We left to go into Berlin for the day. 

We met some swans and cygnets on the long road from the campsite to the main road along the river. 

The first spot was the Brandenburg Gate which was very busy – probably with people from the marathon yesterday. Sean and Lisa had been in while they were running and it was mobbed. 

We then moved onto the Memorial to Murdered Jews.  It is many cement columns that gradually get taller and the ground gets very undulating as you walk into it. You start to get disoriented and overwhelmed. 

According to Eisenman the architect, the stelae are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason. It is an effective and memorable memorial. 

We checked out the State Opera House where we are going to see the Marriage of Figaro on Friday.

After a coffee we then moved onto the Topography of Terror – located at where the Nazi Headquarters was located and housed the central command centers for Nazi persecution

It is a huge series of information boards giving the stages of Hitler coming to power and then through WWII and the after effect. The text and photos on them are very effective in getting the message across as to what happened. I hope the German right wing ADF party come and read this as their policies are similar to the Nazis .

There was a piece of the old Nazi headquarters which had been here. 

We walked past Trabi world celebrating the communist Trabant cars.

We then continued on our way to Checkpoint Charlie.  The border post is still in the same place where the communist sector met the American sector. We queued up for a photo next to the post. There was a big no man’s land between the American and the Communist area. 

It’s a little dangerous with cars still moving on either side with lots of people crossing. 

We then went to our next stop – the Park Hotel viewing terrace with a swing. We went up to the 37th floor to get a great view of Berlin. 

We were glad we weren’t in the swing going over the edge of the building. The swingers were well tied on though!

Angela then took us to a 1920s art deco apartment complex die Hackeschen Hoeffe which had lots of interesting shops. It even had a cinema.

We had a lovely sunset walk along the river. 

We then had dinner at a riverside restaurant. We had beer of course and most of us had solid German meaty dishes. 

We then caught a train then bus back to the campsite. It takes an hour to get to the edge of town – not too bad.