I'm a little concerned with the impression I have left so far of the German people. They, as a whole like people from all countries all over the world, are good decent people. They mean no harm. I have come to realize that the abrupt manner and rather strict demeanor displayed to us, particularly when dealing with older German people is simply a cultural thing. I have seen them belly-laugh and chat with each other with emotion and great vigor. Their stiff,...

Yesterday was Good Friday; because it was such an important day and such a full day for us, I want to re-visit for just a bit more. Good Friday is a widely observed holiday in Germany. Many stores and restaurants were closed, even grocery stores. I fully expect that only the very barest of essentials will be operating on Easter Sunday. We saw an outdoor Good Friday service being conducted on the Bebelplatz while we were there. Here the magnificent Konzer...

Fat Tire Bike Tours operate in Paris, London, Barcelona and Berlin. As of today, we have done them all. That earned us discounts for this final tour and free t-shirts!! We will wear them proudly. If you travel to one of these great cities, a Fat Tire Bike Tour is an absolute must. The bikes are great; you hardly have to work at all, and the tour guides are often a bit Bohemian which makes you want to relive your youth. They are very well-versed in history ...

Of all the cities we inclare visiting in out trip, we allotted more time to Berlin than any other. We knew Berlin is a larger city and require more time to cover, and we expected more important recent and older historical sites that we would want to see and learn about first hand. We simply had no idea, however. First, Berlin is large geographically and it is large by population standards too, with 5.5 million people. Germany took in 1.5 million refugees in...

Our entire trip entails 77 days but so many of these days are spent moving from one location to the next. No matter how we try to work it, a travel day eats up the whole day. Today the transfer from Stockholm to Berlin was easy. No snags. We did spend a few minutes, now and then, getting our bearings and determining the correct train platform and on which side we should catch our train - on one side of the platform the train goes one way, on the other sid...