15-21 deg C, felt a little cooler outside when the sun wasn’t out
Walk G: 10km; total: 352km
Walk W: 11 km; total: 319km
Our current hotel lays on an enormous breakfast spread, it’s a shame that we are not bigger eaters to take advantage of it. After more than an adequate meal, we returned to our room to plan our day. Wendy had just about had her fill of museums and art galleries but Greg was keen to see a few in Berlin that he had never been to before. After looking at a few different card options he decided on the unlimited Museum Card, which gives free access to about 30 museums and galleries throughout the city. Wendy decided not to lock into any card and just pay as she went, if she feels that she wants to.
The five main museums are located on an island which is set between two arms of the River Spree. They are the Pergamon (currently closed for renos), the Neues (New), Altes (Old), Bode and Alte National Gallery. James Simon Gallery and the Humboldt Forum are also there so it’s a pretty impressive little island. The plan is to link four of the museums via an underground promenade, with James Simon being the main entrance point eventually. After visiting five of these today Greg was about done by 3:30pm.
Meanwhile, Wendy visited Checkpoint Charlie, the Western Bloc’s name for the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. It eventually became a symbol of the Cold War, representing the separation of East and West. They have CP Charlie ‘everything’ there, even a McDonalds! Nothing much to see, apart from a few signs and an old ‘guard house’, with people queued to photograph themselves at CP Charlie.
Because the sun was coming out again, Wendy revisited the Brandenburg Gate and got a few better shots of both sides. She also got a shot of the back of the Reichstag, an historic legislative government building and is the seat of the German Bundestag (Federal Parliament); and the place where the President of Germany is elected. Not a bad looking building from the back and by all Google accounts, even better from the front. We will have a look tomorrow or before we head off. Wendy had no time to visit the other side as nature was calling, and Google Maps did not show any WCs nearby. Fortunately, she knew one was a little over 1km away, so off she ‘walked’. Eventually made it to a loo and she felt much better. On the way back to the hotel, she revisited the remnants of the Berlin Wall to capture the story, and a new picture of some of the blocks being held together with chewing gum!
After lunch in the room, Wendy went back out in the direction of the museums to hopefully meet up with Greg. The journey took a bit longer than anticipated due to the number of extraordinary buildings there were to photograph - churches, concert halls, opera house, war memorial, etc. Greg saw on Google Maps that Wendy was nearby so they met and wandered back to the hotel together.
We did not sleep terribly well after the large Thai dinner we both had last night, so tonight we opted for a salad from Rewe and ate them in our room.
Apologies for the number of photos today; if you are not interested, please keep scrolling as there may be something further down the page.
Checkpoint Charlie
American soldier facing the East
East German soldier facing the West
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Brandenburg Gate
The back of the Reichstag
German Cathedral (Deutscher Dom)
Berlin Concert Hall
New Church
St. Hedwig’s Catholic Cathedral
University building
Berlin State Opera
New Guard
War remembrance building restored after WWII bombings with haunting central sculpture
Berlin Cathedral
the sun decided to come out just for a tiny while
Friedrichswerder Church
Closed as church while being used as a gallery
Old Museum
New Museum
Queen Nefertiti bust, could only be photographed from a distance
Bode Museum
