"After Dark #1"

This site is dedicated to showing some of our "off hours" excursions during the first test run at BESSY.

While we spend most of our time at the test facility (honest !!), the time I find away from it I like to fill by 1) eating, 2) sight seeing, and 3) sleeping .... in that order ... and so do a few others. Much of our time is spent covering one of three shifts of around the clock testing, so eating and sightseeing are very often done solo.


Hotel. We typically stay at the Steglitz International hotel in Berlin.  Click "here" to go to it's internet site. 


Dining.

When alone, or for lunch, I prefer the side walk snack bars (the term in German is Imbiss) which serve a variety of sausage type foods, french fries and drinks. When we can get more people out together, such as before or after the 24 hour test runs, we usually like to sample a variety of restaurants.


Sights. While there are many sights to see in and around Berlin, the following are just a few that I was able to photograph (what does that mean?).

Warnemuende, Germany. A coastal city on the East Sea near Rostock, Germany. The waterfront offers many small gift shops and restaurants, open markets, boating/fishing expeditions, and ferry service to neighboring sea towns and countries. The trip from Berlin was about 2 1/2 hours, but worth it for the Autobahn experience (I pushed the VW Passat to 180 km/h but had to pull over for faster traffic such as the 911 screaming up behind me).

Rheinsburg and Rheinsburger Schloss. Located in the former East Germany, Rheinsburg is less than 2 hours drive north from Berlin. We toured the Rheinsburger Schloss (aka. Castle) and then ate lunch at the Rheinsburger Schloss Cafe. On the Road. While on our way from Rheinsburg to Templin, our navigational expert (s) warned the pilot (me) that we might want to pull over and ask directions .... no ... no ... no, I know where we're going. I spotted a sign with kilometers to a village along our destination path and decided to follow. Well .... first the road got a bit narrower... down to one lane ... then the pavement ended ... should we turn around?

Templin. A little farther north and east of Rheinsburg, we passed through the town of Templin. The town had the cobblestone streets we've come to expect in the small villages outside Berlin. The apparently old section of town was surrounded by a wall. It was a bit late in the day for further exploration ... but, perhaps next time.

The Wall. Most of the wall dividing the former East and West Berlin has been removed. Checkpoint Charlie no longer exists as it once did. In 1990, artists painted 10 meter sections of the wall along Stalauer Allee.  This several hundred meter long wall has become known as the "East Side Gallery".

This page last updated April 07, 2000