Day 18, Thursday, September 12, 2019
First stop today is Potsdamer Platz which is an area that used to be the Dead Zone when the Berlin Wall was in place. After the wall came down these three skyscrapers were built and became the focal point for this new area.
There are some pieces of the Berlin Wall here and for some strange reason they are plastered with wads of chewing gum left by visitors. Notice behind the wall is the Canadian Embassy.
The display was very informative. Bob knows a lot more about the history of Berlin than I do so I found these panels quite interesting. This one shows the Dead Zone, which was the unoccupied area around the Berlin Wall, and the developed area now.
The cobbled line Bob is standing on is where the Berlin Wall used to be located.
We walk to the Sony centre and find this interesting building that has part of an old hotel interior enclosed in glass as part of its exterior wall. 
Wow! This LEGO giraffe is the biggest giraffe I have ever seen…
and Bob found a pretty huge Angry Bird!
We make our own Hop-On Hop-Off tour by catching the #100 bus. First stop is the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. It was destroyed by the bombing in WWII and is now an anti-war memorial to peace and reconciliation.
This is what the church used to look like.
The little bit of the interior that remains is covered in beautiful mosaics…
even the floor is completely decorated with mosaic tiles. It must have been an incredibly beautiful church.
Outside we see this memorial for the victims of a terrorist attack on December 19, 2016 on the steps of the Memorial Church, A stolen truck was driven into the crowd at the Christmas Market and twelve people were killed and seventy were seriously injured. The names of the deceased are engraved on the steps and the bronze crack represents the fracture the attack inflicted on society. It is like a scar and shows that healing and everyday life are possible, but we should not ignore or forget the scars we bear and what caused them. 
We walk inside the Memorial Church and I am quite overcome. Something about this space moved me to tears. It is unlike anything I have seen before.
This Christ figure was beautiful.
There is a concert here tonight and we sit for a while listening to the two organists practicing for tonight’s performance. You can see them in this photo. To listen to the organ music click this link.
The walls are made of 22,200 panes of stained glass and each pane is made of many individual glass pieces. 
The floor is covered in circles of many colours and sizes. It made me think that all those little pieces of glass and all the circles on the floor could represent people who have died and are memorialized in this church.
The outside walls show how each piece of glass is embedded in mortar within each individual pane. The outside of this church gives no hint of the vibrant colours inside.
We walk down the broad boulevard between the lanes of traffic. Here is a view looking back towards the bombed church.
We were looking for the KaDeWa department store. With over 60,000 square metres of selling space, it is the second largest department store in Europe after Harrods in London. 
We make our way up to the sixth floor and find a whole floor of yummy things to eat. Too bad there are no gluten, dairy and egg free options for me.
We have noticed that European men like colourful socks.
Here is what fashionable girls are wearing in Berlin. 
We continue our tour on a double decker bus. This is the first time we have sat up front on the top of one of these busses. !t does give a different viewpoint.
Bob notices something strange about this stop sign.
We drive through the centre of a huge park and around this monument. The Victory Column with Victoria, the Goddess of Victory in the centre of the Tiergarten park is one of Berlin’s most famous landmarks.
We drive past the spot where the old book market was yesterday. Bob did a bit of research and discovered that this is the University where Eisnstein and the Brothers Grimm taught and where Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles studied . It was also the site of the burning of thousands of books by the Nazis in 1933.
Next stop is Alexanderplatz, a large public square and popular gathering place in Berlin. We find a bench for a tea break and witness a little drama unfolding behind us. It took eleven police officers over half an hour to move this fellow in handcuffs from beside the fence to the police wagon. There was lots of interviewing of bystanders and note taking but we don’t have a clue what it is all about.
This is the view in front of us.
I wanted to go to the top of the Berlin TV Tower but it cost €16 which is almost $24 each. That seemed a bit too much.
The Neptune Fountain is is very ornate.
We manage to get on a bus going in the wrong direction on our way home, so we hop off and decide to take the subway instead. It is faster and easier to figure out than the bus system.
Day 17, Wednesday, September 11, 2019
The Parliament building has a huge dome on the top that requires a reservation to climb. We book a Friday tour and then find a nice park to sit and 
This is the Brandenburg Gate. It was built in 1791, and was modelled after the Acropolis in Athens. Hundreds of thousands of people celebrated before the Brandenburg Gate as the Berlin Wall fell on November 9th, 1989. Since the end of the Cold War, the Gate has come to represent German unity and freedom. 
We think these protestors were in support of the Chinese government’s actions in Hong Kong.
This huge wall garden was a colourful surprise.
We walk to the Gendarmenmarkt which is an 18th century square used for gatherings and events. On either side there are two identical churches. The one in the photo is the German Cathedral, the Deutscher Dom. It was heavily bombed in the second World War and has been restored as a museum with displays on the parliamentary democracy of Germany. 
Bob noticed this reflection in the door to the German Church of the identical French Church across the square. We went in for a look and somehow got separated. The place is a bit of a maze and I felt like I was never going to find Bob or my way out! That did it for me… I went and waited outside and Bob had a look around.
This photo he took shows some of the old building and the reconstructed concrete parts, and one of the crazy stairways that I got lost on!
This is the French Cathedral directly opposite the German one. It was closed for renovation so no idea what was in there.
There was outdoor market of old books, postcards and papers in front of the building below. There were some rather interesting erotic postcards from the early 1900’s! We did better this time and found the right metro line to get home. 
We pass by lots of trees that appear to be grown for timber. Their lower branches have been trimmed so that the trunks grow straight.
Not far into Germany we stop at Slawenburg Raddusch, which is a reconstruction of a fort built by Slavic people in the 9th and 10th Centuries. It is surrounded by a moat for added protection.
This well is 40 feet deep. 
We climb to the top of the wall which offers a great view of the surrounding landscape. 
This model shows what the original fort would have looked like…
and how it was constructed. The dirt used to fill the walls came from around the base of the fort and created the moat.
I thought these straight pins for sewing were pretty amazing, considering they are so ancient.
Here is a view of part of the museum with its large display of pottery,,,
and burial pits, where cremated remains were placed along burial gifts for the deceased.
I was intrigued by the shapes of some of the pottery. All the pottery was made by hand without the aid of a potter’s wheel.
I wonder what these pots were used for?
The tour was great. We rented an audio guide for €1.5 and it was very well done. We got so much more out of the display because it. We managed to finish our visit through the museum just as it was closing at 6:00 pm. We see lots of wind-farms on our way to Berlin. We arrive in Berlin as it is getting dark and 
We walked into this church and we were amazed at the size and ornateness of the interior. This photo is looking towards the altar. The walls and ceilings are decorated with painted panels added after the construction of the church was completed in 1657.
The back wall with the organ.
A view of one of the sides of the church with it’s two tiers of balconies. The spaces between the wall timbers were filled with clay and wattle.
The pulpit is extremely ornate.
A view of part of the painted ceiling.
I loved the old pews with their carved backs and worn seats.
There is a cemetery surrounding the church.
As we walked back to our car we passed this interesting door. Makes me curious about who lives here.
Next stop on our day trip is the Książ Castle, the third largest castle in Poland which dates from the 13th century. 
One of the the views from inside the castle. 
The entrance buildings and front grounds of the castle.
An old photo showing the castle atop an impressive rock cliff. It has been destroyed and rebuilt and expanded various times and in different styles (from Gothic to Baroque and neo-Classical). The latest family to reside there, was the Hochberg family, one of the richest and most influential families in Prussia. In the 14th century they transformed the original defensive castle into one of the most beautiful residences in this part of Europe. The Hochbergs lived there for many generations, until 1941, when it was confiscated by the Nazis.
Bob caught my reflection in this old mirror.
The Black Courtyard is decorated with the coats of arms of the castles many owners.
We walked through many halls, some simple…
and some very ornate. I suppose a castle with over 400 rooms needs lots of hallways and stairs, and we did climb lots of stairs.
Another view out one of the castle windows of the Chestnut Terrace with four large chestnut trees.
As always, we must remember to look up. So many of the ceilings are ornately decorated.
There was an exhibit of blown glass in some of the rooms and another view down one of the many hallways.
We weren’t able to see the Last Supper when we were in Italy two years ago (we didn’t know you had to buy tickets far in advance) but there is a Da Vinci exhibit here in the castle with a replica. Not as good as the real thing but interesting none the less.
There were replicas of many of Da Vinci’s paintings, including the Mona Lisa, and models of some of his inventions.
Looking out one of the windows we get an idea of some of the renovations and reconstruction that has taken place over the centuries. It is quite a convoluted building.
One of the restored and decorated rooms. The Nazis stripped the castle of its furnishings and paintings and it is just now being restored.
A photo showing a much more elaborately decorated room than we see today.
The Maximilian Room has been restored to its former glory. There is a balcony on either side, one for the prince’s apartments and one for the princess’s apartments, that overlook this elegant room.
And what castle would be complete without a Japanese influenced room. They were very popular.
“The castle became an important part of the 
As we finish the tour of the castle, we are led out to the gardens and terraces surrounding the castle.
The grounds are beautifully maintained.
An interesting view of the castle.
We have no idea what all these small arched nooks with their iron grates are.
As we walk back to our car we pass a pond with blooming water lilies. 
Here’s how big items get delivered!
Wroclaw has an ever growing populations of gnomes. In fact, our guidebook states “the little buggers are currently rumoured to be running rampant to the score of over 300 making it literally impossible for us to try to keep track of them!” I think they are delightful and I am happy to make their acquaintance .
and more tenement houses in the town square.
The interior of St. Mary Magdalene’s Church which dates from 1330.
We climb 147 steps up to the walkway between the two towers. In times past women suspected of being witches were forced to cross this walkway (there were no railings then) and if they made it across safely they were branded as a witch. If they fell to their death, then they were innocent of the crime of being a witch! You certainly didn’t want to be accused of witchcraft! I am very glad there are railings now and I meet another couple of gnomes.
We have great views of the city from up here.
Here is a view of the walkway, way up there between the two towers.There were steeples on these at one time, not sure if they were destroyed during the war?
More ornate colourful buildings.
I wish I knew the recipe for the bubble mixture this guy was using! He made hundreds of bubbles at a time with his string between two sticks. Kids had such fun chasing all the bubbles.
We found quite a few more of these little fellows, on doorsteps, or tucked into corners.
The two little houses in the corner called Hansel and Gretel are the only two houses left of streets that used to surround a cemetery. The cemetery closed in 1773. I wonder where the graves went?
and more busy gnomes.
and an interesting collection of artifacts. This is a chart for determining eye colour.
The Music Hall is under restoration but we are allowed a peak inside.
We. climb another 203 steps up the Math tower, which has displays along the way. 
and the views. Notice the very modern looking tower among the old.
I just love all the reflections of the old buildings in the glass walls of the modern new buildings!
Churches here are either very ornate…
or look like this. The late afternoon sun was shining through the windows casting everything in a lovely olden glow.
Then we visit the market and buy some fruit. Food prices are very reasonable here.
More reflections.
We catch a trolley bus home. We haven’t seem many paved streets or sidewalks here. Most of the streets and sidewalks here are cobbled in one fashion or another. All the uneven footing is hard on the feet and ankles. We walked 16,700 steps today and climbed the equivalent of 31 floors!
We walk towards the entry gate down this aisle of photos and quotes from people who survived these camps. I was soon in tears, and we haven’t even entered the gates.
A double row of electrified barbed wire surrounded the camp.
The sign above the gate which translates to 
The gas canisters used to administer the poisonous gas in the showers.
Sorting the belongings of those who were sent to their deaths.
The Germans kept the belongings and valuables of all who arrived in the camps. They were stored in warehouses and shipped out for the use of the German population. When the camps were going to be liberated, the Germans destroyed as much of the stored belongings as they could. This were just a bit of what they collected as most of it was destroyed.
Prosthetic devices. All people with disabilities were sent to their death immediately.
Pots and dishes, piled 8 feet deep.
A whole wall of suitcases.
Both sides of this long room were filled with shoes.
Shoes of all sizes… men’s women’s, and children’s shoes.
We were not allowed to take photos in hall #5. This was the most difficult collection to view. A long room with two tonnes of women’s hair piled high all along one wall. It was so completely overwhelming and horrific. I was not the only one in tears with the horror of what this represented. It is so impossible to believe that people could do this to each other. The Germans sold bales of women’s hair to manufacturers of cloth and felt. This is only a small part of what was collected.The enormity of this is staggering
The halls of one of the barracks were lined with photos of the prisoners, none of whom survived. After a while the Germans stopped taking photos of the prisoners. I think they just couldn’t keep up with it, there were so many.
Some photos of prisoners when the camp was liberated by the Russians.
There were three people to a bed in these barracks.
The Death Wall between barrack 10 and 11. Thousands of prisoners were executed against this wall. The windows on either side were covered so the other prisoners could not see what was happening.
These panels are covered with names of the people from the Netherlands who died in this camp. 
Here is a close up.
The barracks.
The doctors and their medical experiments, which were often done on twins.
The crematorium.
The gas chamber.
And the furnaces where they burned 340 bodies every day. They couldn’t keep up so built bigger crematoriums at Auschwitz II-Birkenau.
We leave Auschwitz I and after a lunch break catch a shuttle to Auschwitz II-Birkenau.
The entrance to this camp with the railroad that carried so many thousands to their deaths.
The railcars used to transport people to the concentration camps had no windows and no ventilation. Many died before they even reached the camp.
Each of the chimneys you can see in the distance was part of a barrack. I counted close to two hundred barracks on one of the Birkenau signs. The Germans tried to destroy the camp once they knew they had lost the war. 
The view from the end of the rail line, looking back back towards the entrance gives an idea of how huge this camp was.
The memorial to the victims of the Holocaust at the end of the rail line.
These were the warehouses where the belongings of the prisoners were sorted and kept before being shipped out for use by the Germans. All that is left are the footings.
A display of photos taken from the prisoners fills a large room.
I didn’t understand this quote until I walked into the next room and read that the ashes of the people who were murdered in this camp were dumped in ponds and spread on the fields as fertilizer. Human ashes can still be found in these fields and ponds today.
One of the four bigger crematoriums that was built to handle 4,400 corpses a day.
The Germans blew up the crematoriums when they retreated to try to hide what they had been doing.
There are only a few barracks remaining in Auschwitz II- Birkenau.
Here is a plan of Birkenau. the area within the yellow square of the plan houses the remaining barracks.
These three tiered bunks held 6 to 8 prisoners each. There were 500 prisoners in each barrack, with no insulation or sanitary facilities.
The interior of the Death Barrack.
Jewish people were hung along the train tracks for all to see.
Walking through this dark exhibit about the wall around the ghetto.
It was thought that starving the Jewish people was an effective way to weaken and destroy the morale of the Jewish population, especially the young people.
The corridors are covered in articles and photographs. There is so much to see and read.
More exhibits, this one of everyday life in Nazi occupied Krakow. …notice the armband that Jewish people had to wear so they could be identified as Jews.
One of the camps.
A hiding place in the cellar of a house in Krakow. Even though it meant death for anyone found helping a Jew, by hiding them or even offering food or assistance of any kind. many of the Polish people did exactly that. 
Oskar Schindler was one of these people. He really wasn’t a man of great character, he lied, cheated and stole what he could, but he was instrumental in saving the lives of 1200 Jews. He also treated the Jews working at his factory better than in any other factory or work camp. There are videos of survivors talking about their experiences during this time. 
Some of the people that were saved by Oskar Schindler. Two of the survivors became doctors and one became a Supreme Court judge. Everything in this museum is difficult to watch and listen to, but we need to know and remember what happened. I have heard it said that we need to do this so history will never be repeated, but I wonder. There is so much hatred and racism in the world today that I can no longer believe that something like this will never happen again. It is frightening wondering what the future will bring.
We stop for tea at the Modern Art Museum cafe. It gives us a chance to recover form the heavy content of the Schindler Museum. On the way out I notice this vending machine. Notice the name of the drink it dispenses. 
I try out the cement bicycles…
and Bob checks out an installation in a town square. 
Interesting artwork in one of the shops we pass.
We cross this pedestrian bridge over the river and we cannot decide how these sculpture stay right upright. They appear to be balancing on cables with no support wires yet somehow manage to stay right side up. We just can’t figure it out.
Here is an interesting way to keep an old building while erecting a new modern one! 
We stop in at a basilica near the old town which has a very impressive altar. I wonder if it is real gold on all these altars? OK, just did a bit of research and it appears that real gold foil is used.
I always peak into open doorways. They are often not very attractive doors but they sometimes open on beautiful interior courtyards and gardens.
A typical street side restaurant on our walk back to our apartment.
More street art on the way home.
This church has one of the most impressive altars in all of Poland but there is a service happening so we are not allowed in.
There are lots of horse drawn carriages for hire. I was tempted but it really felt like the rain was coming.
These are enormous, about a foot high and cost between $14 and $20 each!
This guy tried to challenge Bob to a fight, but no luck, so…
He tried to win me over! 
An interesting sculpture of Jan Matejko who was a 19th-century painter native to Kraków. He is renowned for his large oil-on-canvas paintings of historical events in Poland. 
This street leads towards the train station with its huge attached shopping mall.
One more church on the street just before the train station. It was dark inside except for the light shining on the altar.
A typical building in Krakow old town…
Juxtaposed with the interior of the train station shopping areas. It is huge, three floors with hundreds of very modern shops.
There are dioramas showing some of the old mining techniques and machinery. These men are lifting ‘salt logs’ which weighed between 200 kg and 2 tonnes. The first shaft was sunk in 1280 and salt is still mined here today. The salt was formed 13 million years ago by an inland sea.
The salt preserves the logs that are used for reinforcement. These are newer ones but we see others that are hundreds of years old.
These sculptures are carved out of salt by the miners in the 20th century. These figures illustrate the legend of how the salt mines were discovered in Poland.
Horses were used in the mines from the 16th century until 2002. Up to 350 horses worked and spent their whole lives underground. Interestingly, they did not go blind being in the darkness most of their lives.
These horses operated a machine that moved the salt logs from one level to another. There are nine levels and 2 km of shafts and tunnels but we only visit about 1% of the mine.
There are white seams of almost pure salt in some places. Most of the salt mined was between 80-90% pure. 
There are some strange creatures living in this mine.
Stairs go down and down and down…there are 800 steps that we descend in all!
Apparently gnomes make good miners!
Looking down one of the long tunnels that we are not allowed to enter.
Wow! This is St. Kinga’s Chapel. It is entirely constructed from the salt in the mine. Most of the stairs on our route are made of wood, but these two staircases we walk down are made of salt.
The miners built over
all the sculptures…
the main altar. Even the chandeliers are made of salt crystals!
This chamber connects the two levels of the mine and is 35 m. high. Because the roof is so high it needed to be strongly reinforced with all these high timbers.
Another underground brine lake. The water in these lakes is 33% salt. Ocean water is only 3% salt. Luckily we do not climb this set of stairs! They disappear in to the darkness at the top of this chamber.
One of the many long tunnels we walk through.
At one time visitors rode boats through this part of the mine and were treated to a fireworks display 90 meters underground! Today the mine has over 1.5 million visitors a year so it is impossible to still offer this experience.
There is an underground banquet hall and restaurant.
Another of the chapels we visited.
A close up of the mine walls. We were invited to lick the walls, and taste the salt. We only licked our fingers and then touched the wall so we could taste the salt. I didn’t relish the thought of actually licking the walls!
This enormous chamber is 135 meters below ground on the third of nine levels. The entire mine occupies about a 5 km x 5 km area. The ceiling here is 36 meters high and a Guinness World record was set here for an underground hot air balloon flight!
Doesn’t everyone want to ride on a turtle? I almost went right over backwards when I climbed on!
The Holy Trinity Column dominates the town square. “The column is dominated by 
We wonder what this shop sells? These figures were made out of straw. It was closed so we couldn’t go in to find out.
We climb another bell tower in the Church of St. Michael just off the square. There wasn’t any place to see outside and get a view over the city, which was too bad.
The same church had steps to a crypt so we went to explore,..
and we found this little shrine and a small pool of water.
These ladies caught my eye. 
St. Wenceslas Cathedral was originally built in 1131 and was rebuilt in the second half of the 13th century. The facade was renovated in 1999-2008. It is very impressive.
Of course the interior is just as impressive.
We visit 
More fountains in the town square as we make our way back to our car.
This bar catches my eye. I am sure I know this name and look it up. Sure enough, it is the name of a show on Netflix about a gang in England in the early 1900’s.
When we cross the border into Poland we are surprised that there is no indication that we were leaving one country and entering another. One of the interesting things about travelling is how different things are from home. Sometimes the differences are challenging and sometimes the differences make me smile. This is what I saw in the first bathroom I entered in Poland.
We were frustrated when our SIM card stops working once we cross the border. We were told it would work in all the countries we were visiting. We finally find a MacDonalds so we can contact our bnb host, who is waiting to hear from us. It is late when we finally make it to our new apartment, which wasn’t very easy to find in the dark, but we are here, and tomorrow will be a rest day for us.
One of the many small towns we pass on the road to Telč.
The town square at 
At the far end of the square we see the bell tower so of course we go see if is possible to climb to the top for a view of the town.
The first 50 stone stairs are very narrow…
but soon we are climbing another 100 steps on old wooden timber steps up to the bells. This bell is named Marie and she was cast in 1550 and weighs 950 kg!
A bit more climbing and we are looking down on the two bells, Jacub and Marie, before climbing to the viewing platform at the top.
The view from the top was wonderful. Telč is a very pretty town.
This crucifix was at the end of one dark tunnel . We were the only people on the tour who actually went and explored all the tunnels. Everyone else stayed in the larger rooms that were used for some displays and a short video about Telč.
Back above ground we walked through the grounds of the palace. We didn’t have time to take a tour of the inside, but Bob got a chance to try wielding a sword. They are very heavy!
We also met some interesting creatures. This ten year old python and…
his 4 year old albino friend.
This beautiful ironwork was on one of the doors of the palace.
We visited our first (and certainly not our last) church, the Church of St. James the Greater which dates from 1273, but has been rebuilt many times since then.
This panorama gives an idea of just how many houses line just one side of the square. They are all in a row, not in a curve as they appear in the photo.
These houses continue on from the right side of the photo above. It is hot, 28° and we finally feel like it is summer. It was a cool wet summer at home so this is a nice change. 
I have no idea what this is supposed to be but it is certainly unusual. I wonder if someone lives here? 
We finally arrive in Brno, find our apartment but can’t figure out how to get into the building! Finally we message our host who comes down to meet us. It is a beautiful 
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