Ron and Shona 'At Large': Berlin + time with the family

So we left Paris on the 9^th July for a two day / 1100 km drive to Berlin - driving through Belgium and spending a night in Cologne.

On the way out of Paris we drove around what would have to be one of the world’s craziest roundabouts – the Arc de Triomphe - where there are 12 streets feeding onto it / no stop go lights / about 50m width of roadway without any lanes and lots of horn tooting

I also wanted to see how fast a 1600cc diesel car could go on the no speed limited German Autobahn = 203 km/hr ( but only on a downhill – otherwise only about 180 on the flat )

We visited the Bergen-Belsen WW2 Concentration Camp ( between Hanover + Hamburg – which is where Anne + Margot Frank were sent + later died ) – another tragic site leftover from the war, but an important memorial + reminder of events that should never of happened.

Our 10 days in Berlin were spent with Michael, Cornelia + Serjoscha - they live in a wonderful 1920’s Apartment building that overlooks the entry to the former Templehof Airport – and Cornelia’s extended ( Schmidt-Bleek ) family.

We had the use of some bikes and spent a few days biking around the centre of Berlin, shopping and exploring the many parks + river tracks.

We all then joined up with Lorenz’ family on a 5 day trip to Hamburg – staying with Katerina’s mum in the Village of Ahmule ( about half an hour from Hamburg )

To finish up with we celebrated Bio’s 79^th birthday with a Schmidt-Bleek BBQ at Fritz’ apartment.