We headed out not long after 10 this morning and walked to Alexanderplatz to meet the Hop On Hop Off tour bus. We got on at Stop 7 of the A line (Highlights Tour) and headed off! It turns out that this was a good option for a day which was forecast to be maximum 2 degrees, as the bus was very warm and snuggly inside and was double decker but not open top, which was a great option to not freeze to death!
We headed around to Stop 11, which was Brandenburger Tor (the Brandenburg gate). We went to look at the Gate, which was very cool looking but was also being set up for NYE in a few days, so there was lots of temporary buildings, toilets, etc. being erected. We then had to go and walk the long way around to get to just behind it (because of the temporary stuff) to the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe. While the people weren’t always respectful (there were people who were climbing on the memorial, and others taking smiling selfies) I found it quite somber to see the representation of how many Jews were murdered. We then walked back to the Brandenburg Gate before heading over past the Reichstag building and other official buildings, to Stop 12 at the Hauptbahnhof (the main train station in a Berlin). While we were there, we popped in to the station to pick up the tickets for our train trip to Munich on the 1st, as well as some lunch. Mum, Richard and I had wurst (me plain, the others had curry wurst), while Dad and Bro had Asian food. Then I had the most expensive toilet experience so far, at €1... but we’ll see if that gets topped later in the trip!
Then we got back on the tour bus to head around the circuit some more to Stop 5, which was Checkpoint Charlie! This is a spot where you can look at a US army checkpoint (named C, or Charlie) and see where the Wall was and a place where you could have crossed into East Germany from West, and vice versa. We looked at the pieces of wall which were still mostly intact, and there is a line of bricks in the ground to indicate where the wall used to be and now is just footpath or road. We considered going into the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, but decided with 5 people that at £14.50 a head it was too much to spend.
We then walked back to the apartment, taking our time and lots of photos along the way on the walk. It was freezing, but it was a good day, and we were back at the apartment around 4:30pm to thaw, to rest, and to update the blog! Tonight’s dinner plan is to go somewhere local after doing 15,000 steps today in walking - we have good looking Asian, burger and sushi near us so plenty of options!
We ended up trying to go to an Italian restaurant, but it was tiny and full, so we ended up at a German place! I had a fish schnitzel and potatoes (basically, Germany's fancy answer to fish and chips) and Richard had Spatzle, which is egg noodle mac and cheese. All delicious, and topped off by cherry flavoured Magnums! A lovely evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment