Resting up this afternoon

while John, Geoff and Tracy go out to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. Thought I might fudge on that one and catch up on some sleep.

We are in Berlin now after a few very interesting days in Dresden and Zagan. We found Dresden fascinating. As you would know, it was blitzed by the Allies in the war and most of Dresden city was flattened. What a job they have done rebuilding their old buildings and their infrastructure. It is a delightful city with wide streets, green spaces and a mix of old and new that makes for a very interesting walk around this town. One of their major accomplishments has been the rebuilding of the Frauenkirche, a protestant church which they had left as a rubble as a memorial to what has happened. In the late 1900s there was a push to rebuild it and in five years they have put this important structure back together. The altar is a construction of over 1000 pieces of the old church found in the rubble.

From Dresden we drove into Poland for the first time to a place called Zagan. Won't mean anything to many of you but when I say it was the site of The Great Escape - the real one - you will know exactly what I mean. We visited the Museum and the site of Stalag Luft III where the prisoners had tunnelled under the fence into the forest. Unfortunately only 3 escaped and 50 were shot. The memorial to these prisoners is poignant.

From Zagan (and its very horrible roads) we drove up to Berlin where we met up with Geoff and Tracy, John's brother and his partner. We have had a couple of nights of catching up on travel stories and drinking a lot of beer and wine. Yesterday, we visited a lot of the traditional sights of Berlin - the Brandenberg Gate, Reichstag, Hitler's bunker, Checkpoint Charlie, the Wall, the Jewish Museum and Memorial and the Topography of Terror (the SS Museum). It was a good day but a relatively depressing day reading the German's honest report of what happened.

Our spirits were lifted last night when we went on Skype and found Paddy on and although we couldn't connect properly - mainly because we didn't have a mike I think - I could see him and we messaged. That was just great. Not long now till we meet him and Abbey in the Greek Islands. Can't wait for that.

Tonight we are going to the largest department store in Europe called the Ka Wa De. It's about a two minute walk from our beautiful apartment and apparently has a food court to die for. I have just eaten cold baked beans cause I'm so hungry so really looking forward to that.

Cheers everyone.