Travelog for: Mr. Furrington

Hello Mom,

I'm still tired, because the last night was a little bit too long! We watched the Academy Awards on tv! What an amazing show!


In the afternoon we decided to walk a little bit through the city. We stopped at the East Side Gallery. It is an international memorial for freedom and it is a 1.3 km long section of the Berlin Wall. The Gallery consists of 105 paintings by artists from all over the world.




Next to the East Side Gallery we saw the O2 World, a multi-use indoor arena. With a capacity of 17,000 people, it is home to the Eisbären Berlin ice hockey club and the ALBA Berlin basketball team and is used for other ice hockey, basketball and handball matches as well as concerts!


Mommy, did you watch the film "Run Lola Run"? Then you will know the bridge on the next picture!
It's a double-deck bridge crossing Berlin's River Spree called Oberbaum Bridge (German: Oberbaumbrücke). It links Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg, former boroughs that were divided by the Berlin Wall and has become an important symbol of Berlin’s unity.
Look! A train of the underground is crossing the bridge!



And once again the River Spree! I've been to this river many times before: when the sun was shining, when it was covered by ice and now while it was raining!



That's all for today!
Good night!

Mr. Furrington

Hey Mum,

today I've been to Bernauer Straße. When Berlin was a divided city, the Berlin Wall erected in 1961 ran along this street. Bernauer Straße became famous for escapes from windows of apartment blocks in the eastern part of the city, down to the street, which was in the West. Several people died here when the border was first enforced.
As the street itself belonged to the French sector of West Berlin the entrances and windows of the houses on the southern side were successively bricked up by the East German border guards and access to the roof was blocked.
After the Wall came down, Bernauer Straße was the location of one of the longer preserved sections. Part of it was turned into a memorial park in 1999 with a recreation of actual border fortifications.

This is an old watch tower and a tiny part of the wall.


I also had a look through a small hole in the wall. Can you see the houses on the other side?


These are some paintings from different periods of the street next to the wall.


This is the Chapel of Reconciliation. It stands on the site of the old Church of Reconciliation (Versöhnungskirche), which was destroyed in 1985 in order ‘to increase the security, order and cleanliness on the state border with West Berlin’ according to the official justification by the GDR (German Democratic Republic) government.


Here you can see the park with some old original parts of the wall.



Meeeow,
Mr. Furrington

Hello Mum,

today was a really long day!

We started at 5 a.m. and took a picture with some Buddy Bears. They look like the Quadriga on the top of the Brandenburg Gate!


Later the day we went to the airport. First we thought we are going to fly to a nice place, but we just picked somebody up.
Look at the big plane!


And then we did a sightseeing tour by night! First we went to the Sony Center. It is a Sony-sponsored building complex located at the Potsdamer Platz. There you can find shops, restaurants, a conference centre, hotel rooms, luxurious rented suites and condominiums, offices, art and film museums, cinemas, an IMAX theater, a small version of Legoland, and a "Sony Style" store.
I've been here in February, do you remember?



This is the giraffe of Legoland. Huge!


We also stopped at the Brandenburg Gate.
I've also been here about 2 months ago.


We met a statue of an Ampelmännchen! Ampelmännchen is the symbolic person shown on traffic lights at pedestrian crossings in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR - East Germany). Prior to the German reunification in 1990, the two German states had different forms for the Ampelmännchen, with a generic human figure in West Germany, and a generally male figure wearing a hat in the east.
The Ampelmännchen is a beloved symbol in Eastern Germany, "enjoying the privileged status of being one of the few features of communist East Germany to have survived the end of the Iron Curtain with his popularity unscathed." After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Ampelmännchen acquired cult status and became a popular souvenir item in the tourism business.


It's after midnight, I think I have to go to bed!

Love,
Mr. Furrington

Hey Mommy,

today I've been to the famous wax museum Madame Tussauds!
There were so many sculptures and they all looked so real!

First I met Winston Churchill. I told him that I've been to England before I came to Berlin. He was really impressed and called me a good kitty!


Then I met The Beatles. Yeah, I really did! And I was allowed to play a song on the guitar! It sounded horrible!


In the evening we went to the cinema and watched the movie \"This Means War\". Really funny! You should watch it, Mom!


Yours,
Mr. Furrington

Hello Mom,

today I visited the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm. The central Wörlitzer Park lies adjacent to the small town of Wörlitz at an anabranch of the Elbe river. It was laid out between 1769 and 1773 as one of the first English gardens on the continent. According to the ideals of Duke Leopold III the park would also serve as an educational institution in architecture, gardening and agriculture, therefore large parts were open to the public from the beginning. Most buildings were designed by Erdmannsdorff, while the gardens were laid out by Johann Friedrich Eyserbeck. The gardens are protected from floods of the Elbe river in the north by a dam which is also a belt-walk offering numerous views along the park's sight lines.
Wörlitz Palace finished in 1773, residence of Duke Leopold and his wife Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt, was the first Neoclassical building in present-day Germany. The palace and its interior with valuable cabinets from the studio of Abraham and David Roentgen as well as a large collection of Wedgwood porcelain were publicly accessible. Louise had her private home in the adjacent Graues Haus (Grey House). At the eastern rim of the palace's garden stands the Wörlitz Synagogue built in 1790 as a rotunda modelled after the ancient "Temple of Vesta in Tivoli, Italy. The Neo-Gothic St Peter's Church in the west with its 66 m (217 ft) tall steeple was finished in 1809.
The philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the aesthetic of Johann Joachim Winckelmann underlie the design of the park. Wörlitz Lake featured an island atop which was a model of Mount Vesuvius. The duke would stage fireworks that seemed to issue from an erupting volcano to entertain his guests. At the foot of the mountain on the island was a building intended to suggest William Hamilton's home at Pompeii.
Few years ago my host worked as a tour guide in the castle and the park. 

This is the Wörlitz Palace.


Here you can see St Peter's Church.


This is the rock island with the volcano Vesuvius and Villa Hamilton on it.



On our way to the island we saw this amazing gate. Can you see us?


Behind us you can see the Pantheon. Not many visitors see it, because it is at the end of the park. Most people take the short way by ferry.


The river Elbe is about 6km away from here, but look, behind the dike is still some water from the flood left!


This lake is called "Tiny Walloch". On the other side you can see the White Bridge.


Once again the Palace. Can you see it?


Look at the temple of Venus. We were allowed to pose for a picture in front of her.


Under the "Cliff of Luise" are many underground tunnels. Spooky! We walked through all of them!




This is the Chain Bridge, from bottom and top. It was funny to run over it.



Under the Chain Bridge we found a nice place to rest. Behind us you can see the High Bridge.



This building is the flora temple and in front the flora garden. But there are no flowers at the moment. It is still too cold.


And once again the White Bridge. Isn't it beautiful?


Look, some flowers are already awake!!!


This is the Gothic house. It looks different from both sides!



We climbed on a tree to fulfill one of Pieksis Life Missions! Normally there are many peacocks sitting on the tree!


The house in the background is the palm house. In winter all palms are "sleeping" there, because the winter is too cold for them!


At the end of the park there was a tunnel, again. There was also a labyrinth made of stones and bushes. With some unknown statues in it.



Can you see us?




This is the map of the whole park. It is so big! My tiny feet hurts! But it was a wonderful day!


Love you,
Mr. Furrington

Hello Mummy,

another day with wonderful weather. We had a walk through the city. First we went to the place where the "West Port Canal" runs into the river Spree.



This is the Spree.


After crossing a bridge we went to the garden of the Charlottenburg Palace. It is the largest palace in Berlin and the only royal residency in the city dating back to the time of the Hohenzollern family. The palace was built at the end of the 17th century and was greatly expanded during the 18th century. It includes much exotic internal decoration in baroque and rococo styles. A large formal garden surrounded by woodland was added behind the palace, including a belvedere, a mausoleum, a theatre and a pavilion. During the Second World War, the palace was badly damaged but has since been reconstructed. The palace with its gardens are a major tourist attraction.
First we had a look to the map.


This is the tea house "belvedere".


The gardens of Charlottenburg Palace.


The carp pond.


The Mausoleum was built as a tomb for Queen Luise between 1810 and 1812.


The woodland.


Charlottenburg Palace in the background and the Orangerie in the foreground.


We left the Charlottenburg Palace and went to the Großer Tiergarten which is simply known as Tiergarten.
It is an urban public park of Germany located in the middle of Berlin, completely in the homonymous locality. The park is of 210 hectares (520 acres); and among urban gardens of Germany, only the Englischer Garten of Munich (417 ha/1,030 acres) is larger!
We walked through the whole garden, from east to west!

This is the memorial of Goethe, a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath.


This is the memorial of the composers Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn.


In the Tiergarten you can find many trees, ponds and small lakes.





Then I arrived at the Victory Column. It is a major tourist attraction to the city of Berlin. Berliners, with their fondness for giving nicknames to buildings, call the statue Goldelse, meaning something like "Golden Lizzy".



Next to Lizzy I saw the Bismarck Monument. It's really big!


At the end of the walk I saw one of the watergates of the Landwehrcanal. But this time there was no ship.


I think I walked a little bit too much! I'm so tired!

Yours,
Mr. Furrington

Hello Mom,

today I've been on a journey around the world!!!

First I went to Baltimore, USA. It looks really nice.


Then I went to Canada. I really enjoyed it!



As a souvenir for you I got 2 pins. I'll take them with me until I'm back home.



(Btw, I just went to the world's largest tourism trade fair - ITB.) 


Yours, Mr. Furrington

Nothing to do, so we did a ride by car to Dessau and back.
The weather was really bad!

This late evening we got an envelope.
We opened it and a tiny giraffe came out. It's Kirin.



We gave her a warm welcome hug.


She gave us a card, some sweets and a little present.


Pieksi was allowed to open it. It was a rooster magnet.



Mr. Furrington

Hello Mum,

today Crawfish told us to go to the park. So we did. When she arrived she had a new tv with her. The little lady is called DuDette.


We just did some group pictures today.
First a "boy"-pic with Pieksi and Woozy.


Later we all climbed on a tree. Behind us you can see the new "Total"-tower.


When we were back "home" the girls started to talk and talk and talk, you know that stuff girls do. We boys prefered to take a nap.


See you soon,
Mr. Furrington

Hey Mummy,

I'm in the middle of the city and there's so much nature around!




Also near the central station! Last time I've been here it was really cold!



There's Potsdam Square (somewhere behind me you can see Sony-Center), where I visited the Berlinale festival!


And once again river Spree with a nice bridge.


I've been to the House of the Cultures of the World and I found a funny sign. It is written in German and Turkish! In some areas in Berlin you have stores where everything is written in Turkish, can you believe this??? Btw the sign means: "Don't climb on the roof! Danger to life!"



Across from this building you can see the "Federal Chancellery". The inhabitants of Berlin call it "Waschmaschine" (washing machine).



Have a look, the Reichstag looks the same as it does the last time I've been here!


My last stop was the Mauerpark. The name translates to "Wall Park", referring to its status as a former part of the Berlin Wall and its Death Strip. Today the park is one of the most popular places for young residents of Berlin, especially from the fashionable district of Prenzlauer Berg, and attracts basketball players, jugglers, musicians, and many other types of people. It is a crowded leisure ground and a site of sustainable improvised nightlife, especially in the summer, and has also become notorious for Walpurgis Night riots in recent years. There are two stadiums next to the park.


Meeeeooow
Mr. Furrington

Hi Mom,

today we walked a little bit through the districts Wilmersdorf and Schöneberg.
First we saw a playground. We all wanted to play, but we were too young. Hmm...


This is a park which crosses both districts. There are many people, kids, dogs etc. esp when the sun is shining and it is warm outside.


Can you see the golden deer in the left upper corner? It is part of the deer fountain.


That's all for today.

Love you *meow*
Mr. Furrington

Hello Mommy,

today we went to one of the flea markets in Berlin. It was really strange to see what people are selling and buying!



Then I went to the Gendarmenmarkt. It is a square in Berlin with 2 cathedrals and the Konzerthaus between them. During World War II, most of the buildings were badly damaged or destroyed. Today all the buildings are restored to their former state.
On my picture you can see the French Cathedral. It is the older of the two cathedrals and was built by the Huguenot community between 1701 and 1705. The cathedral was modeled after the destroyed Huguenot church in Charenton-Saint-Maurice, France.


And I finally got a better picture of the famous tv tower!


Love you,
Mr. Furrington

Today it's the 1st birthday of Crawfish! We all cuddled her and shared some candies. There won't be a big party yet, but weekend is coming!



Later Alex decided to take some professional pictures of us. He didn't show us the results yet. Crazy cat! I hope I'm going to have a good picture!



Mr. Furrington

Today it was Crawfish's birthday party as we couldn't celebrate it before.

But first Alex finally showed us the pictures he has taken!
That's me!


We also took some group pictures.


We built a pyramid, but as you can see we are no artists!



Then we started with the party. First Crawfish got our birthday card which we all signed.



We gave her our present.


It was a passport with all her informations inside.



Then we organized some drinks. Delicious... aIiii Wuaaaandt soooam moooooure! Hiiiks.




Mr. Furrr-hiiiks-ring-hiiiks-ton-hiiiks