Potsdam - Part 1

On Friday, July 17, we went to Potsdam, a small city next to Berlin.


It was a hot day, but there were also clouds, which made it a very humid day.




We visited the St. Nicholas church.




There was a cool skull statue.




This is the ceiling of the church.


Next we visited the Dutch neighborhood.
This neighborhood was build for Dutch immigrants from what I understand.


This looks kind of familiar.


I spotted another church, but that didn't look Dutch.


Then we walked some more and found this gate!


And a cool warning sign that tells you to watch out for trams.


next:
A park

Berlin - Victory Column

After we had something to eat we went to Tiergarten to see the Siegessäule (Victory Column.)


I spotted this fish trailer on the way.


The Siegessäule was made in the late 19th century and commemorates the Prussian victory in a couple of wars.




It has a big golden angel on top.
I know this Column from the movie Der Himmel über Berlin, a beautiful movie by Wim Wenders. Some of you may know the US remake of this movie: City of Angels. Although that movie is't as beautiful as Der Himmel über Berlin in my opinion.


It was cool to see the Siegessäule for real.


There was a tunnel to get even closer to the Column, but our feet were tired after a long day of sight seeing, so we settled for just looking at the Siegessäule from a distance.


On our way back to the metro I spotted this sign.
It says: No grills allowed!
Someone wrote a response that says: Do the grills know this?
The funny thing about it is that the German word grillen also can mean grasshoppers, so the person who wrote the response was referring to the grasshoppers, of which there are a lot in Tiergarten.


Next:
Another church

Berlin - Zoo - part 2

We walked around the zoo the whole afternoon, and saw lots of animals.




A cool bird statue.


I love the giraffe building.


Meerkats!


This one was guarding while the others were being lazy.




We visited the hippos a second time.
This time we could at least see one of them in the water.




But we didn't get to see the hippos swim underwater.
Just this fish.


A cool fountain.


There was some kind of dragon or dinosaur at the Aquarium building.


And this beaver-rat was sharing his food with pigeons.


More flamingos.





We had a really fun afternoon in the zoo, but finally it was time to get something to eat, and do more sight seeing.


Next:
An angel of victory.

Berlin - Zoo - part 1

After our visit to the Gedächtniskirche we did some shopping, but i didn't take pictures of that.

Next we went to the zoo!


First we went to the hippos, but they were far out in the water and hard to spot.


One of them was outside, enjoying the sun.




Next we visited the bird house.
These parrots didn't seem to like company.


They had their back to the visitors and one of them gave me the evil eye.


And this bird didn't look too friendly either.


This one was a bit more sociable.


The flamingos were pink and chatty.


But there was a sign that you couldn't stand in the flowerbeds next to the cage, so I couldn't get close enough for a chat.


I also went to visit the bears.


This bear was relaxing against a tree trunk.
I also visited the nose bears, but they were running around and too fast to catch on camera.


I know I posed with this sign in 2012 as well, but it's just a really cool sign.


Another bird giving me the evil eye.


This one seemed friendly, but was busy grooming.


His friend did have time for a small chat though.


Next:
More animals