Britannia in Berlin!

Welcome Britannia to Berlin! Here are the intrepid bunch all ready for a day at Sanscoucci! I told them all I wanted a 'Sound of Music' photo - most cooperated ;)

Could you get a more 'appropriate' photo?

Part of our visit included the Orangerie - palace and greenhouse to the Prussian king...

In order to visit Sansoucci and the Orangerie you have to wear these high fashion Schuhe - get them now before EVERYONE's wearing them!

Here is the Neues Palais - we were disappointed because it was closed, but in a way that was a good thing. The group by this point was 'dragging' (important footnote - if anyone reading this wants to come to Berlin and I say/explain that 'I will walk you so hard you'll be begging for mercy!' that is NO joke and you should make your preferences known at that point ;)

These are statues on the 'Chinese House' - China was the true 'exotic' back in the day and all the nobles liked to decorate according to their understanding of the culture back then...

David Richards created a relationship between the word 'Frederickan Rococco' and 'camp', so whenever he said 'Frederickan Rococco' we all laughed! Poor, poor Frederick....

So, the group was dragging, 'all we had seen were more and more palaces' - I just found it hilarious, they all turned into little kids and had SO MUCH FUN with this 'whispering gallery'....you know when parents say 'I just give my kids a box because they have more fun with that than the toy?' Well....

So people were feeling fresher the next day and there we are about to embark on our 'Free Berlin Tour' which began at the Brandenburg Gate.

They took us to Hitler's bunkers - right under the ground are his bunkers where he married Eva and then killed himself....

We went by Checkpoint Charlie - that is not the 'real' Checkpoint Charlie guard post, but that is where the real one used to be....

On the other side of that picture of a US soldier is the picture of a Soviet soldier....

This is the Berlin Wall - took the 'remaining' group (many had left us by Monday) to a memorial to the people who tried to escape from East Berlin and right beside is a part of the Wall that remains - not much left of the Wall to be honest in Berlin...

And then to end the Tour de Berlin, we saw some of what 'West Berlin' was made of - and here I am eating my 'leg o' pig' with all its disgusting fatiness (pork rinds smell) - this is kind of a 'Berliner' dish....the other one would have been boiled and I decided that probably wasn't wise ;)

Goodbye Britannia! Hope you had fun!

"Portobello Road...Portobello Road..."

"streets where the riches of ages are stowed. Anything and everything a chap can unload..." So this will mean more to myself and my siblings than others, but 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks' was a fun-time, childhood classic AND HERE IT IS! The REAL Portobello Road market in London!

I must admit, from the movie, I thought Portobello Road would be a 'dicey' area, but 'Kensington' and 'Chelsea'...umm...those are probably the richest areas in London! Hmm...maybe Walt Disney saw the area during a 'bad day' ;)





Here are some homes on Portobello Road....yeah, a bit 'tight' for the Americans, I should think....


















'with genuine gems!...'














'Napoleon's pistols...'













View to the right....














View to the left....

'You can eat like a king on the Portobello Road!'

Now everyone breaks into dance....first the Indians, then the Jamaicans and then the Brits....'what a wonderful world...' ;)

The Tower of London...

There it is 'The Tower'! I want to write 'off with their heads' and other things like that, but it's not funny - that's all that seemed to happen at this place and, in my opinion, often to people who didn't deserve it.

Here is a view of The Tower from South Bank of the Thames...

You can see if you zoom in where on the bottom of the picture it says 'Entry to Traitor's Gate'...



Here is the outside entry to Traitor's Gate. What's odd is apparently it was originally built to safely bring royalty into the Tower for refuge...











These are called 'the Queen's Stairs' - this is where/how later royalty entered the Tower. This is supposedly where Elisabeth I entered the Tower complex, after she was ordered there by her father, Henry 8th. With whom I am deeply unimpressed with at the moment....













The 'modern mobs' trying to get in ;) You have to pay a pretty farthing, that's for sure....

Here is the main entrance used today - more or less this is the area where King John, of Robin Hood fame, built a zoo! Hmm....I wonder if he ever saw the Disney version of 'Robin Hood'....

Here is the inside of Traitor's Gate.....

Most people were killed outside the Tower complex on what was called Tower Hill. Here, in this little green area, there used to stand a scaffold where Anne Boleyn, Katherine (another wife of Henry 8), Lady Jane Grey and others were killed.

After visiting Hampton Court, Henry 8th's palace, I read more about him and his wives, etc. He was just an absolute jerk! Nothing more to be said...he did what he wanted because he wanted to do it! And killed people who disagreed or got in his way!! I am really 'perturbed' at him right now..... but as I was reading about another victim of Henry's, Sir Thomas More, it hit me, AGAIN, that I shouldn't judge. The Tudor's came to power following the War of the Roses....maybe that was what was driving a lot of Henry's actions? Then here I felt sorry for Sir Thomas More and really admired him for taking a stand against Henry and dying for it - but then when More was Lord Chancellor of England he had 6 Lutherans burned at the stake as heretics, etc. I guess we're all messed up....and that's why we shouldn't judge....I don't know....

This is the building where the Crown Jewels are held. They put you on a moving escalator-walk that moves you along. I don't know...that's the other thing that hit me after hearing/reading at the Tower....all of this death, blood, etc. and for what? Few things last...I wrote my sister, we'd better make sure that things are truly worth our time/energy/etc.





These guns were all captured by Wellington at Waterloo. Why whenever I read biographies when I was little I always wanted Napoleon to win? Or Mary, Queen of Scots, to be pardoned by Elisabeth I? ;)

I just liked this photo....Tower Bridge from 'the Tower'....

Here at the Tower's ravens - apparently if the ravens go the monarcy will end, Britain's over - things like that....

And the ravens are -

Gwylum (M/18 yrs)
Thor (M/15)
Hugin (F/11)
Munin (F/11)
Branwen (F/3 yrs)
Bran (M/3)
Gundulf (M/1)
Baldrick (M/1).

Here is the 'White Tower' of 'the Tower' ;) that was built by William the Conqueror in 1078.

The top floors were royal apartments with a banquet hall underneath, and then a prison in the 'basement'....

The "Princes in the Tower", Edward V of England (November 4, 1470 – 1483?) and his brother, Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York (17 August 1473 – 1483?), were the two young sons of Edward IV of England and Elizabeth Woodville who were declared illegitimate by the Act of Parliament. Their uncle, Richard III of England, placed them both in the Tower of London (then a royal residence as well as a prison) in 1483, and they were never seen again. Their fate remains unknown, although many presume them to have been killed there.
In 1674, the skeletons of two children were discovered under the staircase leading to the chapel, (THIS IS THAT STAIRCASE!!) during the course of renovations to the White Tower. These were believed to have been the remains of the two princes, but there has been recent evidence against that theory. On the orders of Charles II the remains were reburied in Westminster Abbey.

Again, who knows, but...what people are willing to do for power, money and other things that don't last....

This is called 'the Line of Kings'. They were carvings of the Kings of England over the years, but now it's just their horses....the first proof that they were here is in the 1660's, but some of the carvings were in the possession of my dearest Henry 8th....

And there are the remaining faces/heads. And of course, again, in the middle, Henry 8th.... I AM NOT!!

This is supposedly armor made for Richard, one of the princes, who was killed, but....again, who knows?!

One good thing happened that day - a wedding! The Tower actually includes a number of apartments where the Beefeaters live with their families. Here she is, the bridge awaits to enter the chapel where Lady Jane Grey and so many others are buried....

A loverly view of Tower Bridge...

Goodbye Tower of London! I hope the tourists can bring you some happiness after all you've gone through for the last thousand years or so....

Back to Berlin...

So, as with most things, there is was an end to my stay in Sweden.

Here is another look at Goteborg before we say 'goodbye'. Say 'goodbye Goteborg'...

I grabbed a bus to make the journey back to Berlin. I thought it would be fun to see the countryside, etc. And I was grateful I made that decision....

Here we have a picture of the southern Swedish countryside heading towards Denmark. LOTS o' farms!

This was my last look at Sweden as we crossed over a HUGE bridge to Denmark. Say 'goodbye Sweden!'...






















And say 'hello' to Copenhagen! A busy street in Copenhagen....
























And the Danish countryside...looked different from Sweden, but, yet again, LOTS o' farms!





















The bus took us to the southern coast of Denmark where we caught a ferry over to Germany. This was a nice surprise because I thought we'd just drive all the way - so the boat trip was a nice surprise.

My last look at Denmark. Say 'goodbye Denmark!'...















You'll have to click on this picture to see what it's a picture of ;) There is a huge windmill farm off the Danish coast. Good idea! Me like...






















Being tossed to' and fro at sea....rough winds, rough water, I was praying not to get sea sick - and it worked! ;)



















All wasn't so 'bad' weather-wise ;) There was this beautiful break (answers to prayers ;) in the weather system...





















A very soggy and windy German coast welcoming me back! This is the port city of Rostock on Germany's northern coast....



















Here we are in the 'belly of the whale', i.e. HUGE ferry ship! Just waiting for our bus driver to get back and to get on for the rest of the voy-azzh.




















Home sweet Funk (Radio) Tower!