Berlin

First thing today was a group coach tour with our local guide Wilfred. He was a great guide and we drove around lots of different parts of the city, from residental to central city and showed us both East and West and the differences between the two. We stopped at the East Side Gallery, a long strip of the wall that remains and had been painted/graffitied and looks very cool. Across the road was the Grand Chapiteau of Cirque du Soleil.










Next stop was the Brandenburg Gate. Nearby we saw a memorial with lots of rectangular blocks commemorating the people who died in the Holocaust.




We were hoping to stop at the flash new Hauptbahnhof (central train station) but there were so many people outside that we would certainly have lost someone. Further along we could see the Reichstag, Siegessäule Monument, Potzdamer Platz and one of the Zoo's fancy gates to name a few. We finished at Checkpoint Charlie where some of the group went through the museum. Grace pretended to be our tour leader and organised tickets at group rates so we could come back later.

Some others got back on the coach and went to the Zoo. They weather was amazing so a day at the Zoo seemed like a great idea. Having been to the Singapore zoo not that long ago, this wasn't that amazing, but it was good to see the Bears, several Polar Bears, 2 Panda Bears, White Wolves and lots of big cats.



















































Near the Zoo is the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-kirche which has become an icon of Berlin. It was damaged by the war and is a fascinating building.










We then headed off to AlexanderPlatz to go up the TV tower. It was a shame that on such a beautiful clear day our view was ruined by filthy windows. It was a good view though, and in particular we noticed that when you looked up and down the old border between east and west you could see a distinct change.

















We caught the U-Bahn back to Checkpoint Charlie and went through the museum. It was very interesting, describing the wall and showing how people tried to escape to their family on the other side. Some would hide in cars or furniture. There was even a human catapult attempt to get over the wall! We were planning on going up the spiral ramp to the top of the dome of the Reichstag but were too tired so headed home.