Regardlessof your politics and despite the fact that thousands of other innocents die all around the world without recognition, 9/11 still represents a horrific event where nearly 3,000 people lost their lives and thousands more lost their loved ones. I knew I'd find it emotional to visit the site but I had no idea just how deeply it would tug at my heart. It's not that visiting the site was necessarily high on my to do list. But I did want to pay my respects at some stage and yesterday was the day.

The two fountains in the footprints of the towers are perfect. I can't think of a more fitting or appropriate memorial. The cascading water drops off into a void;  you can't see where it ends.

But the gut wrenchers are the names of the victims inscribed around the fountains. I slowly made my way around, pausing to take note of the names near by me. And each time tears erupted so suddenly and violently that it was impossible to hide them. Every now and then I just needed to find a quiet corner to recompose myself.

And in between those moments I paused to photograph; but it was an uneasy feeling. Trying to capture the spirit of the moment without reducing it to an attraction on a sightseeing tour. I tried to make sure I captured names in most of my pictures so that the memorial and the remembered would not be separated.

But it did bother me a little just how many people were crowding around for group photos in front of the fountains. Another tick on their "NYC must see" list? I know I shouldn't judge.

I awoke early. I tried my best to stay in bed as long as possible but by 6:30 I had to get up. I was excited to get out and about and it was nice to feel that again; I'd lost it a bit over the last couple of days.

A quick peek around the curtain revealed a clear sunny day. I double checked the weather report and it looked as if I'd have good weather for most of the day.

When I looked out my hotel window on arrival yesterday the streetscape looked orderly and ordinary. That's a bit how I'd expected DC to be. A quick look down one of the cross streets reinforced this view.

I headed towards The Mall where many of the monuments and museums are. Before long I noticed the sun on the buildings. I hurriedly finished the coffee and pumpkin bread I'd grabbed on the way so I had both hands free to take advantage of the great light.

And it wasn't long before I started to notice a grandeur in the architecture that I hadn't expected; columns and neo-classical architecture everywhere.

As well as the neo-classical I could see, what felt like, a definite European influence.

Most of the monumental buildings appear to be made from sandstone or similar, so the vivid red brick of this building really grabbed my attention.

Soon followed by this amazing detail on the Hotel Washington.

Within 15 minutes I was at the northern entrance to the White House. That was the less familiar side but it was THE place for people taking pictures and organised groups of school children; probably because of the wide avenue. I later made it to the other, more quiet side where I took this shot.

Along from the White House I'd strolled into another area which didn't appear to be restricted. I was in the midst of taking this shot when security men on bikes made it very clear that we needed to move on; and I wasn't going to argue with them!

As I strolled towards The Mall, it was beautiful to walk through the neat rows of trees.

Commanding the most attention is the Washington Memorial. When you see photos you don't really get the scale of this monolith. It's only when you see the tiny people dotted around the base that you realise.

It's impressive, and the centrepiece for The Mall.

By now I was starting to get a little déjà vu. I'll explain more later. A quick turn around revealed another majestic building.

Right by the Washington Memorial is the World War II Memorial. It was beautiful but it didn't really move me. That would come later.

One monument I definitely wanted to visit was the Lincoln Memorial, so I headed that way along the reflection pool; the pool lives up to its name.

The use of the word "temple" in the inscription resonated with me because, so far, that's how many of these grand monuments and buildings had felt. Temples in the Greek or Roman traditions.

I paused to look back at the pool.

Beyond the Lincoln Memorial I came across this sight and that's when the déjà vu made sense. Paris! These grand boulevards, the monuments, the pool, these golden statues at the end of the bridge; they all reminded me of Paris.

When I got back to the hotel I did some research and it appears that a Frenchman did design Washington and that it does have some deliberate similarities.

Anyway, I love a good bridge so I eventually made my way to a vantage point to take some pictures. 

After that I wandered for a little, grabbed some lunch, doubled back and looked around. That brought me to the Korean War Memorial.

Now, this one moved me! It's an incredible piece of sculpture and placement. This picture only shows part of it, but I found the sight of these soldiers making their way through the garden "field" quite harrowing.

Beside it was another small water feature and this inscription. It made me stop and think. I felt really disturbed; I don't know that I can bring myself to agree.

After those moments of deep thought, this chap popped up out of a bin to lighten the mood.

I made my way along The Mall. Along each side are the various Smithsonian museums, most of which are further examples of classical architecture. But there were a couple of modern ones too.

When I made it to the Air and Space Museum I went inside, only intending to get information on how to get to the other part of the museum further out from Washington that I really wanted to see and planned to visit tomorrow. In fact, that part of the museum was the original reason for my visit to Washington. Well, needless to say, 10 seconds after walking in I was hooked and couldn't drag myself away. I saw lots of real gear such as space capsules, satellites, rockets, planes and ballistic missiles. This picture is just one small part. As you can see it's jam packed.

With my "big kid" moment now satisfied and my feet feeling increasingly sore I decided to start making my way back to the hotel; past more grand buildings and more grand monuments.

Out the front of one of those grand buildings this light pole amused me. Not only did it ruin the aesthetic of the building behind it but, with all those different signs, how on earth are you meant to work out what you're allowed to do anyway?

Shortly before reaching my hotel I noticed these pigeons sitting on the head of the poor eagle. How indignant he looked.

So today has really surprised me. I guess I wasn't expecting anything on this scale. And what surprised me most was the sense of grandeur, the epic, almost imperial. The centre of Washington is more than a city; it's a deliberate statement. And it reminded me of another city besides Paris. As we drove in last night past some massive buildings set apart and lit up, it occurred to me how it may have felt to enter Rome in its day. Today reinforced that association.

Now to rest my aching feet. It's been a fantastic day! And I made it back just before the rain started. 

The weather today has been superb; clear blue skies and warm. I awoke early after a broken sleep feeling the steam roller effects of jet lag. All the same, it was too nice to stay in bed so I got myself organised and fed and out the door. The plan was to walk to the Thames and visit a couple of places on my "to see" list.

Down the stairs first.

Marchmont Street is near the apartment. The buildings caught my attention. 

The roads to the Thames were still familiar from my trip last year and before long I was there. I've walked under Blackfriars Bridge before, but today I really noticed the geometry.

One destination was the Design Museum. But when I got there they told me that some floors were closed until Wednesday. I decided to come back later in the week. Along the way I paused to take in more buildings.

And it seemed like everywhere I went, The Shard was just hiding around the corner.

Another destination on my list was The Tower of London to see the poppy installation to commemorate the start of WWI. I'd seen some pictures but it was still breathtaking and moving. Each is a ceramic poppy mounted on a metal stake. There will be over 800,000 representing the British soldiers killed in the war. Such a fitting way to remember.

After some lunch the last stop was the Barbican to attend the Digital Revolution exhibition. It contained examples of digital art and entertainment from the very beginnings to some amazing new projects and installations.

From an old legend ... 

To a new rendering of me (taking the photo) ...

To an amazing space where people's movement triggered some fantastic real time graphics.

After all that I was exhausted and took the tube back to the apartment. Had diner in the apartment so I can grab an early night. Tomorrow night is Kate date #1 and I want to be bright eyed and bushy tailed.

Today has been my last full day in Berlin. Tomorrow I catch the train to Krakow via Warsaw. I decided to make a last attempt to get to the information centre for the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. So I headed out early. The weather was better today. Still overcast but dry, so I walked in. On the way I stumbled across another set of monumental buildings.

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I got to the memorial 20 minutes before opening and secured myself a space near the front of the queue. And it was so worth the effort. The centre is brilliant in both design and content. I took the audio guide and meditated on the horror and futility of what happened. These pictures are from inside. One of the design elements in the information centre is the continuation of the blocks above into the ceiling and other spaces below.

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I spent a long time wandering though the centre, taking it all in.

Afterwards I headed towards another site I had read about. One of the churches that was bombed in the war has been kept in that state as a memorial and reminder. What I now realise is that the church is located in what must have been the hub of west Berlin and all this time I have only really seen what was east Berlin. So there were two things to see.

Unfortunately for me, the church is undergoing maintenance and is shrouded by a scaffolding and covering, all you can see is a little of the steeple poking out of the top. But as soon as I looked around I saw the more conventional western city that was missing from the Berlin I had seen so far. This was the missing piece of the puzzle. It all made sense now. Mind you, I wouldn't say I prefer one over the over. The two sides of Berlin are quite different but both beautiful in their own way.

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An added bonus of visiting this side of Berlin was making it to the Berlin museum which chronicles the history of Berlin. It was another well presented museum, but I think I might be getting museum-ed out. However, the added attraction of this one was that you were taken on a tour of a real nuclear fall out shelter constructed in the early 70s. It was eerie, and if you think about what might have happened, it was quite horrific. The shelter was built to accommodate 3,600 people which is mind blowing in itself, but you have to question whether people really could have survived in these conditions.

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It rained for quite a while last night. When I got up, all I could see of the TV tower was the mast above the observation dome due to the low cloud. By 9:00 it had started to rain again. Today was a bit of a "mop up" day. I've done all the big ticket items off my to-do list so it was a matter of deciding which of the "lesser" things I felt like. Also, I had been leaving some of the indoor activities until later in case of wet weather, so here was my opportunity.

Walking all the way into the city wasn't going to be an option today so I took the now familiar route to my nearest u-bahn (underground) station. The U2 takes me all the way to Potsdamer Platz which is where I decided to start.

When I visited the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe I only saw the memorial itself and not the information centre below it. There had been a small line up so I decided to come back. Might have been a bad move as when I returned to try today the queue was 6 times longer and not moving. A couple from NZ arrived in the line behind me so I struck up a conversation. I must say it was therapeutic to have a prolonged, comfortable English conversation. When it was clear the line wasn't going anywhere in a hurry I decided to bail and move on to my next stop instead.

My next stop was the Deutsche Kinematik, a museum of German film located in the Sony Centre in Potsdamer Platz. The first part of the museum was an introductory space that masterfully used mirrors to create infinite reflections in just about every direction! It was pretty amazing. Unfortunately my snaps don't do it justice, and just after the second shot I was politely told that photography was not allowed ... oops.

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The museum was really interesting and chronicled the German film industry from when it was quite ground breaking to the present time. I spent about an hour and a half wandering through. One of my favourite parts was information about Metropolis, which I saw at the Adelaide film festival a few years back. Fritz Lang employed 3,600 extras through the course of filming!

After that museum I wanted to head to the Deutsches Historiches Museum which is a German history museum. On the way I checked the queue back at the memorial and it was just as long if not longer. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

I also wanted to drop into one of the shops that exclusively sell merchandise modeled on Berlin's version of the "walk" sign - Ampelmännchen. He's not the almost androgynous version we have in Australia. He has a very distinct appearance and swagger. Apparently he was an East German invention and has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity. There's a good Wikipedia article if you're interested. Unfortunately the stores didn't sell anything I really wanted so I left empty handed.

The German history museum was to the east of the city near the other museums. I got there about 1:45 thinking I'd spend a couple of hours. It was really well laid out taking you right from the beginning to present time. I know quite a lot about 20th century Germany so I was most interested in learning about the beginnings from the time of the Roman Empire and later how Germany finally formed. When I finished, I checked my phone thinking it would be about 3:00. It was 5:15! How time flies.

From there it was just back to the apartment. So, not many photos today. I'm not big for taking photos in museums and art galleries and there wasn't anything else today that I haven't already shared ... other than the rain. I'd thought about going out to check some of the other Festival of Light installations tonight but it's still too wet. Tomorrow's forecast is for dryer conditions so I might try then.

The only thing I don't like about cold weather is that it makes my eyes water. So for the first part of the day I constantly appeared as if I was crying as I walked towards the city centre. When I got there I visited two monuments and this time I was crying for real. Quite an emotional morning. But I'll back track and start from the beginning. Today's plan was to head toward Potsdamer Platz and then later in the day visit the Reichstag. I walked a different way and it was nice to take in the shops along the way. All the time I was walking I was drying my eyes from the cold air which became quite annoying.

One place that Em may have been interested in was this museum of surreal industrial objects. Unfortunately it was closed at the time.

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Nearby was some more street art. One of my purchases has been a book of Berlin street art as that's something that has really resonated with me.

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I hadn't planned to visit today but I found myself at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. I've read about it and seen pictures but neither had prepared me. On approach it just appears like a sea of stone blocks.

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What you don't realize is that once you start walking into it, the ground "sinks" and before you know you disappear beneath the tops of the blocks. You get a feeling of being overwhelmed and of drowning in this sea of humanity. I don't know if that was the intention but that was how I felt.

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It was an extremely emotional experience to wander and meditate on the tragedy. I think it is a fitting memorial.

Nearby is a Memorial to the Homosexuals Persecuted Under the Nazi Regime. While not as striking in appearance this memorial and the stories behind it also moved me, for obvious reasons, and I have to admit it pushed me over the edge.

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I needed some time to pull myself together before I wanted to be seen in public again.

After a little break I made my way to Potsdamer Platz. It's incredible to think that this area was more or less a wasteland divided by the wall just over 20 years ago. The Sony centre is amazing.

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From there I decided to go walking in the outskirts of the city again. This time to the south west. On my way I stumbled across the Bauhaus Museum so I went in and had a look. There was an incredible porcelain exhibition, but we weren't allowed to take photos.

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I needed to be back to the Reichstag by 3:00 for my booking to go up to the dome. Security was very tight but it was well worth the effort. A truly magnificent piece of architecture to top off such a historic building.

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I caught the underground U2 back to the station nearest mine. I'm starting to get the hang of the lines and stations.

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After being overcast and threatening all day blue sky finally poked through for the first time since I've been here.

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I had some dinner to re-group before the opening of the festival of lights (coming in part 2).

Today is the approximate half way point in my adventure. On one hand it feels like I've reached half way in no time at all. On the other hand I have done so much that it feels like far longer than two weeks since I left home. This morning I woke up feeling good. I got up reasonably early and booked tickets for some of the sights I want to see. Late morning I headed to the Berlin Wall memorial which was only about 15 minute walk away. On the way I paused to take more pictures of the church at the end of my street.

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When I got to the wall I found it very emotional. The whole area has been set up exceptionally well with lots of information that moved me more than I had expected. What tipped me over the edge were the stories of families separated by the wall. All they could do was arrange to meet on opposite sides and wave to each other. All that heartache to what end?

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I spent quite some time there reading the stories. From there I had decided to go to the central station (Hauptbahnhof) because I needed to reserve my seat for Warsaw to Krakow and I thought that might be the easiest place to do it. I decided to give the Berlin underground a try out to get there.

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I managed to head in the right direction and soon made it to the central station. This is where I arrived on Saturday and will leave next Saturday. It's massive and very new and shiny. My kind of place.

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I got my reservation sorted and decided to head into the centre of the city. I hadn't planned to do that until later in the week but when you're on holidays plans are only suggestions. I took the underground to the Brandenburg Gate. An iconic location. When I arrived it was fenced off but later in the day when I returned it was all open. I savored my walk through it.

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Next to the gate is the Reichstag, the parliament house. I have a ticket to go inside later in the week so today I just walked by.

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Next to the Reichstag is the equally impressive and modern Bundestag.

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Both these landmarks are on the edge of a massive park in the centre of Berlin. As I started walking I noticed the onset of autumn.

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I walked a while to reach the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, a modern gallery on the edge of the park with an amazing roof.

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Nearby there was a bell tower that rang out the time. I'm not sure of the name, if it had one.

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In the distance I could see another memorial so I decided to walk through the park to reach it, not quite realizing how far it was. But it was a beautiful walk.

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I reached the memorial. Because of the cloud cover my pictures are dark so you can't see it all that well.

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I could see detail on the side and I assumed that would be the end of it.

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Only then did I realise you could climb to the top. Lots of steps later (Em, I didn't count them) I was greeted by this view.

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Spectacular! And then there was the climb down and the walk back to the centre of Berlin. I caught the train the last bit home. I have a strong feeling my legs will let me know how much they hate me tomorrow.