Thursday, July 9, 2015 - Berlin, Germany

It was a cloudy and very windy day. I started by taking the S-Bahn to Wansee. This is area of Berlin that has many lakes, lots of water recreation, and big houses. Wansee was where the Nazis held their  famous Wansee Conference to discuss the logistics of the "final solution", the murder of the European Jews.




I also rode through Potsdam. Another area noted for big rich homes on the water it is also were the Stalin, Truman, and Churchill drew up plans for Europe after WWII. It is also a location of many Royal residencies from the time of princes and kings. It was also a little hilly, the first on this trip.





The bike path took many forms today, asphalt, concrete, streets, wooded areas, planted fields, etc. It made me realize what and undertaking it was to build a prison wall around a 160 kilometer circumference.  The wall was to keep East Germans out (of West Berlin) not to keep the  West Germans in. (The westerners visited and brought currency with them. It helped the eastern economy to have visitors.)  On the left is a building near Potsdam.

The left and above are just pictures of the Bike path. The flowers on the right is a picture taken for Beth, without her support I would not be making these trips.




I took ferry ride across the Wansee. The ferry was full of school children. That is just a few of them. There have been school groups everywhere all day.

This is not in the zoo, this is a peacock walking along the under construction road.

Another section of the wall that was left for people to see and to remember. today I traveled 63 kilometers. My total is at 115 km. Tomorrow will be a shorter day I will stay in the city and ride the north east and the northern sections of the wall bike path. I will also visit  some must see sections of the city like Alexanderplatz and Brandenburg Gate. I will retire early to get organized for the trip outside of Berlin.