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Jenny DayJenny Day
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traveled in 6 countries Read more
  • Berlin
    Day 5

    Plastination Display

    December 21, 2019 in Germany ⋅ 🌙 5 °C

    Plastination is a technique or process used in anatomy to preserve bodies or body parts, first developed by Gunther von Hagens in 1977. The water and fat are replaced by certain plastics, yielding specimens that can be touched, do not smell or decay, and even retain most properties of the original sample.

    Four steps are used in the standard process of plastination: fixation, dehydration, forced impregnation in a vacuum, and hardening.[3] Water and lipid tissues are replaced by curable polymers, which include silicone, epoxy, and polyester-copolymer.
    The exhibition that I saw in Berlin was primarily focused on the human species with many insights around long term health issues that we as humans should be aware of and prepared to manage with better nutrition and exercise habits.    Read more

  • Berlin
    Day 5

    Stasi Museum (cont’d)

    December 21, 2019 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C

    The centrepiece of the exhibition is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security – i.e. head of the Stasi – Erich Mielke. The museum is operated by the Antistalinistische Aktion Berlin-Normannenstraße (ASTAK), which was founded by civil rights activists in Berlin in 1990. It aims to foster the development of the museum as a "centre for the collection, preservation, documentation, rehabilitation and exhibition of evidence and research materials relating to East Germany".Read more

  • Berlin
    Day 5

    Stasi Museum

    December 21, 2019 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    One has to see it to believe it but the level of intrusion into the lives of every citizen of the GDR is mind boggling.
    The Stasimuseum is located in House 1 on the former grounds of the headquarters of the GDR Ministry for State Security (MfS). The building was erected in 1960-61 as the offices of Erich Mielke, who served as Minister for State Security from 1957 until the end of the GDR.
    On 15 January 1990 demonstrators took over the Stasi headquarters.
    A week later, the Central Round Table, a committee made up of representatives of the SED dictatorship and civil rights groups, decided that a “memorial and research centre on GDR Stalinism” should be established in House 1. When nothing came of this declaration of intent, members of the Berlin citizens’ committee and other civil rights activists took action and began securing the historic site.
    In August they founded the association “Antistalinistische Aktion e.V.” (ASTAK). On 7 November 1990, it opened the Research Centre and Memorial at Normannenstrasse with an exhibition titled “Against the Sleep of Reason”. House 1, later named the Stasi Museum, has been open to the public ever since.
    The offices of Erich Mielke are preserved in their original condition and form the centrepiece of the historic site.
    Since 1990, ASTAK has shown different exhibitions, providing information about the State Security and how its activities affected the GDR population. The permanent exhibition “State Security in the SED Dictatorship,” which the association created jointly with the Stasi Records Agency, opened in House 1 in January 2015.    Read more

  • Berlin
    Day 5

    World Clock

    December 21, 2019 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

    The sixteen ton world clock was opened to the public on 30 September 1969, shortly before the twentieth anniversary of the German Democratic Republic, along with the Berlin TV Tower (Fernsehturm). The erection of the clock was part of a larger plan to expand and reorganize Alexanderplatz as a whole. At the end of the renovations, the public square was four times larger than it was at the end of the World War II.

    The clock has become since the 1970s the scene of protests, as well as a landmark which Berliners living near the area use to meet others.

    On 12 May 1983 the Bundestag deputies of The Greens, including Petra Kelly, Gert Bastian and three other deputies, unrolled a banner with the inscription "The Greens – swords to plowshares" before the world clock and were arrested.

    On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the German Democratic Republic on 7 October 1989, opposition political groups formed a demonstration which began at the clock and ended at the Palace of the Republic. The state responded by arresting over 1,200 of the protesters. Thirty-three days later, the Berlin Wall fell.    Read more

  • Berlin
    Day 5

    Berlin TV Tower (cont’d)

    December 21, 2019 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

    The tower allows people to observe the city of Berlin on a 360 degree basis and some of the photos depict the different angles of the city.
    Walking around Berlin really reminds me of how East Berlin would have looked under the GDR regime and some of the apartment blocks in a couple of the photos depict this.
    Interestingly, the city of Berlin has approximately 3.8 million citizens and yet gives the appearance of being vastly different in size to Melbourne.    Read more

  • Berlin
    Day 5

    Berlin TV Tower

    December 21, 2019 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

    Situated in Marien quarter (Marienviertel), close to Alexanderplatz in the locality and district of Mitte, the tower was constructed between 1965 and 1969 by the government of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).
    It was intended to be both a symbol of Communist power and of the city. It remains a landmark today, visible throughout the central and some suburban districts of Berlin. With its height of 368 metres (including antenna) it is the tallest structure in Germany, and the third-tallest structure in the European Union.    Read more

  • Berlin
    Day 4

    Eastside Gallery - Berlin

    December 20, 2019 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

    The East Side Gallery is an open-air gallery in Berlin. It consists of a series of murals painted directly on a 1,316 m (4,318 ft) long remnant of the Berlin Wall, located near the centre of Berlin, on Mühlenstraße in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg.
    The gallery has official status as a Denkmal, or heritage-protected landmark. According to the Künstlerinitiative East Side Gallery an association of the artists involved in the project, "The East Side Gallery is understood to represent a monument to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the peaceful negotiation of borders and conventions between societies and people", and has more than three million visitors per year.

    The Gallery consists of 105 paintings by artists from all over the world, painted in 1990 on the east side of the Berlin Wall. The actual border at this point had been the river Spree. The gallery is located on the so-called "hinterland mauer", which closed the border to West Berlin.    Read more

  • Berlin
    Day 4

    Neues Palais

    December 20, 2019 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    This was built by Frederick the Great as result of an unforeseen victory against the Russians.
    He spent so much money on the palace that he almost bankrupt himself.
    He used the palace to greet important people however he didn’t live in the palace very much as he preferred the palace called Sansouci.
    The kaisers took over living in the palace after Frederick passed as the whole area is grandiose and palatial.    Read more

  • Berlin
    Day 4

    Palace Sansoucci

    December 20, 2019 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    SanSouci palace was the palace built to indulge the kings whim for a carefree life.
    As with all palaces it is grandiose and lavish. The architecture has a baroque influence and atypical of the rest of the style of the area.Read more

  • Berlin
    Day 4

    Potsdam Schloss Cecilienhof

    December 20, 2019 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C

    We decided on a guided tour atop a double decker bus to sightsee around Potsdam. Potsdam is located on an island and has 130,000 inhabitants and is the capital of Brandenburg.
    The oldest building in Potsdam was originally a greenhouse and then turned into stables as they were seen as being more important especially by Frederick the Great who was a great conquerer and believed in powerful armies. He lead Prussia to become one of the most powerful countries in the world at the time.
    Potsdam has always been a city of soldiers and has a replica Brandenburg Gate interestingly Potsdam is renown for many fantasies with its architecture.
    Potsdam like so many cities of the day has a city wall for defense and safety.
    We first visited a palace where the famous Potsdam conference was held at the end of WW2 between Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt to decide on important territorial issues at the end of the war.    Read more

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