headed off - mostly walking - to take in all the true flavor of the city. The pictrues represent interesting sights as we found them. Even more interesting is researching what we'd seen and photographed.

309 images

Poland Album

To visit and take in Poland was the original goal of the trip. Based in Darlowo on the Baltic coast we put 1000 miles on the rental car traveling the countryside and visiting cities and sites. History is everywhere, the good, the bad and the extremely ugly. Every where you go there is a reminder of conflicts that touched the land and people. Conflicts of many ages, some 100's of years ago , some decades ago , and some in just the past few years. Taking it all in puts perspective to our existance.

509 images

1 Trip Map and Picture Locations Location of all photos taken during this trip. Over 950 pictures survived cleanup effort	2 TV Tower Berlin Fernsehturm Berlin (Berlin TV Tower) - Height: 1,207′ or 368 meters, making it the tallest building in Germany. Opened: October 3, 1969	3 Rotes City Hall The Rotes Rathaus is the town hall of Berlin, located in the Mitte district on Rathausstraße near Alexanderplatz. It is the home to the governing mayor and the government of the Federal state of Berlin. Height: 328′ - In 1991 the Red Town Hall became again seat of government of the now reunified Berlin. Opened: 1869	4 Scarf Shop in Nicolai-Kirche
5 Humbolt University The Humboldt University of Berlin is one of Berlin's oldest universities, founded on 15 October 1811 as the University of Berlin by Frederick William III of Prussia. A Prussian liberal arts university now offering varied courses & alma mater of 29 Nobel laureates.	6 Statue on tower of French Dome in Gendarmenmarkt	7 Ceiling in a Deutsche Bank along Unter den Linden Street	8 Brandenburg Gate Selfie in front of the Brandenberg Gate.
9 Brandenburg Gate The Brandenburg Gate is an 18th-century neoclassical monument in Berlin, built on the orders of Prussian king Frederick William II after the successful restoration of order during the early Batavian Revolution. A restored 18th-century gate & landmark with 12 Doric columns topped by a classical goddess statue.	10 The Reichstag The Reichstag is a historic edifice in Berlin, Germany, constructed to house the Imperial Diet of the German Empire. It was opened in 1894 and housed the Diet until 1933, when it was severely damaged after being set on fire ushering in the rise of the Nazis.. The ruined building was made safe against the elements and partially refurbished in the 1960s, but no attempt at full restoration was made until after German reunification on 3 October 1990, when it underwent a reconstruction led by architect Norman Foster. After its completion in 1999, it once again became the meeting place of the German parliament: the modern Bundestag	11 Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, also known as the Holocaust Memorial, is a memorial in Berlin to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. 2,711 columns forming a vast mazelike Holocaust memorial, with an underground exhibition room.	12 Face-shaped Lamp This sculpture shows the profile of Johann Georg Elser, a German factory worker who carried out an elaborate assassination attempt against Adolf Hitler in 1939. The impressive sculpture stands over 55 feet high, above the surrounding trees and buildings
13 Early Keyboard Glad this wasnt adopted - at the Museum of Communications	14 Checkpoint Charlie Checkpoint Charlie became a symbol of the Cold War, representing the separation of East and West. Soviet and American tanks briefly faced each other at the location during the Berlin Crisis of 1961.	15 Currywurst - Berlin Fast-food Favorite CurryWurst - A Berlin tradition - consists of a sliced sauage in a curry flavored tomato sauce. It may be an acquired taste. :-) Not suprisingly there is only museum about currywurst	16 Art Deco Facade - Jugendstil Michaelsen Palais - Built between 1903 and 1904 - it is considered one of the most representative structures of Jugendstil - a german streek of Art Nouveau. Aside from lavish floral and mythical ornaments, one can also find the patriotic ones, reflecting the climate of the period (for an example a relief of Otto von Bismarck). Decorations also allude to medieval times, bringing to mind the mythical times of Germany’s beginnings, according to Gründerzeit (founding times) style.During the II World War the building was severly destroyed It was thoroughly renovated between 1994 and 1996, and then again in 2001 to reflect it’s original look.
17 Rausch Choclolates No touching allowed.	18 I'll just leave this here...	19 Martin Luther Statue Monument standing in from of St. Marienkirche (St. Mary's Church) - is the oldest church in Berlin. The oldest parts of the church are made from granite, but most of it is built of brick, giving it its characteristic bright red appearance.The church was originally a Roman Catholic church, but has been a Lutheran Protestant church since the Protestant Reformation and a united protestant church since the Prussian Union of churches in 1817	20 Berlin Cathedral Berlin Cathedral is the short name for the Evangelical Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church in Berlin, Germany. It is located on Museum Island in the Mitte borough. Berlin Cathedral has a long history starting as a Roman Catholic place of worship in the 15th century. In 1539 Prince-Elector Joachim II Hector converted from Catholicism to Lutheranism, as earlier had done many of his subjects. The collegiate church thus became Lutheran too, like most of the electoral subjects and all the churches in the Electorate. In 1975 reconstruction started, In 1980 the baptistery and wedding church was reopened for services. The restoration of the nave was begun in 1984. On 6 June 1993 the nave was reinaugurated
21 Roman Statue in the Altes Museam	22 Ishtar Gate In the Pergamonmuseum The Ishtar Gate (Arabic: بوابة عشتار‎‎, Persian: دروازه ایشتار‎‎) was the eighth gate to the inner city of Babylon. It was constructed in about 575 BCE by order of King Nebuchadnezzar II on the north side of the city. It was excavated in the early 20th century and a reconstruction using original bricks is shown here in the museum complex housing ancient Roman & Greek art collections, plus Babylonian & Persian antiquities.	23 Sculpture near Alte Nationalgalerie	24 Near the "Snake Building"
25 Part of the Neptune Fountain	26 Subway Stops	27 Dogs on a train	28 Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church The original church on the site was built in the 1890s. It was badly damaged in a bombing raid in 1943. The present building, which consists of a church with an attached foyer and a separate belfry with an attached chapel, was built between 1959 and 1963. The damaged spire of the old church has been retained and its ground floor has been made into a memorial hall. The Memorial Church today is a famous landmark of western Berlin, and is nicknamed by Berliners "der hohle Zahn", meaning "the hollow tooth"
29 Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial hall The entrance hall in the base of the damaged spire was reopened to visitors, having been consecrated on 7 January 1987. Its floor contains a mosaic of the Archangel Michael fighting the dragon. The vault shows a procession of Hohenzollern princes, early and more recent. Other mosaics show important monarchs in medieval Germany, Reformation thinkers and Reformation princes. Bas-relief sculptures illustrate scenes from biblical stories, scenes from the life of Kaiser Wilhelm I and symbolic figures representing war and peace	30 Fishy Pillows At a Souvenier shop of Darlowko.	31 Port of Darlowko on the Baltic Sea	32 Statue at Town Hall of Darlowo
33 Amber Hunting on the Beach	34 Dinner at Gościniec Zamkowy Gościniec Zamkowy - loosely translated as the Castle Highway Restaurant. Great meal - great host - Mike a 12-year ex-pat from Colorado.	35 Malbork Castle Panorama Malbork Castle - 14th-century Teutonic castle housing museum of medieval artifacts, paintings & an amber collection. The largest castle in the world measured by land area. It consists of three separate castles - the High, Middle and Lower Castles, separated by multiple dry moats and towers. The castle once housed approximately 3,000 "brothers in arms". The outermost castle walls enclose 21 ha (52 acres), four times the enclosed area of Windsor Castle. Malbork Castle remains the largest brick building in Europe.	36 Restored Statue of The Virgin Mary and Child - 8 meters high
37 Statues of the Grand Masters of the Teutonic Order These were feudel lords - leaders of the monastic community	38 Jesus at Gethsemane Jesus at Gethsemane, a masterpiece of Gothic sculpture (c. 1390) originally from Torun, at Malbork Castle, Poland.	39 Made of Amber	40 Selfie in Front of St Mary's
41 Statue in the Town of Malbork	42 Restrurant in front of Mill in Gdansk	43 Johannes Hevelius 1611-1687 Author of the Atlas of the Skies - Also a renowned Gdansk Brewer.	44 The Great Armory The Great Armoury was built in 1600-09 on the medieval line of the city walls. A working arsenal until the 1800's, the armoury remains the finest example of Renaissance architecture in the city. It was designed by Opberghen and is the most impressive of his works in Gdańsk. The well-like structure in front was used as an elevator to transport gunpowder and cannon balls from their storage place in the basement. The armoury was badly damaged in WWII and had to be completely rebuilt and its only in recent years that it has regained its former glory following a spell during which it even placed host to a supermarket. It's now open occasionally as an art gallery.
45 Armory Detail Uh - yeah	46 Dluga Street	47 Gdansk 1945	48 Whoa - slow down
49 Neptune Fountain	50 Gdansk waterfront	51 Polish Baltic Philharmonic Concert Hall	52 Monument to those who kept Gdańsk Polish Unveiled in 1969 and designed by Wawrzyniec Samp and Wieslaw Pietron, this huge stone monument depicts an axe stuck in the ground and commemorates all those who gave their lives throughout the centuries (from the 1308 Gdańsk massacre to WWII) trying to maintain the Polish identity of Gdańsk.
53 Wind turbines just west of Darlowo Poland	54 Grainery (?) in Darlowo Poland	55 Castle of the Pomeranian Dukes Castle of the Pomeranian Dukes - the only Gothic castle located on the coast of the Baltic Sea in Poland. The castle's formation is close to that of a square, with a tower measuring 24 metres in height -Year built: 1352	56 Roadside Church
57 Dancing Waters at City Hall	58 Potato Statue Pomnik Ziemniaka	59 Flat countryside	60 Ducal Castle The Ducal Castle in Szczecin, Poland, was the seat of the dukes of Pomerania-Stettin of the House of Pomerania, who ruled the Duchy of Pomerania from 1121 to 1637.
61 Monument to the Victims of December 1970 Monument to the Victims of December 1970 (the so-called Angel of Freedom) at the Solidarity Square	62 Hmmm	63 Church St John the Baptist Church St John the Baptist (Katholische Johanniskirche) in 1890 was built for the purposes of the Catholic Diaspora in Protestant Szczecin. An Engelbert Seibertz architect was the initiator of the scheme from Berlin. To 1945 the yr was an only Roman Catholic church in Szczecin. In 2008 the XVI Pope Benedykta granted the church of honourable St John the Baptist title of the smaller basilica	64 Church St John the Baptist
65 St James Basilica	66 St James Basilica The Cathedral Basilica of St. James the Apostle in Szczecin (Polish: Bazylika archikatedralna św. Jakuba w Szczecinie, German: Jakobskathedrale or also Jakobikirche Stettin) - was built by the citizens of the city and modeled after the Church of St. Mary in Lübeck. It is the largest church in Pomerania and for many years after the reformation was part of the Pomeranian Evangelical Church, but since World War II and the handing over of Stettin (name of the city in German language) from Germany to Poland it has been rebuilt as a Roman Catholic cathedral. Completely destroyed in WWII.	67 St James Basilica Organ	68 St James Basilica - decoration