M.A. Travel Blogs: Germany-Prague -- the adventure begins!

...and adventures continue! This series is a VBT biking tour from Berlin to Dresden and post extending in Prague. We are thrilled you all are traveling with us vicariously through this blog!

Pleased to report we all arrived from our home towns to Berlin safely and, for the most part, on time. Joe and Jim, our "fly by the seat of their pants" pair miraculously arrived by 11 p.m. delayed 4 hours in Minneapolis due to a mechanical.

Back on topic... Berlin. Walking walking walking. Lots and lots of walking. Lots and lots of construction, like literally on every block. As you all know, this city was heavily bombed in the course of WWII. Nearly all of the buildings were damaged or destroyed. Absolutely amazing restoration and revitatilzation is in progress. This was really acelerated after 1989 when the wall came down. Did I mention, our hotel is in East Berlin?

Time out for a short history lesson -- the nazi party lead by Hilter in 100 days took over this country then on to many parts of Europe. Tens of thousands of people lost their lives and homes. The allies prevailed and as a result, Berlin was divided into East and West Berlin. Both were located in East Germany. In 1961 the Berlin Wall was built to prevent people from continuing to defect from communist controlled East Germany/East Berlin into democratic West Berlin. Again thousands of people lost their lives in attempt to gain freedom as a result of their efforts to cross the wall that was built around West Berlin. In 1989, the wall came down. Berlin was reunited and reinstated as the capital of Germany.

Enjoy some of sights of Berlin though the following pics. Oh, yeah... Had to have to sample some of the local brews ... Surprised? :D

Some unusual architecture

Berlin Dom

Stumbling stones - created by an artist to mark the location of a Home where the Jewish occupants were taken by the nazis and never returned. In this pic, a corner of the bronze blocks can be seen.