On Saturday 23th June we headed into Berlin to do a little more exploring. We did lots of train travel but it seemed that whenever we were underground riding the train it would rain but whenever we popped up to street level the rain would stop, at least most of the time, there was once we stayed on the U Bahn platform because we could see the rain still pouring down.
The only place that I took a picture was at the Neue Synagogue 
, which was looked pretty good from the street. However most of it was destroyed in the war, some of it in the 'Crystal Night' (when all the glass was broken) and then by the Allied forces by bombing raids. By the end of the war all that was left was a heap of ruins. Eventually the decision was made to rebuild it although by then there were other synagogues around so the rebuilding did not include everything that had been there previously but basically was just the frontage that was rebuilt. That included the dome as you can see and a few meeting rooms, now used for exhibitions on Jewish life and culture in Berlin, pre- and post-war.
, which was looked pretty good from the street. However most of it was destroyed in the war, some of it in the 'Crystal Night' (when all the glass was broken) and then by the Allied forces by bombing raids. By the end of the war all that was left was a heap of ruins. Eventually the decision was made to rebuild it although by then there were other synagogues around so the rebuilding did not include everything that had been there previously but basically was just the frontage that was rebuilt. That included the dome as you can see and a few meeting rooms, now used for exhibitions on Jewish life and culture in Berlin, pre- and post-war.Rather than keep dodging the rain we headed back to base...to explore more another day.
Today, 1st July (Oh Canada), we went to Peacock Island, over to the west of us. We got there by ferry 
and spent time looking at the schloss (castle) 
and various other buildings dotted around 
. It was interesting that many of the buildings were built intentionally to look like ruins! I'm not sure about this little building though, it looks mostly like a roof on the grass! I wonder if it was an 'ice house', used to store ice for drinks. 
The ice may have been cut from the Wansee lake and could have been stored here for well into the summer. That is only speculation but there was a similar structure in Williamsburg built for that purpose.
and spent time looking at the schloss (castle) 
and various other buildings dotted around 
. It was interesting that many of the buildings were built intentionally to look like ruins! I'm not sure about this little building though, it looks mostly like a roof on the grass! I wonder if it was an 'ice house', used to store ice for drinks. 
The ice may have been cut from the Wansee lake and could have been stored here for well into the summer. That is only speculation but there was a similar structure in Williamsburg built for that purpose.From the island we naturally got a good view of the surrounding lake, quite a busy little boaters playground.
If you have seen the news lately, there has been renewed speculation about Nessie, the Loch Ness monster. We didn't see Nessie but we did see Moby Dick.
Having gone this far I should also show that, yes, we did see a few peacocks as well. 
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