After a (very) quick beer in Brussels, we’re now on the Eurostar heading to London.

Update 1: A smooth and on-time journey; now in London, returning home.

Update 2: All back safely. 2132 miles travelled by train for this holiday (excluding trams and metro trains in the various cities!).

It was a smooth journey to Cologne; on the way, we were able get a few looks at the Wuppertal Schwebebahn – the oldest suspended railway in the world.

See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuppertal_Suspension_Railway for more details and pictures.

We had time for a quick late lunch before our next train.

We’re now on the train to Brussels.

We had a short journey through the Tiergarten to Berlin Station:

And are just awaiting departure to Cologne.

We started the day with an interesting coach tour of the city highlights.

The first stop was at the Holocaust Memorial, a large abstract artwork of concrete blocks at various levels, with a museum underneath:

Next was a Platz with various rebuilt (as most old buildings in Berlin) churches and a concert hall:

Then a long section of the Berlin Wall that is now used as an art display:

And then a different section of the wall that was left more or less as it was, though fenced to prevent any more souvenirs being taken:

We had a tour of various government buildings, then stopped at the Victory Monument in the Tiergarten:

Then we finished the tour and were able to stop for a well earned beer and lunch in Potsdamer Platz:

In the afternoon, we walked out of the city through various parks, including a section by the Technical Museum with some very disused railway lines:

A different park had a lovely waterfall:

Then we got to the Berlin Airlift memorial at Luftbrücke Platz:

Then on the U-BAHN to Checkpoint Charlie – a rather fake cabin and dressed up soldiers for the tourists:

And then back to our hotel! An interesting day.

I was keen to go to the zoo in Berlin to replicate a photo of me taken nearly 50 years ago. We didn’t get to the exact spot, although we identified where it was.

So, this is an updated photo by the elephant, who wasn’t there in 1969, instead of by the lizard at the entrance to the aquarium.

We did see the church nicknamed the lipstick and powder bowl (don’t know if it still is), and Potsdamer Platz, which is quite new so not at all as I remember.

Berlin has moved on, as have I!

We arrived in Berlin at lunchtime, an amazing station:

After checking into our hotel, we went for a walk in the Tiergarten nearby – the main park in Berlin.

Unfortunately a large part of it was barricaded off for crowds to watch a football match:

So we revised our route towards the zoo instead, which Tina had been to many years ago:

Not enough time to explore inside, so we had a beer instead:

Then walked back through the park to our hotel for a swim.

We’re on the train to Berlin, currently following the scenic Elbe River towards Dresden.

Prague Station is a good combination of the old and the new:

Once clear of the city, the views get better:

Rather than eat in the hotel (which is good, but…), we found a small restaurant around the corner. Excellent BBQ food (though far too much) – eating outside when it’s warm is so nice…