Day 12

Very slow start today had a huge sleep in and didn't get going until midday.

We've decided to ditch the Fat Bike Tour and walk the streets of Berlin in part to absorb more at our own pace and also as an opportunity exercise. First stop on the agenda is the Topographie of Terror at the Berlin Wall, and it lives up to its name. The historic monument is a 3.5km walk from Alexander Platz and as you approach there is little attention drawn to the space, it's a large site but its seamlessly integrated. What stands out is the hot food stand 'Currie at the Wall' and the hundreds of tourists making there way to the monument to get a photo next to the wall. It's surreal to see the wall for the first time, what's left of it is in ruins and fenced off for preservation. For me there nothing haunting about the wall nor is it that prominent and from reading this has been done deliberately to remove the significance it's original intent as a barrier.

The monument it's is particularly well done with a timeline that follows a topographie of events that portray Berlins history from pre WW2 to 1989 when the wall was peacefully removed. It took Ryan and I 2 and a half hours to read everything and I'm still not sure if I retained a lot of it but it was worth the time.

We walked to Check Point Charlie only 500 metres from the wall where they have guards/actors posing as US officers in front of the check point. The check point itself looks authentic but the Germans are masters at restoration so it's probably not.

We decided to give the war history a rest for a day because we were both tired of reading and headed back to the hotel to use wifi, get online and download the last few days of travel.

Before heading out we went to the rooftop deck again for a beer and to absorb the views of Berlin.

We went for a walk to look for a place to eat and we were told to go to Hackeschet Markt, advice given to us on the first day for which I now no I confused initially with Holtz Markt and that eclectic bar on the river. Hackescher Markt is fantastic and embraces the river like we do on Melbourne. People gather on the lawns bringing their own booze to picnic and enjoy the views of Bode Museum from Monbijou Park. This is definitely the place to be in Summer and it's offers everything from cheap food in the park to restaurants and bars through out the Markt and Oranienburger Street.

For dinner we ate at an Italian restaurant in the Markt and I had a steak for some reason and it was crap. Should have stuck to Italian, they do it so well!