Gryphon Travel

We stumbled across a system of twisting and turning pink pipes that made no hydraulic sense to my civil engineering brain. They don’t drain, they are way up in the air, the head loss must be atrocious, what is happening here? I looked it up and found that it is a pump system for dewatering…

The Memorial to Politicians who Opposed Hitler was our first stop today. There were 96 congress members who opposed Hitler when he was first brought to power in Germany.  Note, Hitler came to power with only 33% of the popular vote, a case in favor of rank choice voting if I have ever heard one.…

On our way to dinner tonight we also found The Kaiser-Wilhelm church. Built in 1890-ish and destroyed during WW2. The ruined tower was left as a memorial and reminder of the cost of war.

We walked all over Mitte Berlin today. So many things to see. I found a yarn store and bought some lovely soft fingering weight in mustards. We were concentrated near Museum Island and the Spree River. Good food and shopping here. We used public transportation, both the underground and the light rail. Most of the…

The thing about Berlin foods is that they really aren’t German. That’s one of the things that makes it a great foodie destination, many different foods from all around the world. When you ask locals what’s good around here the first response is almost always a kebab place. The basic influence here is a huge…

Another selection of meats and cheeses for breakfast this morning. I slept well last night, is it possible I have managed to adjust to my current time zone? There is a lovely little garden outside our window and the breeze through the trees sounds nice. Between that and the birds you could almost forget you…

Here is our first portion of the trip where translation is more of a challenge. We got to our Airbnb and I had to point and mime that I needed the key from the local business. Luckily they were expecting me, otherwise I would likely be in a German prison right now. The kabob place…

We made our way from Amsterdam to Berlin today. We got off the train at the station and almost instantly the wind picked up, it began to pour down rain, and lightning lit up the sky. We had been considering taking a bus or walking to our place… but we decided to opt for an…