Danube Cycle

June - July 2016
A 40-day adventure by Shazzij Travel Log
  • 47footprints
  • 8countries
  • 40days
  • 206photos
  • 0videos
  • 22.5kkilometers
  • 19.4kkilometers
  • Day 39

    Christopher Street Day - Berlin

    July 23, 2016 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Christopher Street Day (CSD) is an annual European LGBT celebration and demonstration held in various cities across Europe for the rights of LGBT people, and against discrimination and exclusion.

    The CSD is held in memory of the Stonewall Riots, the first big uprising of LGBT people against police assaults that took place at the Stonewall Inn, a bar on Manhattan, New York City's Christopher Street in the district of Greenwich Village on June 28, 1969.Read more

  • Day 38

    Berlin Day 2

    July 22, 2016 in Germany ⋅ 🌙 24 °C

    "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

  • Day 37

    Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche - Berlin

    July 21, 2016 in Germany ⋅ 🌙 23 °C

    The Protestant Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (in German: Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche, but mostly just known as Gedächtniskirche is located in Berlin on the Kurfürstendamm.

    The original church on the site was built in the 1890s. It was badly damaged in a bombing raid in 1943. The present building, which consists of a church with an attached foyer and a separate belfry with an attached chapel, was built between 1959 and 1963. The damaged spire of the old church has been retained and its ground floor has been made into a memorial hall.

    The Memorial Church today is a famous landmark of western Berlin, and is nicknamed by Berliners "der Hohle Zahn", meaning "The Hollow Tooth".

    The walls of the New Church are made of a concrete honeycomb containing 21,292 stained glass inlays. The glass, designed by Gabriel Loire, was inspired by the colours of the glass in Chartres Cathedral. The predominant colour is blue, with small areas of ruby red, emerald green and yellow.
    Read more

  • Day 37

    Berlin Day 1

    July 21, 2016 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    I find Berlin to be a city of controsts. Old and new; drab and colooful; bleak and peaceful. Some of today's highlights.

    The Berlin Wall was a barrier that divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. Constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany), starting in August 1961, the Wall completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. Small pieces are scattered around the city, and one if the sections still in place is at Topography of Terror Museum.

    Checkpoint Charlie was the best known border crossing during the Cold War. The sign, which became a symbol of the division of Cold War Berlin and read like a dire warning to those about to venture beyond the Wall – "YOU ARE LEAVING THE AMERICAN SECTOR" – in English, Russian, French and German - stood here.

    The Protestant Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (in German: Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche, but mostly just known as Gedächtniskirche is located in Berlin on the Kurfürstendamm.
    The original church was built in the 1890s. It was badly damaged in a bombing raid in 1943. The present building, was built between 1959 and 1963. The damaged spire of the old church has been retained and its ground floor has been made into a memorial hall.
    The Memorial Church today is a famous landmark of western Berlin, and is nicknamed by Berliners "der Hohle Zahn", meaning "The Hollow Tooth". The walls of the New Church are made of a concrete honeycomb containing over 21000 stained glass inlays. The glass is predominantly blue, with small areas of ruby red, emerald green and yellow.

    Carillon is a large, manually played concert instrument, comprising 68 bells weighing a total of 48 metric tonnes

    Berlin's Siegessäule - Victory Column - is another of Berlin's monuments. The 67m high symbol of victory originally stood in front of the Reichstag in the former Königsplatz and today's Platz der Republik. It was relocated here, in the Tiergarten's main roundabout by the Nazis in 1938.

    The Brandenburg Gate is one of Berlin's most important monuments – a landmark and symbol all in one with over two hundred years of history.
    It was here that in 1987, Ronald Regan issued his stern command to his cold war adversary admonishing him with the words: "Mr. Gorbachov – tear down this wall!". The speech delivered to West Berliners was also audible on the east side of the Gate and echoed President von Weizsacker’s words which translate as: "The German question is open as long as the Brandenburg Gate is closed."

    The Reichstag building is a historical building in Berlin, constructed to house the Imperial Diet (German: Reichstag), of the German Empire. It was opened in 1894 and housed the Diet until 1933, when it was severely damaged after it was set on fire.

    Tomorrow is Day 2 of our Berlin tour....
    Read more

  • Day 36

    Berlin

    July 20, 2016 in Germany ⋅ 🌙 23 °C

    Stopped at Warnemünde near Rostock for lunch on our way to Berlin.

    Stumbled across (not that you could miss it) a massive ship in the harbor, called Regal Princess. It takes over 3500 passengers and has 1350 crew members. It's so big that I thought I was looking at a building over the top of the trees!

    Had lunch and got to Berlin around 18h00.

    Tomorrow we taking the Hop on Hop off bus with Matt and Claire to see the sights of Berlin.
    Read more

  • Day 35

    North Sea

    July 19, 2016 in Germany ⋅ 🌙 21 °C

    Woke to a smidge of blue sky, but before we left to have breakfast in Hamburg, the skies were grey and gloomy again 😕. Oh well, I guess that is Summer in northern Germany for you? But I did have my lovely flowers to brighten the gloomy skies. Thanks Nats 😙

    We made our way north for lunch at St Peter Ording. Guess what..... The sun came out in full force. Must be my birthday 😊

    Along the way, lots more wind turbines ... Obviously very windy up there. Little villages and farms, veggie fields, horses, cows and sheep.

    Gückstadt is located on the right bank of the Lower Elbe at the confluence of the small Rhin river. Glückstadt was founded in 1617 and it's name translates to English literally as "Luck City" or "Fortune City". As Christian IV promised the settlers tax exemption and freedom of religion, Glückstadt soon became an important trading centre, intended to compete with the Imperial city of Hamburg, located upstream on the Elbe.

    Came home to balloons and delicious homemade Nutella cheesecake... With candles 😊 Lucky Noah was there to help blow then out...

    Tomorrow we start the last leg of our wonderful trip. We head for Berlin with Matt and Claire before we head home on Saturday.
    Read more