Berlin Day 3

Another busy day in Berlin. This morning we did a hop on hop off bus tour that concentrated on the Berlin War and East Germany era. We stopped at the Berlin War Memorial which has the remains of a stretch of the wall.

Berlin Wall

Berlin Wall

Berlin Wall  

Berlin Wall marker

Then off to the Pergamon Museum, well worth visiting. The collection focuses on Middle East and Islamic material.

Temple of Ishtar

Temple of Ishtar

Next stop the Berlin Dom ( Cathedral), well worth seeing.  

Berlin Dom  

Berlin Dom

Great view from the dome which is reached via 267 steps

View from Dom

View from Dom

View from Don

 

 Then off to the memorial for Europe's missing Jewish

Jewish memorial

Jewish memorial

Then final stop Reichstag before walking back to the hotel...

Reichstag

 

Berlin Part 2

Some more images from today!

Church

Golden Hat - Neus Museum

Foyer of Neus Museum

Egyptian gallery - Neus Museum

Neus Museum

Egyptian cat - Neus Museum

 

Berlin

  Arrived in Berlin mid afternoon yesterday  and it was so easy to get from the airport to our hotel which is near the main train station. Today was our first day of exploring the city and we started off on the hop on hop off bus :). Some images taken before I dropped my camera and it stopped working :(

Near Potsdamer Platz

     

Siegessaule Victory column  

River Spree

Berlin Wall remnant  

Berlin TV tower  

Unter Den Linden  

Brandenburg Gate

Unter Den Linden

We spent the afternoon on Museum Island and visited the Altes and Neus museums, piccies when I get hold of Peter's camera.

Paris

Our last day of the tour and on the way to Paris we stopped at Compiegne where the armistice was signed.

Armistice signed on train

Armistice memorial

  We has a dinner cruise on the Seine as our farewell and as usual Paris was brilliant by night

Seine

Paris

Paris

And of course....

Doppelbandy

Just kidding, I mean the Eiffel Tower!

Eiffel Tower

Next stop Berlin!

Belgian battlefields around Ypres

Today we went out onto the Ypres salient and saw a number of battlefields and cemeteries around Passchendaele. Our first stop was to look at one of the craters near Hill 60.  

Bomb crater near Hill 60

    Then off to Tyne Cot cemetery, one of the largest cemeteries on the Western Front....

Tyne Cot Cemetery    

 

Buttes Cemetery NZ memorial to the Missing in the background

   This afternoon we stopped at Langemark German Cemetery. Architecture is very different, grim and dark. The Belgians were very specific on the layout etc. the graves stones are laid flat to reinforce the fact that the Germans lost the war.  

Langemark German Cemetery - statues

German graves - usually 4 per grave

 

German headstones and crosses

 

Villers Bretonneux

Today was our last full day on the WW1 battlefields and we visited 1918 sites. Our first stop was at the Adelaide cemetery where the unknown soldier was exhumed.

Adelaide Cemetery                  

Unknown soldier

   Then we stopped at the Villers Bretonneux school to see the small museum.  

VB school

   

VB school

Our next stop was the Villers Bretonneux Memorial where my great grandfather's name is on the wall.

8th Battalion - Emmett

     

VB from top of tower              

This afternoon we went to see the Canal du Nord which was part of the Hindenburg Line.

Canal du Nord tunnel

Canal du Nord

Tomorrow we are off to Paris and then Tuesady, Berlin :)

Pozieres commemoration

Yesterday was the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Pozieres. Before we headed off to the ceremony, we went across the road to look at the Amiens Cathedral.

Cathedral

Cathedral

 

Cathedral

Cathedral

We stopped at Albert for lunch before going to the ceremony. We went to Albert airport and went through screening there before catching a shuttle bus to the ceremony held at the 1st Australuan Division monument.  Organisation was very efficient and they moved large numbers of people in a short time.  Images from the ceremony:

1st Division Monument - site of the Pozieres commemoration

We had a seat in the stands near the screens    

Colour flags

Ceremony

Wreath laying

 It was quite a warm day but there was a lot of water being handed out and we were given hats to wear as well.