Photo catch up

I thought I'd share the remaining photos from Berlin. Our short break there was fun but at times quite harrowing due to all the history. After our walk through the Tiergarten we crossed the road to the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe or the Holocaust  Memorial as it is known. This is an interesting experience. It consists of 2,711 concrete slabs all the same width and depth but varying in height laid out in a grid pattern. From the edge as you look across it some of the slabs seem slightly higher but to get the full effect of this memorial you have to walk through it.

As you start to walk through you realise the ground dips up and down or undulates. As you move through the memorial the concrete slabs get taller.

and they end up towering above you.

 We found the memorial very unsettling and after walking round it we decided to find lunch. After lunch we headed to check point Charlie. I love the MacDonald's in the background. 

After that we decided to walk back to our hotel so we could have a rest. We walked to Museum Island and then along the river. Over the day we covered 17 miles and so we were both exhausted.

On the Saturday 13th August we decided to walk to the Berlin Wall memorial. From 1952 onward the borders between West and East Germany had gradually been sealed.On the 13th August 1961 the erection of barbed wire to seal off West Berlin began and over the coming days the wall was constructed to prevent migration to the west. The fortifications were regularly strengthened over the years but it finally fell on the 9th November 1989. 

As part of the memorial there is a display of the names and where available photographs of people killed whilst trying to escape to the west over the wall.

As it was the 55th anniversary of the wall going up there were families visiting the memorial

We spent a lot of time walking around the memorial. It was very thought provoking.

We enjoyed our trip to Berlin and plan on visiting again in the future. I want to visit the Bauhaus Archive, art galleries and museums. It was hot for our trip so it would have been a shame to be indoors but a visit in the winter would need indoor activities.

On the stitching front I did a little more on my Celtic knot cross stitch. It's growing a little at a time. 

The pattern will show up much better once the back stitching is done, but there's a lot of cross stitching to be done before I can back stitch.

For now I need to get to sleep as I need to be up early tomorrow. With early mornings retirement is starting to look like a great option! 

Lyndsey