High on the list of places we were keen to visit was the Stasi Museum, once the headquarters of the infamous Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the Stasi. It is now a research and memorial centre concerning the political system of the former East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
Continue reading “Berlin 23: Stasi Museum”
After a few days in Berlin with no cycling, I was feeling the need to get on a bike and explore. So on our third proper day in the city, I headed out with our eldest to find some Nextbikes and go for a ride.
Continue reading “Berlin 23: Riding around Mitte and Tiergarten”
Following our trip to the top of the TV Tower, we decided it’d be good to spend the afternoon visiting one of the many flea markets in Berlin. Having looked at the different markets running on Sunday, we thought the ones in Mauerpark looked interesting, especially the location and opportunity to see some remnants of the Berlin Wall.
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As with the Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag and the wall, Berlin’s TV Tower (Berliner Fernsehturm in German) is definitely one of the city’s most iconic landmarks. If you’re in and around the central Mitte area, it’s pretty hard to avoid. Indeed, we had a running joke during our visit that it was following us.
Continue reading “Berlin 23: Top of Berliner Fernsehturm, Berlin’s TV Tower”
In the summer of 2023, after our week in Helsinki, we arrived in Berlin for the second leg of our trip. Having done a fantastic job of selling Berlin to the rest of the family after my trip to the city in 2024, they were all really keen on going there. I fancied Copenhagen myself, but we’ll save that for another year!
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While for most of our Helsinki trip, I was getting about using City Bike bike share, I did get opportunity to sample most of the city’s other modes of transport while we were there.
Continue reading “Helsinki 23: Public Transport in Helsinki”
Once we arranged our trip to Helsinki, being as my partner is a librarian, a visit to Helsinki’s fantastic Central Library, Oodi was high on the itinerary. Opened in 2018 and located in Kluuvi district near Helsinki Central Station, Oodi has become a landmark building in the city.
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During our 2023 trip to Helsinki, we were lucky enough to get a guided tour of the fantastic Alvar Aalto designed National Pensions Institute. Guided tours happen every Monday at 2pm. These are free, but you do have to book in advance. Our friends had planned ahead and booked us on the tour during our visit, which I was very pleased about.
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During our visit to Helsinki in 2023, like many tourists, we arranged to do a boat trip over to Suomenlinna (named Viapori in Finnish up until 1918, or Sveaborg in Swedish), the sea fortress off the coast of Helsinki.
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While in Helsinki during our 2023 visit, I was keen to try some of the best examples of cycling infrastructure in the city, making use of the City Bikes bike share to get about. One such example is Baana, an old railway cutting that was once part of the harbour railway, since converted into a 1.3 km walking and cycling path, back in 2012.
Continue reading “Helsinki 23: Riding Baana, the start of a 150 km planned cycle network”
Dom Cycling 