Balloons over Berlin

Sometimes, you just luck out and find yourself in the right place at the right time. Megan and I found ourselves in Berlin on the night of the anniversary of the falling of the Berlin Wall. The town was crowded with Berliners celebrating this exceptionally historic event. The atmosphere was charged with electricity, abetted by large screen video displays of historic footage of life in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the events that led to the fall of the wall.

Marco and Megan boarding the S-Bahn

Stephanie in front of the Lichtgrenze, the wall of balloons.

Another view of the Lichtgrenze.

We were visiting our great sailing friends, Petra and Marco, who you've met in the blog before. They live near Potsdam, just outside of Berlin. We travelled into Berlin by train for the celebrations, arriving in Potsdammerplatz, just near Check Point Charlie.  The first sign of the celebrations was the Lichtgrenze, a wall of white balloon, eight thousand of them that indicated the course of the Berlin Wall. These helium filled balloons would all be released at 7.00 pm that night, as a symbol of the falling wall.

A piece of the wall. 

Slabs of the wall with commentary

The balloons traced the actual path of the wall.

We also saw sections of the wall, along with some great documentary films that described the historic events leading up to the fall of the wall.

Great street documentary of the fall of the wall 

Russian tanks in East Germany, Lichtgrenze behind.

\

A Balloon, longing to be set free.

Check point charlie.

The actual checkpoint

Beware, all yea who enter here.

There was an open-air concert later in the evening, featuring Peter Gabriel singing 'We can be Heroes'  by David Bowie about the first people crossing the wall. Unfortunately, the area was full and police closed off access to the Brandenberg Tor Plaza. We had to watch it later on YouTube. However, it was really enough just to be on the streets, sharing an incredible atmosphere that recreated the tremendous feeling of change, of freedom and of a shifting world order that occurred here 25 years before.

The GDR-made Trabant, affectionately called a Trabi.

An intact section of the wall 

Germanic statuary

A Berliner beer bike, doesn't matter which way you face!

Of course, we had to travel to Germany from our winter home in Lefkas. We took the boat up to Preveza, where she is on the hard at Aktio boatyard. We travelled by bus to Athens and spent a day looking around the Plaka. We stayed in a hotel that Megan had visited thirty three years before. It was still recognisable (Acropolis House). We had found Athens to be 'difficult' in the full heat of summer last year, but in the cool of winter this year, the city was much more enjoyable.

Athenian alleyway

Interesting feet

Greek sweet shop

Musicians in Monastraki, notice the accordian boy begging

The old church in Monastraki

We flew into Berlin airport, and were met by Petra and Marco, two lovely friends of ours that we met cruising in Turkey and Greece last year. They drove us to stay at their house in Leetz, near Potsdam. Leetz is on the river Havel, which flows through Berlin. It was interesting to see all the marina's and possibilities for cruising the river systems of Europe.

Petra and Yusha welcome us to their home

Village street in Leetz

The local Stork's bird nest.

Village house

Old stables and barn

Setting sun on the river Havel.

The local church

Petra, Marco and Yusha have been wonderful hosts, showing us the local sites. We have been to the beautiful and historic city of Potsdam, where the Potsdam conference of Truman, Churchill and Atlee, and Stalin decided how to divide post-war Germany. We visited several Baroque churches in Brandenburg, as well as the local city gate.

Megan, Petra and Marco in Potsdam. 

Baroque Church in Brandenburg

Church courtyard

Baroque Protestant church in Brandenburg

Baroque decoration

The terrible trio

The Roland, a mythical German figure outside the Brandenburg city hall

Central square in Brandenburg

Potsdam street

Another Protestant church

Famous unicorn tapestry

Baroque roof detail

Church organ, playing Bach Dm concerto

We also had some great walks around the local features, particularly the river Havel.

A local marina on the river Havel

View over the river

Fishing lodges near the river

The admiral, captain and Rembrandt

Impression of the river

This area of Potsdam was in the GDR. Petra told us that Stasi members were rewarded by the State with homes, often with this roof design. Of course, it signalled to all the locals that that person was a member of the feared secret police.

This roof style indicated a Stasi member

Berlin cafe

Marco and Petra's Berlin flat

The crew on the roof

Tomorrow, we're off the Czechoslovakia for 4 days in Prague. It still seems amazing to this colonial boy that we can be such a pair of gadabouts!

A day in the life

We've been contentedly happy with our choice of home here in Lefkas, so I thought I'd share a few of our winter activities, in an attempt to sketch the fabric of our daily life. One thing we love to do is take early morning walks along the harbour and through the town. The differing moods of the water and the intriguing windy lanes of the town create a wonderful backdrop for exploring.

Leaks town, looking from the marina.

The stillness in the early morning

Sun rising over the hills

Day tripper boats, dormant over winter

The windy lanes of the town that we love

Sometimes, friends will have a car and offer to take us further afield. Per and Anna, two Norwegian friends drove us up to a monastery in the hills behind Lefkas. This monastery boasted its own zoo, along with some superb woodcarving examples.

Entrance to the monastery

Monastic animals?

Bambi-ness is next to godliness

How's that for a censure motion!

Iconoclastic icons

Monastic wood carving

Carving detail

Monastery grounds

The bell tower

View from the monastery over Lefkas

Anna, Megan and Per

While we had the car, we travelled with Anna and Per to a secluded village on a wild beach on the west coast of Lefkas.

Lefkas coast

The village ends at the beach

Megan and Anna in the small village street

A second beach further south

Just loved this image

Megan and Anna

Anna, Megan and Per

Lonely hillside bell

Megan and I also love riding our bikes around the town, exploring and discovering new places. On this ride, we found a kind of monk's retreat, and a cliffside villa right above a beautiful beach. Megan couldn't resist swimming there, even though it's getting a little chilly!

Hell's Angel bikie?

A beach on the western coast of Lefkas

The monk's retreat, right on the beach

We followed the path past the monk's retreat to this villa ...

perched right on the coastal cliff ....

The path wound around the house ...

... to this beach.

Megan couldn't resist!

We wandered back past the monk's retreat.

Beautiful wildflowers out now.

We also use the public transport system as much as possible. We caught the local bus down to Vlicho,  a large bay and anchorage that seems to attract all the old besotted sailors that need somewhere to wash up on. There is a local yacht club there that upholds the tradition of sailing as an excuse to seek inebriation.

The bay at Vlicho, very sheltered anchorage

A venerable tradition, the Vliho Yacht Club.

Old style Vlicho boat yard

Megan on the prowl

Where sailors go to rest!!

Finally, local culture sometimes turns on a show. Last Monday was 'NO Day', much celebrated throughout Greece. This public holiday commemerates when the Greeks said NO to the Italians, refusing them access to Greece. This of course, made Greece enter World War II. Lots of marching and bands and stuff, the rest of the day spent catching up with comrades in the local cafe's.

Leading the parade

Saying NO to the Italians demands a certain style!

Charge of the bright brigade.

Enjoying the festivities with our Scottish friends, Anne and Gordon

The local schools were all represented.

A celebration of traditional Greek dress

More local colour.

So, that was a day in the life of the Pavlov crew. Well, three days to be honest. Its a hard life but somebody has to do it. It has its swings and roundabouts however. Today we've been up in Aktio furiously scraping the boat down so she is ready for her winter nap on the hard. Getting the boat on the hard should have been simple, Preveza (where Aktio boatyard is) is only 6 miles from Lefkas. However, when we tried to go through the Lefkas bridge, we were turned back. The bridge has broken down and could be out of service for 10 days. We had no option but to motor around the entire island, a trip of 52 nautical miles. We didn't get into Aktio until 8.30 pm, totally exhausted. Tomorrow will be more of the same, then we're off to Athens to catch the plane to Berlin. We're visiting our good friends Petra and Marco for a month. Und jetzt, wir sprechen Deutsch!!