Kms today = 0
Kms to date = 8,234
Had breakfast at the hotel (included in the tariff) and headed to Charlottenburg palace to pick up the Hop-on-Hop-Off bus. There was some confusion as to where it would stop as they are not allowed to put up their own bus stop signs in Berlin. We managed to make contact OK and were on our way for a days sightseeing. The temperature was forecast to get to 31C today!!. Our first stop was the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial church. It was bombed in 1943 and after the war it was decided not to restore it but make it safe and a memorial to the futility of war. They have built another modern tower and a concert hall beside the church.
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| Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. |
There is a cross made of nails from Coventry Cathedral which was destroyed in WW2 and various other exhibits from cities bombed during the war, all part of a reconciliation process. We hopped on the bus to the next stop which was Potsdamer Platz. This is the main area where traffic between east and west Berlin crossed.
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| Checkpoint Charlie!! |
The Wall came through here and it was a large open area as none of the buildings destroyed in the war were restored in the divided Berlin. Once Germany was unified 1991 they started commercial construction in Potsdamer Platz. Sony Europe have their headquarters here in a flash steel and glass structure.
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| Sony Europe headquarters. |
We went to the Museum of German Film also located in the same precinct which included a tribute to Marlene Dietrich. We had lunch in the courtyard at the Sony Centre. It was quite warm and the wasps were everywhere. They liked Morag's bitter lemon bottle which kept them away from us. After lunch we took the bus to the Brandenburg gate and the Reichstag via Checkpoint Charlie. The whole area was very impressive. We didn't go into the Reichstag but instead walked round the government public buildings area.
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| The Brandenburg Gate. |
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| The Reichstag - German seat of government |
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| German government public service offices. |
After this we headed to the stop near the Central Railway Station and walked to the Berlin Wall Museum. There was a length of wall and a guard tower plus memorial garden for those that died trying to escape.
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| Part of the Berlin Wall with Guard Tower in background. |
In the museum we saw a movie about the history of the wall and many exhibits related to the wall. It is hard to imagine what it was like to live in that era in Berlin but they did a pretty good job describing the situation. We walked back towards the city and had dinner in a very good Italian restaurant. Then we took the underground back to the hotel. We dropped into a small bar beside the hotel for a drink and to play cards. Unfortunately there was a bloke playing a poker machine and smoking inside? It seems that in Berlin you can smoke inside a venue if it is less than 75 sq metres. We were not very impressed.
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| Colin suffering from smoke inhalation. |
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