Berlin-Prague

Berlin was grey and hard to get to grips with. We cycled everyday except for one, clocking over 10km at a minimum everyday. We had an entire campsite to ourselves again which was nice but a bit lonely.

The Holocaust memorial by the Brandenburg gate and the Fernsehturm  (east german tv tower) were the highlights for me. The Fernsehturm is a tall imposing structure with a clear message to those on the west german side of the wall. The head tilting height and reflective skin against a cobalt blue sky had the awe inspiring effect I am sure the designers desired.

The memorial is an amazing work of modern art that even without it's purpose in mind managed to move me. It is a vast set of regular sized dark concrete blocks laid out on a gentle slope on a square. A grid of paths between the blocks crossing at each corner of each block seems simple and childlike at first. But as you descend the slope into the heart of the memorial the blocks grow taller cutting you off from your fellow visitors. You can hear but not see them and a slight fear of collision at every corner slows your pace. The effect of being alone in a huge crowd is inspired and haunting.

We left Berlin with a new radio and new front tires on Dotty and hit the autobahn. Dotty was built for these roads. With her new shoes she was zooming along at 115 kph. The Audi's though were doing at least 140 kph. The road eastward to Prague was off the end of our satnav but it was just one road to follow and the challenge of finding our campsite with just a map might be fun for a change. A quick fuel and coffee stop an hour out of Berlin and we cranked the tunes of the new stereo.

Next stop.........Poland. Oppps. So much for our navigational skills. We'd missed the turn southwards and were now hard up against the German/Polish border. A quick bit of map reading and we turned south on a cold war GDR road towards Gorlitz knowing we'd not get to Prague tonight. 

What a fortunate accident of fate. Gorlitz is one of the best preserved pre-war towns in Germany. The Baroque architecture is beautiful in this small walled town that was left untouched in both wars and was subject to a "heritage" order by the GDR. It is a great combination of both restored beauty and beautiful ruin.

We camped in a carpark just outside the old wall with a few others and dined at "Zum Flyn", a local restaurant with a painting of a very nasty looking Flyn outside. Ordering dinner in our german was hard enough. Getting an explanation of the restaurants name, beyond us.

The next day we couldn't resist adding another country to our list and crossed the river into Poland, At once the roads were horrific with signs few are far between. Charlene, our faithful satnav, was out of range and the map we had covered the entire country on one page. The post soviet stereotypes held true. We passed a massive hole in the ground and the ugliest power station your could imagine belching smoke and pollution.

After crisscrossing the German/ Czech/Polish border for a few hours we finally found the road to Prague.