As we were now only 150km from Berlin that was where we headed next.

In 2007 we were in Berlin and thought that it might be the only time we would ever be there. We have since discovered that you should never say never when it comes to travelling as we were in Berlin in 2013 and now find ourselves here again, if only for an afternoon and overnight stay. We checked in to a Holiday Inn in the centre of the city and set out to revisit some of Greg’s favourite sites as well as a couple of new spots we had heard about.

Using the local bus system we headed to Potsdamer Platz where we discovered a section of the Berlin Wall preserved as a memorial. We also found the Mall of Berlin but being Sunday, also discovered that it was closed. Greg has a habit of only taking me to large cities on Sundays – the traffic is easier to negotiate and the shops are usually closed! We then walked to The Holocaust Memorial, Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag and of course the site of Hitler’s Bunker – where he committed suicide, with his new wife Eva Braun, on 30th April 1944. We have visited all of these sites before – but what else would you do in Berlin for the afternoon? Well, we did sit and have a beer as well!

One thing we did visit for the first time was a Memorial to the Sinti and Roma of Europe murdered under the National Socialist regime. It is located in the Tiergarten not far from the Reichstag. By the end of the Second World War in May 1945 as many as 500 000 men, women and children who were persecuted as 'Gypsies' had became victims of the genocide under the National Socialist rule. This simple pool of water with a stone in the middle has a new flower placed on it each day so that visitors can remember. The history of the persecution is etched on walls around the memorial.

In the morning, still heading west, we set the GPS for Hannover. We had no intention of riding in to this city so picked a hotel near the Autobahn. The ride started out with wet weather gear on but before we cleared Berlin we had to stop as the sun was now shining and we were cooking! Out on to the Autobahn we went. These roads are amazing. Not only do they get you to your destination quickly but the pine forests that boarder the roads make them a pleasant experience as well. Riding along, we crossed over a couple of wide rivers, I commented on their beauty - Greg's comment "I wonder how the Russians got across these rivers during the war" I guess his military history gene is very strong! We usually travel at about 120km/h and are passed by everything except trucks who stay in the right lane. It seems that the fastest overtaking cars are Audis - hundreds of them! At one stage today we were overtaken by a car (not unusual and not an Audi) with the passenger waving madly and grinning at us through her window. The waving is not that unusual either as people acknowledge that they have recognised where we are from by the Australian stickers on the bike. What happened next though was a little different. The car pulled in front of us and slowed down considerably. Greg then overtook the car. A few minutes later the car overtook us again, this time with the passenger windows down and someone holding up a boomerang for us to see as they drove by. As our son-in law Brett would say "I bet you don't see that every day on the German Autobahn". The car then raced away as we smiled at the incident. After a good night's sleep we headed off again.

This time our destination was Arnhem, back in the Netherlands ready to set ourselves up for a ferry crossing from the Hook of Holland to Harwich in the UK. Well, at least that's why I thought this town had been chosen. Not long after we checked in to our hotel Greg started to tell me the connection that Arnhem has with the Second World War. Another history lesson coming up!

Over the years we have watched just about every war movie that has ever been made! The war history of this town was remembered in the movie "Theirs is the Glory" in 1946 and then again in the 1977 movie "A Bridge Too Far". The Battle of Arnhem was a famous World War Two battle fought in and around the Dutch towns of Arnhem and Oosterbeek. On 17th September 1944 Operation Market Garden commenced. It was the largest airborne drop in history and was centred on Arnhem. The objective was to capture the bridge at Arnhem amongst other bridges to enable the Allies to put Montgomery’s plan to bypass the Siegfried Line and attack the Ruhr in to action. Things did not go to plan as the Allies were not prepared for the conditions they encountered when the parachutists landed. They also encountered heavy resistance from the Germans who won this battle. The bridge at Arnhem was not secured by the Allies so they couldn’t go any further and withdrew. The bridge was later destroyed by the Allies on 7th October 1944 denying the Germans the use of it. In 1977 the bridge was rebuilt in the same style as the one that was destroyed.

Almost 2000 Allied servicemen were killed in this encounter between September 1944 and April 1945 and are buried in the Airborne Cemetery in Oosterbeek. 454 civilians were also killed in The Battle of Arnhem. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission maintains the cemetery where the remains of the soldiers lay. Five of those buried there were awarded the VC. As with all military cemeteries in Europe, this one is immaculately maintained and has a register book of where the graves of each known man is located. Remains of those missing are still being discovered in the fields of the area and are then being buried in the cemetery. After a visit to pay our respects we headed to the Hook of Holland for our afternoon ferry back to the UK.

I guess I had better explain why our plans have changed and what we are thinking for the next month. Sandra K, I hope this puts your mind at rest for now! We had planned to include a visit to Scandinavia during this time. When it came to the nitty-gritty of planning it, neither of us felt very enthusiastic so we looked at our options. We remembered that the MotoGP was to be held at Silverstone from August 28th to 30th so that is where we are heading. We have also decided to drop the bike off early and hire a car for the last 5 weeks of our trip. Basically, we are tired, Greg has been noticing the stress of riding each day and we are ready for a road-change. We will drop the bike back at Felixstowe Depot on Thursday morning and pick up a car. We also intend to catch a round of the British Super Bikes, a Rugby League game somewhere in the midlands and hopefully a Premier League Football (soccer) game somewhere as well. We also have tickets to 2 Rugby World Cup games in Cardiff at the end of September. After that we still have about 10 days to fill - thinking about a short fly-in-fly-out break to Copenhagen...... who knows.......we sure don't! Must admit, we love that we have the opportunity to change things as we feel like it.