Berlin - Saturday, Sunday, Monday

Saturday.
The girls have gone shopping again so I am going for a walk to the Winterfeldt Markt which is a few km's away.
First I walked past the Neue Synagoge - which can be seen as a shining dome from a long way away

over the bridge to the Bode Museum

through an little market - mostly antiques, records, badges etc

Along Friedrichstrasse , which is a huge shopping centre, on down Unter den linden, with the beer cart which somehow I dont think would be legal in Australia,

through Brandenburg Gate and beside the Sony Centre with the Giraffe made from lego

Walked past the Philharmonic buildings with their yellow wood covering, and the Neue National Gallery which has a display called the continuous curtin - looks like a big painting on a continuous canvas, and past the building they call the Steel Bra

past a berlin train station in all its old age splendor

and into the Winterfeldt Markt, which has lots of fresh food and vegies, flowers etc , surrounded by restaurents. I had a beer in the cafe in the market and opposite was a flower seller who was selling heaps, and was walking around saying "Ja Ja" very loudly. Reminded me of my father, except for the Pony tail

Dinner in a Japanese restaurent called AIKO - very nice.

Sunday.
I found Vanilla Slice for the girls - a good start to the day they tell me

We then walked down to take the river cruise we got as part of the bus ride
Here we saw the Berliners enjoying the sun

the cruise was good, though the service poor and it took me nearly the whole trip till I got a beer!

After the cruise we went over the canal to a restaurent nestled in large trees to escape the heat. A great lunch at the oldest restaurent in the area



We walked through Tiergarten - very large park and forest area in the centre of the city

beside the berlin zoo, and some animals could be see from the path. Bonnie found her favourite - alpacha's, or lama's ?

We went on to see the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedachtnis Kirche because it is the only building still damaged. Unfortunately they have surrounded it with Glass and structure till they fix it, but you can go inside the chapel which has been restored.

Monday. Last day in Berlin.
Went to the East Side Gallery - where a section of the wall has been painted by artists from around the world. Some very interesting paintings, and unfortunately the public still deface it. The wall goes on for over 1km.

Over the bridge

to the other side of the canal

for lunch

On the way back some more fabulous graffitti

Went past the huge Culture festival where we walked around for a while, lots of drinks and cocktails, food and people.
A last look at the view from our apartment before leaving Berlin for Venice.