SATURDAY 7th JULY 2012

BERLIN

Ahhhhh! A lovely sleep in! Didn't surface until eight thirty and then found a little cafe and had a beaut coffee and some waffles for brekky, sitting outside because already it was very humid and quite hot! According to the waitress the hot weather is most unusual as it normally only gets to about twenty five degrees here in summer, and everyone is sweltering!
The concierge in the hotel had booked the hop-on hop-off bus tour for us as well as a boat tour on the River Spree and so we got on the bus a the stop about a hundred metres from the hotel and set off!
The most noticeable thing about Berlin is naturally the contrast between the grand old buildings that survived the Allied bombings and the new ones that were built to replace the ones flattened. The tour took us passed the Tiergarten a huge parklands, and many other landmarks before we caught our first glimpse of the Berlin Wall remnants! We got and walked along a longish section and then spent a while looking at some ruins of the SS Headquarters close by!
There was a tethered helium balloon just near and I took the opportunity to go a hundred and fifty metres up in the big cage to get a fantastic view over the city! It was quite windy up there and the cage was tilted over at a crazy angle, but I loved the few minutes I was up there and was glad Mumsie hadn't decided to do it! She would have been petrified!
We carried on with the tour and then got off at the Jewish Memorial and did a tour of that! The girls loved the huge museum, and I think Den was quite impressed, but I thought it was a weird sort of place, a bit spooky in fact and I did not like it one little bit!
After an hour or so there we rejoined the tour and headed for the boat cruise stop - nervously looking at a rapidly blackening sky which promised serious rain - and by the time we got off the skies had opened and it poured down! We found some shelter in a covered mall to wait for the rain to stop but to no avail! It continued to thunder and piddle down, so we got back on a passing bus and did the rest of the circuit, seeing nothing as the windows were fogged up and it was white with rain! b*****!!! No boat trip and no Bradenberg Gates or anything! Just as well our tickets allow us two days travel, so we will have to do those tomorrow!
Back at the hotel we had a nap, had another bash at the "happy hour" and then had a meal in the shopping centre food court next door! I had grilled scampi, which tasted a bit like marron! It was beautiful! The rain had stopped by the time we came out and we went for a stroll down the street, seeing a huge shopping centre called KaDeVa which was only about half a kilometre from the hotel! Luckily for Den and I, and much to the girls disappointment it had closed and when we asked about Sunday trading we found out that the shops only open every second Sunday and tomorrow is the first! Phew!



SUNDAY 8th JULY 2012

BERLIN 2

Another great nights sleep in our lovely room and a late start, spoilt a bit by the fact that there were no shops or cafes open at all! So when all fails there is only one solution - Maccas!!!! And so we had a great coffee and some pancakes under the golden arches of a nearby McCafe! Did the job!
Braved the subway and after getting some help from a friendly local got the correct tickets to get us to Alexanderplatz where we could do the boat trip and redo the last half of the boat tour! At least this morning it was fine and warm!
As we left the stationary and started walking towards the river we found a stall selling some beautiful fresh fruit and so loaded up with bananas, cherries and berries we did the hour long and very interesting cruise! Berlin is a clean and neat city and although the river is narrow there were dozens of tour boats taking tourists up and down it! We saw many famous buildings and admired the great lawn areas and pathways along the Spree, so many of the Berliners cycle - bikes paths and dedicated lanes everywhere!
We got back on the bus and continued the tour until we reached the Haupbahnof- the main Berlin station where we get our ICE train tomorrow. We hopped off and had a recce of the massive station - eight levels of platforms and shops - which was built in time for the 2005 World Soccer Cup! We found our platform etc and then had a bit of lunch before finishing the tour.
After a nap and a repack of our cases it was back to the cocktail bar and then a long walk around the neighborhood until we found a nice looking restaurant where we again had a lovely cheap dinner! The price of food here is ridiculous compared with Perth and Bunbury! We had four mains, two sweets and two bottle of prosecco for thirty five Euro per couple and it was an excellent meal too - I had scampi again and Den had lamb, the girls chicken, all beautifully cooked and served! Gonna be hard to get used to the rip off prices back home again!