Berlin, November 5th to 9th.

Autumn in Berlin. 

Part of the former Wall in Berlin

Against dramatic skies the tallest building in Berlin, at 365 metres the Fernsehturm.

The Berliner Dom, a cathedral dating to 1747.

The Reichstag  was built to house the German parliament , around 1884, and paid for by the French!

It was badly damaged by fire in 1933, and not restored until the 1950's. More recent modernisation is the elliptical glass dome designed by Norman Foster.

The Brandenburg Gate , the quintessential symbol of Berlin. Erected around 1780 it stood in the East until the wall came down in 1989.

How the Brandenburg gate sat behind the wall.

The Schloss Bellevue, the official residence of the German President, badly damaged in World war II, and now restored.

The Triumphal column was built in 1864 to celebrate the Prusso - Danish war in 1864. It was actually moved from out side the Reichstag in 1938.

Outside the Bauhaus Museum with our friends Roy & Andrea who live in Handorf, near Hamburg.

Berlin has many fine old monuments and buildings , as well as many modern buildings.

This is the renowned Sony Centre.

And the amazing new central railway station.

The interior, a hive of activity. Note the train on the lower floor and the Warsaw express on the top floor.

Covering over 4 acres , 2711 concrete slabs were built as a Memorial to the murdered Jewish people of Europe, very moving.

Berlin has a lighter side though, 

This is its pedestrian crossing symbol , the' ampelmann' originally used in the East it is now in the West too.

Some highly imaginative buildings!

And it has to be said , Germany is always ahead of technology.

And as for the shopping, KaDeWe is simply wonderful, a cross between Harrods, Selfridges and John Lewis under one roof. Heaven!

Well , we liked Berlin a great deal and would recommend it and go back. History, culture, galleries, shopping, nightlife and great restaurants. We ate Italian, Indian, Thai and traditional German , all superb and good value.

It was interesting to see the locals going about their weekend, Large breakfasts, afternoon tea & cake are certainly order of the day, they love to shop, dress smartly, have an incredible choice of quality merchandise whether it be cars, coffee machines or clothing.

It was also interesting to see how busy the city was, and also that almost everyone we came into contact with spoke English.