Berlin - Day 6

We packed up and left the apartment.

From the Zoo station we caught the 200 bus to museum island, where we had a walk around. This is the cathedral we'd walked up a few days ago.

Many of the buildings have obviously been restored, with repaired bullet holes etc. from the war.

We then went to Hackescher Markt where we bought some pastry and a sandwich for our lunch later, and had a coffee.

Our last view of AmpelMann.

We tried to get the tram to Alexanderplatz, but it got very confusing and we ended up going round the same block twice! In the end we gave up and got the S-Bahn train to the airport.

It took a while to get through security, but our flight was delayed anyway. It took off about an hour late, and we got home about 4.30pm.

Berlin - Day 5

We caught the train north to Oranienburg, about an hour away. From there we walked for about 20 minutes to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and went in for a tour with an audio guide. This camp was used by the Germans before and during the war, with mainly Russian and Jewish prisoners, and by the Soviets after, with mainly German prisoners.

The weather today was quite dreich, some rain at times, which seemed quite appropriate. The camp had a huge amount of information and things to see, we could have spent much more time there.

Some of the watch towers were still there.

There was a trench specifically constructed for shooting people in.

Also the remains of the gas chambers and crematorium.

There was a very long infirmary hut where horrific treatments and experiments were carried out.

Back in Oranienburg we had lunch, a durum kebab, then caught the train to Berlin. We followed the typical Berliner practice of having a beer on the journey.

We walked to the KaDeWe department store, the largest in mainland Europe.

It had a particularly impressive food hall.

We went back to the apartment for a rest.

Later we caught the U-Bahn to Kreuzberg where we went to the Max Und Moritz traditional German restaurant. Scott had Berliner Eisbein (salted and lightly pickled pork knuckle with sauerkraut, boiled potatoes, pea puree and a mustard garnish) and Shirley had Hoppel Poppel (typical German breakfast omelette with potato, onion, bacon and smoked pork).

Berlin - Day 4

We left the apartment not long after 9 and caught the U-bahn to Bernauer Strasse. Once there we went into a cafe and had Berliner donuts and coffee.

Then we walked along the Berlin wall memorial, which was extremely interesting. Some of the original wall is still there, with lots of murals and plaques with historical information.

In many places are marked the outlines of tunnels where escape attempts were made.

There is a chapel which is constructed from the rubble of an original church which was in the inner wall zone until the East Germans eventually demolished it.

We went into the exhibition which has many pictures and stories of the history, including relics of the various traps that were put there to prevent escapes.

We went up a five storey tower to view the reconstructed bit of the wall incorporating the "death zone".

From there we walked to Alexanderplatz where we had doner kebabs in the underground station as recommended by Natalie. They were delicious.

We caught the train to Potsdamer Platz and had a walk around it. In most of the squares we'd been to, the Christmas markets were still being built but here some of it was already open.

We then went to the Sony Center, a very modern complex.

After this we walked to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, passing an AmpelMann Smart Car on the way.

The memorial is an array of 2711 concrete pillars of various sizes.

The underground exhibition gave a full story of the persecution of the Jews and was very moving.

We then went to the Hauptbanhoff station where we had spaghetti bolognese ice cream!

Then we caught the train south and went to the Soviet memorial in Treptower Park. It was very big and impressive.

We then walked to the East Side Gallery, a large part of the Berlin wall still standing. We saw some of the famous murals.

We then walked to Simon-Dach Strasse where we had some drinks in the Blechbilderbar. We then went up the road to Hain & Friedrichs and had schnitzel and chips for dinner. We caught the U-bahn train home.