We set the clocks the alarms for 7.30 this morning which was actually 6.30 as we are an hour ahead and it was very difficult to get out of our warm and comfortable bed. After a nice buffet breakfast on the eighth floor we donned our warm thermal gear and headed out.
The first stop was Checkpoint Charlie which was somewhat disappointing as it is actually pretty much a reconstruction with people fleecing you for five euros for a photograph of them pretending to be guards. After that we moved on to the aptly named ‘Topography of Terrors’ museum where we had our first sight of the Berlin Wall. We continued on past Hitler’s Bunker, the Jewish memorial and the Brandenburg gate until we eventually reached the Reichstag where I had booked us tickets to go on a tour of the dome.
After tight security checks we made our way into the lift and up to the eighth floor. Despite it being bitterly cold, the views were amazing albeit rather grey with a Tupperware sky. Richard Rogers has excelled himself again with an amazing design bringing daylight down into the lower floors and a movable shade to stop the building getting too hot.
We tried to find a good coffee shop afterwards but rather failed so we headed back towards our suite, stopping at the supermarket for a light lunch of a French stick, pâté and cheese and some milk so we have a good old cup of tea. We briefly put our feet up before heading out again into the cold back to the ‘Topography of Terrors Museum’. We spent nearly 2 hours reading all the displays about the rise of the third Reich and the subsequent atrocities in the city and across Europe - it was a sobering visit.
A local restaurant this time and tonight we finally got our roast duck - big time!! We walked over 18,200 footsteps today but we may have to do the same again tomorrow to work off our massive dinners!
