Arriving back in the Netherlands we resolved to go to the last few major cities we had not yet been to. This had the added bonus of going to our first major Roman site since we left the Danube which was very exciting. After waking up in a beautiful lay-by we spent a little while exploring the local area and went over to this bunker. Created under the Nazi occupation it was moved here in 2017 which must have been such a faff given its 100 tonnes weight! I imagine that's why they didnt bother to straighten it up Before going into Utrecht proper we stopped by one of the most exciting destinations of the day: Hoge Weord. This was one of three Roman Castella that were present in the Utrecht area and this one had an enormous Roman museum. This boat, De Meers 1, was perhaps the coolest of their artefacts. Unusually converted it had a cabin on it for the skipper of the boat who had likely made it himself for his long journeys supplying grain to the Roman forts. This makes it exceptionally ...

On our last few days in Germany we really picked up the pace. Aside from the lack of drinking water and public toilets, Germany was absolutely our favourite country we visited and leaving it was certainly a sad experience. Hopefully we'll be back soon! On Saturday we visited the final large city in Germany of our trip: Hanover. This city, linked to British history through the Georgian kings, was an absolute treat which was made only better by the music festival in town. Possibly due to the festival, or perhaps usually scheduled, on our cycle in we stumbled across an enormous market where we got all sorts of goodies from a GDR medal to tools for Moira. Cycling further through town and after our picnic we stopped across the Waterloo monument. I wonder if the actual battle site will also have as much scaffolding? Expecting to find a museum we happened into a whole exhibit of an aquarium. Since all the information was in German we were forced to stop learning and just enjoy the fish, n...

We've finally arrived at the most northernly point in our travels! That does unfortunately mean that we are now on the long drive back to the UK through western Germany and the Netherlands... Maybe we should book our ferry soon...? Given the lack of time left on this trip we sadly couldn't go much further into Denmark than just beyond the border but we did pop into the weirdest concentration camp that we have ever seen or heard of.  The Froslev camp was set up in 1944 and only operated for less than a year until it was liberated in May 1945. After increased Danish resistance to the Nazi occupiers, the Nazis decided to deport Danish resistance fighters to the German interior. To save them of this fate the Danish authorities struck a deal to set up a camp within Danish territory to save their citizens of this fate, and to a large extent it worked. Since the camp was largely run by the Danish authorities it had significantly better conditions than the other concentration camps. Th...

On Tuesday and Wednesday we continued our journey up the Baltic coast by visiting the two historically significant cities of Lubeck and Kiel. While much has been done successfully to keep Lubeck's medieval charm, Kiel has had much of the city centre redesigned in the 70s and 80s by what seems to be the same people that designed Milton Keynes... The first stop on our way into Lubeck was the mighty Holstentor which is one of the medieval gates out of the city. Housing a free museum, and impressive cannon on each level this was an impenetrable bastion. It is a shame therefore that when Napoleon attacked in 1806 he chose the undefended south of the city to attack through. A surprising feature of the Holstentor was this peculiar door handle. On further inspection this was a part of the Nazi renovation's, curious how there was not recognition of it... Surprisingly enough, or not so for people who pay attention to packaging, Lubeck is a capital of marzipan production. With up to 200 h...

Now thoroughly in the last stretch of our journey, we headed up to Szczecin on the Baltic to work along a string of cities all the way up to the Danish border. Our first stops were Szczecin on Saturday, a chill day on Sunday, and Rostock on Monday. Szczecin, the one Polish city on our journey, was littered with nice historical buildings, free museums, and a killer water park. What's not to like? Taking one of our increasingly rare chiller days after the hectic-ness that was our travelling since Leipzig, we spent the day playing board games down by a lake just inside the German border. On Monday, we arrived at the first of our chain of Hanseatic cities: the cities that formed a powerful north German trade alliance from the 13th century until its decline in the 17th. As a result much of the history in and around the city centred on its role as a port including this funky GDR naval flag. A super cool feature of Rostock is the town halls many styles. The pointy façade you can see in th...

Arriving in Berlin on Tuesday ahead of schedule meant that we had just over 3 days of exploring the city. Since we were able to park Moira up in the Tiergarten, we also gained a bonus evening on the first day. While this city was new to Danni, I had been here 4 times before and knowing where many buildings and amenities were for the first time in more than 2 months gave the city a sense of being home. Day one: Quick wander through one of the most recognisable sites of the city: the Brandenburg gate.  The quadriga on top was taken to Paris following Napoleon's occupation of the city and returned when Napoleon was defeated. The seat of power, and a pointy tower. Day Two: We started with some cheery, sort of, history of resistance to the Nazis. This was set in the building where in 1944 a coup, Operation Valkyrie was organised against Hitler. Although Tom Cruise was nowhere to be found... Further descending into Nazi history, it seems increasingly difficult to avoid now we're in B...