We had a bit of a sleep-in this morning and it was about 9:30am by the time we got down to breakfast. There are a lot of things that the Germans do well but it’s hard to make the case that they do anything better than their breakfasts!

We had a fabulous breakfast, which included champagne (for Keith only!), fruit juice, fruit smoothies, caviar, fruit, cereal, muffins, dim sum, cheeses, cured meats, and more. We definitely over-indulged but it’s not every day we’re in Germany for breakfast!

By the time we finished breakfast it was nearly 11:00am. We returned to our room so we could watch the Kyrgios-Nadal match at the Australian Open before heading out for the day. Annoyingly, there were both mens’ and womens’ matches in progress featuring German players at the same time that the Kyrgios-Nadal match was on, so the coverage was a bit patchy for the first two sets. Still, it was nice to sit and relax and just watch the tennis for a while (even though Kyrgios lost).

It was about 2:00pm before we finally got outside. We decided to take the city tour bus to get an overview of Berlin. A full lap of the city took a bit over two hours and we enjoyed taking in the sights from the comfort of a warm bus!

The Berlin Concert Hall.
The Berlin Concert Hall.
The French Cathedral.
The French Cathedral.
A spire from one of the many churches in Berlin.
A spire from one of the many churches in Berlin.
The Altes Museum.
The Altes Museum.

We got off the bus near the Berliner Dom (the largest church in Berlin).

The main dome of the Berlin Palace.
The main dome of the Berlin Palace.
Looking down the Spree.
Looking down the Spree.

We continued walking around for a while to take in some of the beautiful Berlin sites.

Andrea at Alexanderplatz.
Andrea at Alexanderplatz.
Keith at Alexanderplatz.
Keith at Alexanderplatz.
Humboldt University.
Humboldt University.
The equestrian statue of Frederick the Great.
The equestrian statue of Frederick the Great.

We then decided to walk to Checkpoint Charlie, which took us about half an hour.

Andrea at Checkpoint Charlie.
Andrea at Checkpoint Charlie.
Keith at Checkpoint Charlie.
Keith at Checkpoint Charlie.

Checkpoint Charlie (or Checkpoint “C”) was the best known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War of 1947-1991. There is now only a replica shed at the site, which is at the intersection of Friedrichstraße with Zimmerstraße and Mauerstrastraße in the Friedrichstadt neighbourhood. On the intersection there is a museum that tells the story of the Berlin Wall. It is quite moving to read about the history and incredible to think about how recently (just a few short decades ago) people were still being shot trying to get from East Berlin to West Berlin. The individual stories in the storyboards around the museum were very touching and very sad. We couldn’t help but reflect on just how fortunate we are.

From Checkpoint Charlie we walked back through the city in the general direction of our hotel. Berlin is a beautiful city, although a huge amount of it was bombed by the Allies in the Second World War so much of the history has been destroyed. But the old architecture that remains is quite stunning and we enjoyed just wandering around the city and taking it all in.

We stopped on the way back at the Mall of Berlin, a beautiful and modern shopping centre. While we were there we found a very nice Thai restaurant, where we decided to stop and have dinner. We then enjoyed an ice-cream before walking back to the hotel to retire for the evening.