This is a photo of the MarienKirche on the left and the Fernsehturm on the right, taken from the plaza in front of both. The kirche dates from the 13th century, the tv tower from the 1960s.700 years on one plaza.
Monday was the Golden Circle tour, including Thingvellir National Park, the geyser named Strokkur (Geysir has become inactive), and Guldfoss, "Golden Falls." The initial "th" in Thingvellir is actually the letter thorn, which is not on my keyboard. Paula and Siggi Landscape, with steam vent Our guide was Siggi--Icelanders always go by first names. There are numerous steam vents, along with bubbling mud pools. Iceland is extremely geothermally active. They get superheated water out of the ground, pipe it to all the houses for heating, and use it to generate electrical power. They also have abundant supplies of clean cold fresh water. Steam vent The same steam vent Strokkur geyser erupts about every five minutes, spouting boiling water about 100 meter into the air. Strokkur geyser It's autumn, and the fall colors are beginning to show--mostly on shrubs. Thingvallavatn (Thingvalla lake) Fall colors Iceland has its own breed of horses. Siggi says they ar...
Berlin. First order of business: Replace Paula's phone, buy Berlin Welcome six-day public transit passes, and buy coffee. We walked to Alexander Platz and accomplished all three. We also hit a Saturn store and bought some extra wall adapters (type F to type A). And had some currywurst. The guy at the Deutsches Telekom (T-Mobile) store was very helpful. Paula said the important consideration was that the new phone not be larger than her current phone (which died in Iceland). We looked at a Pixel 9, and said yes. He went back to get one and came back with that and also an 8a, which was cheaper and slightly smaller. So Paula got the 8a, in blue. Our hotel Entrance and kitchen area I like taking pictures of our hotel rooms. It helps me remember the place. Living area View from the balcony Our hotel (Adina) is half a block from Hakescher Markt, which is full of interesting restaurants. There is also an ATM there (more on that later). There are a co...
Monday was zoo day. The problem, of course, was that the S-Bahn stop for the zoo is the station with the broken elevator to the station that we need. So we had to get off at Trodelmarkt and walk to the next stop. Paula checked, and the elevator will be fixed in December (!). So I have some random pictures from the zoo. Isaac and boar Dave and rhino The zoo used metal statues as location markers, so the rhinoceros was on the way to the rhinoceros enclosures, and so on. Paula and real rhino Bear The rhinos led to a discussion of body armor. Grumpy pink fish Statue The aquarium had several tanks of various kinds of jellyfish. Jellyfish Anemones The sloth was exactly as slow-moving as the cartoons would suggest. Tortoises Sloth Paragraph. Or two. Falafel bowl Dinner! I was hungry, so we went to the aquarium cafe. They were closing in ten...
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