zoological garden

"Berlin" is the name of a sculpture on the Tauentzienstraße" (or the "Dancing Noodles" as the locals call it) representing a "broken chain". It's meant to symbolize the severed connections between West and East Berlin due to the construction of the Berlin Wall. Even though the Wall has since been dismantled, the sculpture was bought by the city to commemorate the unfortunate chapter in German history.

The Holocaust Memorial, a Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (German: Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas), is a memorial in Berlin to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. It is a 19,000 m2 site covered with 2,711 concrete slabs or "stelae", arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field. The stelae are 2.38 m long, 0.95 m wide and vary in height from 0.2 to 4.7 m. They are organized in rows, 54 of them going north–south, and 87 heading east–west at right angles but set slightly askew.

Cobbled stones with brass memorial plaques mark the course of the former Berlin Wall in Berlin.
Stolpersteine translated from German, literally means "stumbling stone". These are brass cobblestones inscribed with the details (name, year of birth and fate) of a person who lived in the building in front of which they are laid, under the words ‘Hier wohnte’ (Here lived)

The German Federal Chancellery (German: Bundeskanzleramt) is a federal agency serving the executive office of the Chancellor, the head of the German federal government, currently Angela Merkel. In fact, the German public has given it a handful of nicknames: Kohllosseum (a reference to Helmut Kohl, who held the office in the '80s and '90s), the Bundeswaschmaschine (which translates to the federal washing machine), or more bluntly, the Elefantenklo (elephant bathroom).

The Berlin TV tower - or Fernsehturm as the Germans call it - was constructed in the sixties by the administration of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). With its height of 368 meters, it's the tallest structure in Germany and easily visible throughout Berlin.

Moltke Bridge is a bridge over the Spree River in Berlin, Germany. Completed in 1891, it connects Alt-Moabit near the main railway station on the north bank to Willy-Brandt-Strasse and the Chancellery on the south bank.

The Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral) is the short name for the Evangelical (i.e. Protestant) Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church. It is located on Museum Island in the Mitte borough. The current building was finished in 1905 and is a main work of Historicist architecture of the "Kaiserzeit". The Berlin Cathedral has never been a cathedral in the actual sense of that term since it has never been the seat of a bishop.

The Hohenzollern Crypt underneath the cathedral is the most important dynastic sepulchre in Germany. t contains 94 entombments from the end of the 16th century until the beginning of the 20th century. Together with the stately sarcophagi and burial monuments in the sermon church, these document five hundred years of Brandenburg-Prussian burial culture.

Buddy Bears are found all over the city. Buddy Bears is the name given to painted, life-size fibreglass bear sculptures developed by Klaus and Eva Herlitz, in cooperation with sculptor Roman Strobl. The raised arms of the standing Buddy Bears are aligned on the dissemination of friendliness and optimism, and thus mediate a positive mood. "The Buddy Bear has become an unofficial ambassador for Germany and is a symbol of Berlin since 2001.

It's been a very varied trip. From cycling through the countryside in Austria and Hungary; to driving around the Alps; to spending time with friends and family and finally seeing Berlin and all it has to offer.

Tomorrow we make our way home. Although it's been a great trip, I can't wait to get home to be with my furkids 😊🐕🐾Read more