Not sure where to start for today. Well, we did do some laundry at the self service laundry across the road and hung it in our room. It is so warm in here, that it was all dry by the time we returned after our 6hr walking tour and dinner. It was a bit drizzly this morning but it stopped just as we left the hotel which was nice. It would have been rather mild today except for a very cold breeze blowing.

Anyway, I digress. There were 10 of us on the tour, so a good size group to walk with. We started out the front of the New Synagogue which was not destroyed by the Nazi during WWII, but by the British Army who bombed it by mistake. From what we have learnt over our time in this part of Europe, the night time bombing raids weren't very accurate and rarely hit their targets. We walked through parts of old East Berlin and were shown where buildings in streets were completely destroyed and others not touched or those that were damaged and the very poor repair job the East Germans did after the city was divided.

We also found out the term "German efficiency" is apparently only said by those who don't live in Germany. Apparently Berlin is hundred of millions in debt and all these building projects that are going on around the city are so delayed and no one will actually give a date of when they will be finished...some of these projects were meant to be finished by 2006 when Germany hosted the World Cup.

We had a chance to visit a small museum near the train station that was the entry/departure point for people from West Germany who were coming to visit family in East Germany. Know as the Building of Tears, for obvious reasons.

We crossed from West Berlin to East Berlin several times during the walk. The actual wall has only been kept in a few parts of the city but 2 rows of cobblestones mark the way for most of it. The row marks the wall that West Berliner's would have seen. Apparently, they always built the wall within a few metres of East Berlin so when tourists in West Berlin wandered up to the wall they were actually in East Germany. A few times each month, secret police would walk along the wall and then arrest these unsuspecting tourists for being in East Germany without a permit. They would be taken across the wall to a police station and then their embassy would be called to basically pay a ransom for their citizen which was always paid. Not a bad little money earner.

We wandered back through the Memorial to the Murdered Jews that we had seen the other day and couldn't figure out what it was about. We found out today it was not meant to mean anything. The designer wanted people to come here and not be influenced by anything and have their own thoughts. Our thoughts are that it is ugly and not a very good memorial at. It is very bleak and to us, not what it could have been. Apparently most people think the same thing. The blocks are already starting to crack, people get injured here because they jump from block to block and the edges are really sharp. Not good.

Around Checkpoint Charlie we found out the original guardhouse is now in a museum and this is a copy. The 'American soldiers' charging for photos wouldn't even leave to let an ex American soldier who used to guard here in to take a photo without paying and the photos of the American & Russian soldier were taken in the 90's and the Russian soldier is actually a Dutch man in a fake uniform with 4 different rank of badges on this uniform.

Saw some beautiful buildings that we probably wouldn't have seen on our own and the square where the book burning took place back in 1939, outside a University. The memorial to this has been built underground and there is a clear window looking down into it. It is a room with empty shelves to symbol the books that were taken off shelves and burnt.

We got to see the Memorial which is for all those killed during WWI & WWII and much more fitting than that seen earlier. It is a recreating of a sculpture of a mother cradling her dead son. It was done by a prominent German female artist when her son was killed early in the war. She was very outspoken and she was put under house arrests for years and they never let her have anything that she could produce art with over the years. Not sure what that was meant to accomplish but what does anything during war meant to accomplish.

Although there would have been time to go to a museum or something once the tour finished, mum was pretty well done in, although she wouldn't admit it so we got a recommendation for a restaurant and had a well deserved sit down meal before heading back to the hotel to pack up. We fly out tomorrow night at 7.40pm so will try and fit in a few museums tomorrow. The problem is choosing which ones.