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So we re-filled the bird feeder this morning and about 2 hours later after a constant stream of birds it's almost empty again. To be fair most of the birds were very patient waiting on the fence or in the tree until it was there turn, that is except for the pair of nuthaches that basically just hustled and bolstered their way straight to the fron of the queue. Made for some nice pictures though so I guess I don't mind too much!

Half term has arrived at last after another busy start to the year. We've headed north for the break and are staying near Windermere in the Lake District. The weather today was a bit changeable with some rain and drizzle through the morning and some patchy sun later in the afternoon, we were however treated to a rainbow across the lake which was nice!

We had a wander around Bowness on Windemere and then a potter about Windemere town. Saw a few nice bits in the shops and enjoyed the views across the lake. The autumn colours are looking pretty spectacular and we're hoping to catch a bit more of it on some of our wanders later in the week. Enjoy the photos!

It's October half term and this year we decided to take our parents on holiday again. Mum and I went to Berlin, Germany and Dani and her parents went to Bruges, Belgium.

So having just broken up from school, mum and I set off on the Saturday morning arriving in Berlin just after 11am local time. We were staying at the Melia, in Mitte (central Berlin) which turned out to be a great location. The hotel was really nice and is walking distance to many of the sites. It's also just a couple of hundred metres from Freidrickstrabe station and the nearest underground.

The hotel let us check in early which was great and after dropping our things we walked along the river to the Reichstag building and just a little further on, the Brandenburg gate. Being autumn all the trees had started to turn and the yellow and orange leaves looked quite striking against the historic buildings. From the Brandenburg gate we also took a walk down to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. It consists of large blocks of concrete of differing heights set in rows across a large site in central Berlin. We had a short walk around before heading back to the hotel. Later in the evening I walked back out to look at both the Reichstag and Brandenbuurg gate lit up and to take a few night photos. 

The next day we headed to Schloss Charlottenburg (Charlottenburg Palace) dating from the 17th century. The palace was relatively easy to get to from the hotel, travelling on the S-Bahn from Freidrickstrabe station and then getting a bus from the zoo. Travelling around is a little different to London when you have to swipe in and out with oyster at every station. The system in Berlin seems to run on a honour system with inspectors that may intermittently check you have a valid ticket. We didn't encounter any inspectors but bought the zone A-B day tickets for 7 euros each to keep things simple. We went inside the state rooms which were pretty grand and then explored the outside. I was a little disappointed to see the main tower of the palace clad in scafolding, there seemed to be quite a bit of scaffolding about (perhaps ramping up for the summer?). Aside from the scaffolding, the palace looked amazing set against the autumnal gardens and the sunny blue sky, we had a bit of an explore of the gardens before heading over to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (nicknamed the lipstick and powder lipstick by Berliners due to its distinct appearance). The old church contains a cross made from nails from Coventry cathedral whilst the new church is spectacular inside as the walls are made from of small squares of blue stained glass. Later in the evening we walked down the river from the hotel in the opposite direction to the Reichstag building. We walked through a number of market stalls selling antiques just outside museum island (a number of large museums - again clad in scaffolding) reaching the Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathederal) about 10 minutes later. The cathedral looked quite fantastic from the outside and there was a free viewing point just across the road where you could get a little higher and see a bit more of the Berlin skyline.    

Monday was our last full day so we started by heading over to the Eastside gallery, a large stretch of Berlin wall that still stands and is covered in colourful graffiti art. I think they're in the process of developing the area between the wall and the river as part of a series of developments to raise awareness about the history of the wall itself. We then headed over to Potzdamer platz a large commerical area in central Berlin that became available after the fall of the wall and is now home to ultra modern sky scrapers including the Sony building and Deutsche Bahn headquarters. On the way back we stopped off at the Brandenburg gate to look inside the nearby DZ bank. Designed by Frank Gehry, from the road, it is quite an unassuming building but inside there is ana amazing atrium and silver coated shell containing a main hall. definitely worth a visit!

On our last day we again headed over to Potzdamer platz to look at the nearby GDR watchtower that was used to monitor the border between East and West Berlin. It is quite well hidden, but would appear to be on the route of a number of tours (that turned up whilst we were there). You can apparently go in, but it wasn't open whilst we were visiting unfortunately. We also checked out a nearby spy museum which had some fantastic exhibits including an original German enigma machine. We finished off the day with a trip over to Alexandra platz which is much more of a shopping district. Had a wander through the shops before it was time to head off.

Overall a fantastic trip!