Berlin Summer of 2009

BERLIN

Chris and I went to Berlin in August. I can't say enough about Berlin. We had a fantastic time and fell in love with this city. It's a big city but without the big city hassel. Great sites, wide boulevards, biergarten stops all over. It has so much history from the Cold War and there is much to see. Here are some shots.

Chris having a beer at an out door biergarten.

Chris outside of the Bundestag...The German Parliment Building

A shot of Rob atop the Bunedstag Building.

German Flag on top of the Bundestag

OK, So we had fun there too. We did a city Segway tour. Chris getting started.

Chris and Rob outside an old church.

Chris on his Segway.

The Bundestag. Just an awsome building.

The Bundestag from a different angle.

The Brandenburg Gate. Another awsome site. This was in No Mans Land between East and West Germany during the division of the country. It has been fully restored in the past 20 years. This is a shot from the West German side.

A shot from the East German side looking at the front of the Brandenburg Gate.

This is the statue, The Quadriga, a chariot drawn by four horsaes, at the top of the gate. Napoleon loved this and stole it in 1806. The Germans recovered it in 1814 anr retuened it to the top of the gate.

The Quadriga at night.

Christopher in front of the gate.

The gate lit up at night.

One last shot of this awsome monument.

EAST vs WEST

The Famous Checkpoint Charlie.

Checkpoint Charlie. For 2 euro you can get your picture taken with the guys guarding the gate today.

The sign noting West vs East in 4 languages.....Just in case.

This is one of the last standing portions of The Berlin Wall. It was only a few centimeters thick and was topped with a metal tube.

There are portions of the wall all over town now used as decorations. Here is one.

Another 3 sections of the wall.

The standing wall. It is so cool to see how it looked 35 years ago.....From the East looking to the buildings in the West.....15 meters away. So close.....Yet so far away.

This is the Charlottenburg Palace. It was built between 1695 and 1699 and this picthre doesnt show its size. Its huge.


Some Random Sites Around Berlin

A library in Berlin.

The Victory Collums in Berlin. The Winged Victory Statue sits on top.

Prince Albert of Prussia. Outside the Charlottenburg Palace.

Another Statue in Berlin.

Another Statue.

The Opera Building.

This is a relatively new memorial dedicated to the millions of Jews who died in Germany.

Another view of the Jewish Memorial.

Berlin. A top 5 city.

Andrew in Paris

We took Andrew to Paris for a weekend in the Spring. Here are some shots.

At the Eiffel Tower

Another Tower Shot.

SEGWAY

We did a Night Time Segway tour of Paris for 4 hours. What a blast.

Andrew on His Segway.

Learning to turn.

Look, No Hands.

Midnight at the Tower.

Croatia Trip in July 2009

We spent a week in Split, Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. The views from our resort were spectacular.

This was the view from our hotel balcony.

Another view from the hotel room.

Looking the other direction.

On a walk down the beach towards town.

A nice day for a sail.

This is Christopher walking through Old Town.

Joan and Andrew down by the water.

The boys in Croatia.

Rob and Joan by the water in town.

Sunset from the balcony.

A statue outside the Old Castle in town.

The Tower at the Old Castle in town

More from the Castle.

Every town has a church.

Another tower at the Old Castle in Split.

Paris Art

We spent some time at Musee D'Orsay in Paris last January. There is some unbelievable art in that old train station. Below are some of my favorites.

Enjoy.

Paris For New Years 2008

New Years Eve in Paris 2008

A few shots from our New Years trip to paris with friends.


This was the scene around the Place de la Concorde. A great view of the Eiffel Tower at midnight. It was a bit of chaos but fun.

The Christmas tree outside of Notre Dame.

We had dinner with friends at oner of our "favourite" restaurants in Paris. It's on the Isle St/ Louis and its called Seargants. Its a total tourist trap but fun. THis is a picture of the 5 kids at dinner.

This is a shot of DJ, Andrew and Chris.

This is a shot of Abby and Sylvie.

This is a shot of Nanette and Joan.

Rob under the Eiffel Tower.

A great shot of Momartre

We went to the Catacombs in Paris. There are the bones of thousands, tens of thousands of dead buried under the streets of Paris. Very bizzare place.

More catacombs