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| Berlin Aquarium |
Weather has been unbelievable ... hot and rainy in Germany, sunshine all day long in Norway. In fact, the sun never sets during our week in Norway! The birds were chirping away in the garden at 4am ! Gosh! A wake-up call ..!!!
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| City of Bremen, Germany |
We took a long-haul KLM flight from Singapore to Paderborn in Germany (via Amsterdam and Frankfurt .. yes we had two transits !!). We had a 3-hour stopover in Amsterdam - crossing the custom takes a long time as there was only one counter for "other passports" (other than the EU countries). After much complaints by various passengers to the custom officers, another counter was finally opened to clear the long queue of passengers waiting to get across to the other terminal! Unbelieveable .. to think that Schiphol Airport used to be my favourite airport ... !
At Frankfurt Main Airport, we had about an hour and a half to get ourselves to the next Terminal (there were 3 terminals) since we were on a different airlines. Another stressful experience as we had to locate the other Terminal where Lufthansa is located, and this was a distance away.
Our luggages were offloaded in Frankfurt Main Airport to our dismay, and we had to lugged them over to the Lufthansa counter in the other Terminal for check-in again (within an hour) before our flight to Paderborn. We were glad that all went smooth. It was an unforgettable experience! The people that we seek for directions were very helpful. Thank goodness :)
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| Paderborn |
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| Exploring Paderborn .. a little river that flows thru the town .. |
Kim & Mathias picked us up from Paderborn airport - a small airport. We had less than 15 people on the plane. Guess what? No one bother to check our passports upon exit. Amazing place .. !! Paderborn is a nice interesting city. We managed to explore the city during our few days there.
BERLIN
After our weekend in Paderborn, we rented a SUV (driven by Kim) and our adventure to Berlin starts. We spent 3 nights in Berlin exploring the beautiful city in the East. We explored the city on foot and via the underground train. Tickets have to be purchased from a machine, before boarding the train. We do not always have ample coins to purchase the train tickets! They do not have store-value tickets at that time. There's no office to buy tickets!
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| What's left of the Berlin Wall.. |
Me & the Lego Giraffe ...
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| Church that was bombed .. |
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It took Kim and me a very long time (more than half an hour) to shoot this photo .. standing right in the middle of the road and it's COLD at night. It was midnite and that's why there is not much traffic on the roads. :)
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The Brandenburg Gate (German: Brandenburger Tor) is a former city gate and one of the main symbols of Berlin, Germany. It is located between the Pariser Platz and the Platz des 18. März and is the only remaining gate of a series through which one formerly entered Berlin. One block to its north lies the Reichstag. It constitutes the monumental termination of Unter den Linden, the renowned boulevard of linden trees which led directly to the royal residence. It was commissioned by Friedrich Wilhelm II as a sign of peace and built by Carl Gotthard Langhans from 1788 to 1791. The Brandenburg Gate consists of twelve Doric columns, six to each side, forming five roadways; citizens originally were allowed to use only the outer two.
Potsdamer Platz, Berlin
One of my favourite places in Berlin is Potsdamer Platz (below), which housed the Sony Center and that place enthrals some eight million visitors every year. The architecture simply fascinates me. :) Seven steel and glass structures and a light-flooded plaza spanned by a spectacular roof offer space for a modern lifestyle: entertainment and events, cafés and restaurants, working and living in the middle of the German capital.
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| Potsdamer Platz |
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| Roof of Sony Centre. This roof fascinates me! I'm really impressed. |
Berlin Zoo
We visited the Berlin Zoo and Aquarium - hoping to catch a glimpse of Knut (the famous orphaned Polar Bear). We queued for an hour before giving up. The queue never moved! Gosh, it wasn't a well-organised event (to see Knut).
The Aquarium has fishes and reptiles as well. There weren't much information given on the fishes except their names and species. I saw the tank of big Arowanas (these fishes are very popular in Singapore and Malaysia - as the fishes brings good luck to the owners).
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| Jellyfish at the Aquarium, Berlin. |
Holocaust Memorial, Berlin
The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe also known as the Holocaust Memorial (German: Holocaust-Mahnmal), is a memorial in Berlin to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, designed by architect Peter Eisenman and engineers Buro Happold.
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It consists of a 19,000 square meter (4.7 acre) site covered with 2,711 concrete slabs or "stelae", arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field. The stelae are 2.38m (7.8') long, 0.95m (3' 1.5") wide and vary in height from 0.2m to 4.8m (8" to 15'9"). According to Eisenman's project text, the stelae are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason.
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We also spent a few hours exploring the Concentration Camp and Museum. It was full of students on study trips.
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| Where prisoners were shot dead at this 'firing' area. |
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| The concentration camp |
After Berlin, we drove over 6 hours to Frankfurt Hahn Airport to pick up Mary (who travelled from Norway to join us). The B&B (in Frankfurt) was just across the road from the Airport Arrival Hall. The hotel room was tiny but very cosy - equipped with a flat-screen LCD TV. The hotel shower though small, was superb.
We woke up early the next day. After breakfast in the B&B - we travelled towards Trier, Moselle Valley, Koblenz. We stayed one night in Koblenz.
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| Exploring Trier & Moselle Valley |
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| Kim and Mary |
Mathias and his parents were our hosts for the weekend in Detmold. We had a BBQ dinner and a BBQ lunch the next day. We returned to Paderborn for 2 nights stay before leaving for Hamburg and Bremen.
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| An interesting climb up the mountain .. in Detmold |
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| Exploring Detmold on a weekend .. |
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| An adventure climbing up the 'mountain" with Kim.. |
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| In Detmold |
We explored the city of Hamburg for a few hours.
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| Walking around Hamburg .. |
We spent a night in Bremen. During our walk in the city centre, we saw the "Musicians of Bremen" statues. Yes, I took a lot of photos!! Have you read the story of the "Musicians of Bremen" yet ?
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| At Bremen Airport.. |
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| In the town of Bremen |
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| At Bremen Airport |
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| Outside UBS office in Breman |
It was a great 3 weeks' vacation. What more could you ask for ? :)
