Col GKS Reddy Coins: VISIT BERLIN, GERMANY 25 TO 28 AUG 2018

CHAPPIDI ABHIRATH REDDY,g

C/O COL GKS REDDY,

Secunderabad - 500 087.

Visited Berlin from 25 Aug to 28 Aug 2018 along with my Younger Daughter and family. Took off from Stansted Airport, London at 0800h on 25 Aug and landed in Berlin at about 1000h. And returned to Stansted on 28 Aug (AN).

Germany

Germany (German: Deutschland German pronunciation: [ˈdɔʏtʃlant]), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland,

listen (help·info)), is a country in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,386 square kilometres (137,988 sq mi), and has a largely temperate seasonal climate. With nearly 83 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany's capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, with its main centres of Dortmund and Essen. The country's other major cities are Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Leipzig, Bremen, Dresden, Hannover, and Nuremberg.

Berlin

Berlin (/bɜːrˈlɪn/; German pronunciation: [bɛɐ̯ˈliːn]) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3,711,930 (2017) inhabitants make it the second most populous city proper of the European Union after London. The city is one of Germany's 16 federal states, and it is surrounded by the state of Brandenburg, the capital of which, Potsdam, is contiguous with Berlin. The two cities are at the center of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region, which is, with 6,004,857 (2015) inhabitants, Germany's third-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr and Rhine-Main regions.

Berlin straddles the banks of the River Spree, which flows into the River Havel (a tributary of the River Elbe) in the western borough of Spandau. Among the city's main topographical features are the many lakes in the western and southeastern boroughs, formed by the Spree, Havel, and Dahme rivers, the largest of which is Lake Müggelsee. Due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. About one-third of the city's area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers, canals and lakes. The city lies in the Central German dialect area, the Berlin dialect being a variant of the Lusatian-New Marchian dialects.

The New Synogogue, Berlin

The Neue Synagoge ("New Synagogue") was built 1859–1866 as the main synagogue of the Berlin Jewish community, on Oranienburger Straße. Because of its eastern Moorish style and resemblance to the Alhambra, it is an important architectural monument of the second half of the 19th century in Berlin.

The building was designed by Eduard Knoblauch. Following Knoblauch's death in 1865, Friedrich August Stüler took responsibility for the majority of its construction as well as for its interior arrangement and design. It was inaugurated in the presence of Count Otto von Bismarck, then Minister President of Prussia, in 1866. One of the few synagogues to survive Kristallnacht, it was badly damaged prior to and during World War II and subsequently much was demolished; the present building on the site is a reconstruction of the ruined street frontage with its entrance, dome and towers, and only a few rooms behind. It is truncated before the point where the main hall of the synagogue began.

A view of the New Synagogue, Berlin

Another side view of New Synagogue, Berlin

A frontal view of the New Synagogue

Old Post Office, Berlin

The Berlin Old Post Office is located at Oranienburger Strasse, Mitte, Berlin, Very close to the New Synagogue. It is a Historical Building, presently being used as a Museum.

A view of the Old Post Office Berlin

Old Post Office Berlin

Another View of the Old Post Office

Old Post Office Berlin, Another view

A Typical Residential House at the Jewish Quarter in Berlin

Another View of the Residential House

St Nicholas Church, Berlin

The St. Nikolai-Kirche, (Nikolaikirche or St. Nicholas' Church) is the oldest church in Berlin, the capital of Germany. The church is located in the eastern part of central Berlin, the borough of Mitte. The area around the church, bounded by Spandauer Straße, Rathausstraße, the River Spree and Mühlendamm, is known as the Nikolaiviertel 'Nicholas quarter', and is an area of restored mediaeval buildings (in some cases recent imitations). The church was built between 1220 and 1230, and is thus, along with the Church of Our Lady at Alexanderplatz not far away, the oldest church in Berlin.

Originally a Roman Catholic church, the Church of St. Nicholas became a Lutheran church after the Protestant Reformation in the Electorate of Brandenburg in 1539. In the 17th century, the prominent hymn-writer Paul Gerhardt was the minister of this church, and the composer Johann Crueger was musical director. The prominent Lutheran theologian Provost Philipp Jacob Spener was the minister from 1691 to 1705. From 1913 to 1923 the minister at the Church of St. Nicholas was Wilhelm Wessel, whose son Horst Wessel later became famous as a Nazi: the family lived in the nearby Jüdenstraße.

On Reformation Day in 1938 (October 31) the church building served its congregation for the last time. Then the building, the oldest structure in Berlin proper, was given up to the government, to be used as a concert hall and ecclesiastical museum. The number of parishioners had shrunk due to the ever intensifying commercialisation of the inner city with residential premises being superseded by offices and shops. The congregation later merged with that of the Church of Our Lady.

St Nicholas Church, Berlin

Another View of the Church, now Being used as a Museum

A closeup view of the Church

A closeup of the Main Entrance to the Church

The Monogram in front of the Church

The Statue in Front of the Church

The Old Town Hall, Berlin

The Old Town Hall of Berlin is located in the eastern part of central Berlin, the borough of Mitte. The area around the Town Hall is bounded by Spandauer Straße, Rathausstraße, the River Spree and Mühlendamm, is known as the Nikolaiviertel 'Nicholas quarter'. It is very close to the New Town Hall and St Nicholas Church.

Old Town Hall Berlin

Another view of Old Town Hall, Berlin

The Oberbaum Bridge, Berlin

The Oberbaum Bridge (German: Oberbaumbrücke) is a double-deck bridge crossing Berlin's River Spree, considered one of the city's landmarks. It links Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg, former boroughs that were divided by the Berlin Wall, and has become an important symbol of Berlin’s unity.

The lower deck of the bridge carries a roadway, which connects Oberbaum Straße to the south of the river with Warschauer Straße to the north. The upper deck of the bridge carries Berlin U-Bahn lines U 1 and U 3, between Schlesisches Tor and Warschauer Straße stations.The bridge appears prominently in the 1998 film Run Lola Run.