Berlin 1 of 6

Sadly, Joy has caught a virus and is unable to leave the ship to visit Berlin and several other ports in the next few days.

Our ship arrived at the port of Warnemunde which is about a two and a half hour bus trip into Berlin through what was the old East Germany.  The locals used to say that there was a Russian behind every tree watching them. I did not realise that there were a number of beautiful canals in Berlin – an idea that the Prussians borrowed from Amsterdam. 

We first visited the Charlottenburg Palace which was the palace of the Prussian Royal family. The Prussian kings (or Kaisers) all had the name Wilhelm or Frederik or Wilhelm-Frederik (or the other way around).  Eventually the German states were united under the Prussian royal family. One year that locals learn in their history lessons is 1888 – the year of three Kaisers. The old Kaiser died in that year then his son became Kaiser and this man was a great friend of England and had married Queen Victoria's daughter. However, he was a heavy smoker and died of lung cancer in that year and his son became Kaiser – Wilhelm the second – not a great friend of England. If his father had not been a heavy smoker then I wonder how this might have affected the first world war?