A Cathedral, a beautiful girl, and another sunny day

I found out that '4711', a scent that brings back memories from childhood, originated in Cologne;  'Echt Kölnisch Wassernd', or 'Original Water of Cologne'.

We had a morning in Cologne and I discovered the flagship store beside the famous Cathedral which was every bit as impressive and expected.

Earlier, a highlight of the whirlwind roadtrip was catching up with Laura, my penfriend Tiina's beautiful daughter who lives there. We hadn't seen Laura since 2013 when we first met Tiina also. Laura arrived on her bicycle and we had a wonderful time catching up over coffee.

Showing my age!

So onto photos of Cologne...

A glorious day in Frankfurt

I think Germany in Autumn is possibly the best time to visit. Or maybe we just got lucky! Each day dawned bright and sparkling and it was hot and sunny all day, cooling off in the evening making it nice for a cosy sleep. Perfect.
I tried to get shots of the scenery as we traveled from place to place but with high speeds on the Autobahn, most of them turned out a golden blur. Here's one that worked.

Somewhere between Dresden and Frankfurt

The place we stayed at in Frankfurt was quite an experience. The rooms were very colourful. Our room was the turquoise room. Each floor had a different theme, so I went up and down the stairwell to take a photo of some doors and signs on each floor. How good is your German?

 

Green velvet anyone?

So with another city to walk around, a sunny day, camera in hand and big smile on my face, here are some images of a city of old and new looking spectacular on an Autumn day.

Inside the Kleinmarkthalle

View from the Eiserner Steg (Iron foot bridge)

Complete with lovelocks

Römerberg, the reconstructed (after the war bombed the originals) old timber houses around the old town square

The old and the new

You see beggars on the street with dogs (poor things) everywhere in Europe, but this guy made his dog from sand. 

Barry at the Römerberg

And a change of scene in the financial district

A hip, vegan cafe

Another view of the Römerberg

A glorious day in Dresden

We drove from Berlin to Dresden, which we learnt is the capital and the second largest city in the free state of Saxony in Germany.
It has quite a history, one of the most notorious past events being the horrific bombing near the end of world war 2 which destroyed the old Baroque town and led to some 25,000 horrible deaths (most were burnt or crushed). Nasty stuff.
Since then, the old town has been completely rebuilt using many of the old, often charred materials along with new. Today the city is vibrant and gorgeous and buzzing with continued construction, tourism, locals on bikes, trams, shops, and gorgeous autumn trees everywhere. We only had a morning to explore but with a sunny day and camera in hand, it was magic.

Especially for Bernie

Pretty colours in a mall

I sort of worked out that this is an archaeological dig of old cellars and basements of medieval times.

The river Elbe

The Dresden Frauenkirche 

Centuries of history and magnificence of old masters of Baroque Architecture; and Barry is more interested in the scaffolding!

This was typical all through the city. When the wind blew, yellow and golden leaves rained down. I tried to capture this but the shots didn't work. Very pretty.

So there are two dominating facts about Barry and myself on holiday...
1. New place + Camera + sunny day = Very happy Toni
2. Rental Car + Autobahn = Very happy Barry

A glorious golden day in Berlin

Berlin is a completely different city to what I imagine it was like not very long ago. Today you get a real sense of 'celebration of life' and freedom to 'be' along with sobering reminders of how vehimently they don't want life to be like ever again. And they don't beat about the bush. You don't see memorials to 'the victims of war' but rather to the "ermordeten Juden", along with brass plaques outside every house of every person who was taken and 'ermordeten'.
We visited the Reichstag, and the Brandenburger Tor, the Tiergarten, and the Berliner Dom Cathedral, then finally the amazing DDR Museum. Even though life was so tough, oppressive, and controlled, I love how they resisted en mass like watching Western TV even though it was illegal and swimming nude just because it wasn't allowed.
We had a beautiful day and the Autumn colours were glorious!

Lunch - Currywurst and fries. Very yum!

Selfie outside the Reichstag

For you Bernie. We will have to get one when you come over!

The Bauhaus cafe

Delicious

Barry makes a new friend

The inspiring Bauhaus in all its modernistic glory

Our hotel

New art in the making

The TV tower in a bright blue sky framed by Autumn leaves

Outside the DDR museum

Inside the DDR museum

View from the Leibknechtbrucke

The Berliner Dom Cathedral

A mix of old and new

Autumn colours

In the Tiergarten looking back at the Brandenburger Tor

The Brandenburger Tor

The Tiergarten

Das Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas - Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe

I couldn't see the sign for these but they seemed like maybe they were representative of people in East Berlin during the Cold war. Maybe.

A section of the wall, with love locks. Ironic.

Impressive buildings 

I thought these looked very Utopian

Stunning colours in the morning light at the local U station

This one gave us the giggles.

Funky courtyard