So yeah, slept pretty well last night.
Breakfast was down in the hotel restaurant. Ate plenty so we wouldn't need lunch.
Then we had a local city guide and did a big tour of the city.
First stop was the Reichstag. Didn't go in, just had a look from the outside.
The Reichstag
Western façade of the Reichstag
Then walked up to the Brandenburg Gate. The sun started peeking through the clouds by this point.
Brandenburger Tor - the Brandenburg Gate
The Quadriga statue on the Brandenburg Gate
The Reichstag from the Brandenburg Gate
Then to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Spoilt somewhat by kids and other young people screaming and making heaps of noise. Bruce did a little bit of an Anzac Day ceremony there which was nice.
Concrete pillars in the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
View of the sky from the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
Cross path in the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
View to the Reichstag across the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
Back on the coach and down to a piece of the Berlin Wall on Niederkirchnerstrasse - something we didn't see last time. Had only a very short time to look at the open air part of Topographie des Terrors (Topography of Terror). Really only got time to look at about a third of it :(
Potsdamer Platz from the coach
Abgeordnetenhaus Berlin - the state parliament of Berlin
Topographie des Terrors - Topography of Terror - open air museum at a surviving part of the Berlin Wall
Part of the Berlin Wall at Niederkirchnerstraße
Then onto Checkpoint Charlie. Really just a photo stop.
Checkpoint Charlie
Die Welt balloon and Trabi World
Locks on the Spree River
Then Bruce decided we should see inside the Berliner Dom instead of Marienkirche, so they got us there in time for the daily service, which is actually free, instead of something like seven Euro to get into otherwise (although if you pay you can go up the dome apparently).
Entrance to Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral)
Berlin Cathedral
Roof of Berlin Cathedral
Organ in Berlin Cathedral
Berlin Cathedral
They gave us nearly an hour and a half after that to have lunch and explore, so we went down to the Marienkirche anyway.
View to the Fernsehturm from next to Berlin Cathedral
East German stop-go man
East German stop-go man
These pink pipes are to drain water away from construction sites back to the Spree
The Fernsehturm from near St Mary's Church
Interior of St Marienkirche (St Mary's Church)
Organ in St Marienkirche (St Mary's Church)
St Marienkirche (St Mary's Church)
St Marienkirche (St Mary's Church)
Wandered up to Alexanderplatz to find the world clock, and look for snipers on the rooves. And it snowed. Really.
World Clocks and Fernsehturm in Alexanderplatz
Dome of Berlin Cathedral behind Neptunbrunnen - Neptune Fountain
Photo by Mum
Rotes Rathaus - the Red Rathaus (town hall)
Back to the Dom, and a short walk to the Pergamon museum. Cool place, and we had quick entry on account of being a tour group. Although the entrance foyer is super chaotic. Sadly the altar from Pergamon is closed off at the moment due to renovations. But the Market Gate and Ishtar gate and Procession Way are amazing.
Alte Nationalgalerie - Old National Gallery building
Coloured bricks along the Procession Street of Babylon
The Ishtar Gate at the Pergamon Museum
The Ishtar Gate at the Pergamon Museum
Coloured bricks along the Procession Street of Babylon
The Market Gate at the Pergamon Museum
The Market Gate at the Pergamon Museum
Mosaics outside the Market Gate
Bronze and silver incense ball
Back on the coach, and onto the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. Turns out you can just go into the new church, so went in there. The blue stained glass is just stunning. The building looks *much* better on the inside than the outside!
Altes Museum (Old Museum) from the coach
Neue Wache - a War Memorial building
View down Hofjägerallee to the Victory Column
Interior of the New Church at Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
Organ in the New Church at Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
Pretty blue stained glass in the New Church at Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
At this point (it was about 4:30pm), they were going to head back to the hotel and call it a day. But I didn't want to just waste a couple of hours sitting around the hotel (even if I *did* have a lot of computer work to do), so we went for a wander back down the KaDeWe (via LEGO!!). Lots of yummies to be had on the 6th floor. I did end up getting a couple of macarons, which were ok but not super epic awesome. Then we walked back to the hotel.
Me with a big minifig in the Lego Store on Tauentzienstraße
KaDeWe department store
Dinner was downstairs, but didn't get back up here til nearly 8:30pm, and there's still GPS and photo downloading and blogging to do. Too tired for this crap.
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