I have been very excited about my day in Berlin. Even though it was just one day it was amazing! My day started out with navigating the sbahn and hbahn. Basically the subway train and the long distance train. I made my way to the main station in Leipzig and then on the train to Berlin. I nearly missed my train....I was waiting at the platform noted on my ticket and when I went out on the platform the sign said Berlin with my train number. I heard a few announcements which of course I did not understand. Finally with 3 minutes before my train was to depart and the train in front of me was definitely NOT my train I went running!! Asked the person at the end of the platform and they said change change 17.... So I ran and basically hopped on my train as the doors were closing.....phew! It was a beautiful morning ride through the country. There was a fog covering the fields and surrounding the villages. You could see random church steeples sticking out from the fog with what I imagined were small sleepy villages surrounded by trees and fog this morning. I took the fast train that went 200kms an hour. When I arrived at the station in Berlin I found a tourist information booth. I purchased a hop on hop off bus ticket and they pointed me in the direction of the hop on hop off bus. I had 8 hours for a 4 hour tour if I didn't get off so off I went. We meandered through city and government buildings and any embassy you could think of. All this is just outside the beautiful train station. The first place I got off and spent over my allotted time was Checkpoint Charlie. There is also an original part of the Berlin Wall. Checkpoint Charlie was the most well known crossing between West and East Berlin. I am not going to go through every stop I went to but we crossed back and forth from east to west on many occasions and you could tell as you were either crossing the river or there was a cobble stone line across the road or sidewalk. I also spent quite a bit of time at the Berlin Wall Memorial. I spent time reading and taking it all in. Imagining a time where people longed to cross to the west for a better life or to be with family. Then imagined what it was like when it came down. I have vague memories of watching it on the news, I spent some time in the Christmas Markets in Alexanderplatz. Seemed much the same as the Market in Leipzig. Lots of bratwurst and goods for sale. I then made my way to the Oberbaumbruck, which is a beautiful bridge. I spent a lot of time here exploring and taking pictures. There was a huge sculpture of what seemed to be two people hugging, I will have to find out about this sculpture. I didn't realize the East Side Gallery was part of this stop so I did not have time to walk the whole thing. I walked part way. The East Side Gallery is an original part of the wall about a kilometre long with beautiful graffiti/art. I was able to see the whole wall on the bus but was disappointed I didn't get to walk it. One would think 8 hours is a long time but time flew by and I was running out of time at the end. Once I returned to the main station I walked across the river to the parliament building with the dome on top. If I had more time I would of went up but it is a full afternoon kind of thing. The building is called the Reichstag. Much like Leipzig I found Berlin to have old European and very modern industrial type architecture. You could tell which buildings were built a very long time ago, before the fall of the Berlin Wall and then after. I will let the pictures tell the story of the rest of my day. With the hop on hop off you see many points of interest, it is almost overwhelming. I wanted to see the Berlin Wall Memorial and I was able to accomplish that. So more train adventures on my way home! My train was a bit delayed on the way home and it changed platforms which I caught on to on my own. The train I was going on split in two about halfway and the front half went one way and they back half the other. I thought I heard that my half was the back half so I kept going further and further back looking for my train number. Finally I was told no the front half....so I ran....and the doors started closing and there was one left open where an attendant was standing and she said just get on!!! So I did....through here very broken English I figured out that there was a stop 5 mins from there and I had to get out and run some more to the front half.....so I did! Always an adventure! Made it back to the flat in Leipzig! Phew!