We started with a quick visit to the impressive looking Sony centre, although as it was sunday it some of it was shut. It's a big covered square with a cinema, shops and restaurants and we didn't stay for long. Then we headed for the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a huge open space full of over 2,000 concrete blocks of various sizes. Under these was an information centre- a timeline of the holocaust, information on various sites of concentration camps, a room in which the names and short biography of every single Jew who died because of the war were being read out, letters and postcards sent from concentration camps and information on what happened to a few specific normal families. It was well put together, but we both reached a point where we'd read enough to understand the magnitude of it all fairly quickly.
A trip to the grumpiest bratwurst vendor in Berlin cheered us up, it must be hard supporting a dead regime while selling sausages to tourists...
Then to the Reichstag! The German equivalent of the Houses of Parliament, we think we read it was used until the wall went up but then not again till after the fall of the wall, so although the outside is very old and historic [complete with bullet holes], the inside is very modern. After a good hour queuing [although the Germans don't do it as well as us] we were inside a packed lift heading for the glass cuppola, another impressive modern piece of architecture with 360 degree views of the city. George loved all the stuff from above!
We had a pleasant evening wander back to the hostel, with a short break to watch hundreds of rollerbladers skate past behind a police escort [we had no idea either!] and returned in time to try and catch up on sleep from the previous night.
We're currently sat in the same cafe as the previous three days, enjoying our third salad only slightly less than the previous two, as it's the only place we've found free wireless in! We suspect the staff know us as "stupid english laptop couple".
Tomorrow, the Harz Mountains!
Sony Centre
Part of the Memorial
There was loads of interesting new buildings near the Reichstag
From the roof of the Reichstag
The mirrored center of the glass cuppola
Berlin has been full of slightly surreal moments!
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