Yes, we are back from our five-week adventure in New York, Prague and Berlin . . . and it is wonderful to be home and into some, sort of, kind of, semblance of a routine again. But the experiences, the art and architecture, and the spirit of each place will still live on for a…
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Now that it’s time to become introspective, Berlin has been an interesting experience. More grunge than I expected, less 1920s nostalgia than I’d hoped for. Maybe I’m being naive. (No comments.) The city has less elegance than Madrid, less panache than Prague. Berliners in the service industry are also not that polite. Café owners bark…
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According to the guidebooks, the East side of Berlin is where the cool, hip dudes hang out. Think decayed grunge areas that are now attracting artists and creatives and young free-thinking individuals to settle in and do their thing. Of course we couldn’t leave Berlin without saying we’d been there. Also, there’s the East Side…
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Considering Berlin’s history, there is not an enormous amount of charm to the city’s buildings, even while it is constantly transforming with more and more modern architecture grazing the skyline. Make no mistake, construction is BIG business right now. You can’t land in any of Berlin’s many different neighbourhoods without encountering the cranes and the…
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Museumsinsel, or Museum Island, really is an island created by two arms of the Spree River which runs right through the city of Berlin. It has a whole assemblage of art and archaeological museums, and the one that piqued our interest the most was Pergamon, built between 1909 and 1930 and filled with ancient art…
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Hard to believe that this grand palatial complex was built as a summer residence for the wife of a 17th-century ruler. It is so lavish and opulent, filled with Rococo-style gilt, mythological ceiling frescoes, tapestries, gorgeous silver and gold objets d’art, statues and cherubs, exquisite painted porcelain from China and Japan, as well as lacquered…
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I’ve just realised that, by creating a new travel category in my Blog, some of you might not be receiving post notifications. So, if you haven’t already read about our first couple of days in Berlin, please do go back a few posts to catch up! Today’s a gorgeous day and we’re off to visit…
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Having a rest day after all the mini-trauma of getting here … and quietly settling in as things gently right themselves (lightning-destroyed Internet router finally restored, figured out the Metro, U- and S-Bahn transportation systems followed by an amazing dinner in the Schöneberg suburb, we’re starting to like our shabby-chic place, which is at the…
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Berlin’s HauptBahnhof is pretty impressive, with 3 floors, and all the shopping amenites, including supermarkets and clothing stores. We had a rather inauspicious start to our leg to Berlin. At first, all was relatively smooth, from apartment to Metro to Prague’s main train station . . . with much lugging of very weighty suitcases (what…
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