Berlin Germany

 Brandenburg Gate

 Tiergarten Park

 Victory Column

 Pergamon Museum on Museum Island

 Gates of Babylon

 We saw lots of Egyptian artifacts in the "New Museum" on Museum Island, including the iconic bust of Queen Nefertiti (which we weren't allowed to photograph).

 The architecture was amazing everywhere we went.

 Berlin Cathedral (the pictures don't really do it justice...)

 View of Museum Island from the top of the Berlin Cathedral.

 Ritter Sport Store, were we learned how they made chocolate, and bought about 5 lbs of it!

The forests in Eberswalde look like they are straight out of a fairy tale.

 WWI memorial in Eberswalde

 Overlooking Eberswalde

 We took a boat tour of Berlin on the Spree river.

 Berlin Wall

 East Side Gallery (Paintings on the Berlin Wall)

 Church Ruins in Berlin near Alexander Platz

 We had a rude awakening at 4 am - the fire alarm went off.  I guess we should be glad that it was a false alarm.

 Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp

 Neutral Zone - back then, if you stepped on the gravel, you were shot without warning (We didn't test to see if that was still true today...)

 There were a variety of ground surfaces that prisoners were forced to run on while carrying heavy packs to test new shoe designs.  They were essentially run to death.

 Prisoner Barracks (bunks three beds high, with no space between)

 Prison withing the prison

 Posts used for punishment - hands would be tied behind the back, then raised up and hung on the nail - leading to broken or dislocated shoulders.

  Guard tower

Communist Memorial - Russians liberated the camp at the end of WWII

Most prisoners were brought to this camp to work.  This group Russian Soldiers were quickly disposed of.

 Shooting range for executions

 Cremation Ovens to dispose of executed prisoners.

 Prisoner uniform with flag for nationality.

 Different color triangles in front of prisoner numbers indicated what type of prisoner you were.  I believe red was political prisoner.

 Measuring board used for executions.  During "health exams", the board would slide to the top of your head - positioning a hidden hole right behind your neck, so a guard in the room behind you could shoot you without you knowing, and so he would have to look you in the eye.

 Autopsy room in the pathology building.

 Arbeit Macht Frei:  Work makes you free.  Yet ironically prisoners were literally worked to death.

 Oranienburg Palace (We took a tour, but did not opt to pay the extra fee to take pictures inside.  It was however very beautiful!)

 Windmill by Sanssoucci

 View from the the font courtyard of Sanssoucci Palace

 This Oven/Stove was state of the art

 Art gallery next to Sanssoucci Palace (jsut about as big as the palace itself)

 Sanssoucci Palace (Summer home of  Frederick the Great.  Small compared to the other palaces, but still very grand, especially the terraced wine gardens - also the palace he died in)

 Sanssoucci Park  (Very beautiful.  It took a half hour to walk straight through, with another palace or fancy building every 5 minutes or so - incredible!)

 New Palace (Potsdam) - too big to fit in one picture.  At the other end of Sanssoucci park.  Very beautiful! In here we saw the desk where the order to assemble German troops for WWI was signed.

 Charlottenburg Palace (also hard to tell how far it stretches)  the palaces were all long, but not very deep.  I think it was so that most rooms could have windows and make use of natural lighting.

The Charlottenburg gardens in this picture are very pretty, but only 1/4 the size of the grounds that extend off to the right.