Boat-ing Berlin

Our last morning in Berlin dawned beautifully bright and clear again. So clear that I could admire my very pronounced sandal tan in the morning light.

Once I'd got over my tan, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather by returning to our hop on hop off bus for our second day of travel, to see the rest of the sights. We had to laugh at this guy's outfit. He'll never get lost in Berlin!

We returned to our final sight of the previous evening, the Brandenburg Gate, to pick up where we had left off.

We enjoyed seeing some slightly less historical monuments.

I found a New York taxi that must have got lost somewhere on its way.

We passed by Madame Tussauds and waved at Marilyn.

The train station...

The Reichstag, the parliament building that has been rebuilt. When it was initially burned down, that served as an excuse for Hitler to take further control of the German government and kind of marked the start of the Nazi regime. It has now been built with a glass dome, which contains a spiral ramp that is open to the public every day. The idea is that the government is now completely transparent.

This is a snapped-while-half-standing-on-the-back-of-the-bus shot of the Bellevue Palace, now home of the German prime minister.

The victory column...

And a whole bunch of other older buildings...

We stopped for a quick lunch...

And admired the view of the television tower from near a fountain. That girl sitting on the fountain gave us quite a show. She was either very drunk or very keen on getting attention, as she was jumping around in the fountain and screaming and alternating between laughing and crying. She was in her crying stage at this point.

Once we'd had enough of the show, we made our way to the river. Our hop-on-hop-off bus ticket had included a river cruise as well, so we decided we might take advantage of that.

We floated past the Reichstag again...

We saw the television tower...

And when the cruise was over, we popped over the road to the GDR museum (DDR to the Germans), that documents Eastern Germany's time as the German Democratic Republic after WWII when it was controlled by the Russians, and the Berlin wall was built.

This little model shows how the Berlin wall area was constructed, although I'm afraid you can probably see the reflection of another viewer better than you can the actual model.

We played a very one-sided game of Fusball. I had all the men, and won about 9 games to 1.

Tom tested out this Volvo. The GDR was a socialist regime, and everyone drove a Trabant, a crummy car that ran on a two-stroke engine like a lawn mower. Everyone, that is, except the officials, who got these very luxurious Volvos.

From there, we wandered over into the section that talked about how the regime began to become more repressive. Here I am behind a doorway that had mist floating down through it - probably symbolic.

And on the phone...

When Tom wound the handle of this particular device, all of the little men inside raised their hands to vote Aye. Representative of the complete uselessness of the GDR government.

Tom endured some interrogation in the interrogation room...

These were food coupons.

And then we moved on to enjoy the delights of an ordinary furnished apartment in the GDR.

Tom went searching for provisions in the kitchen.

Hooray! Found a teapot!

And then sampled the toilet.

Once we'd had enough, we made our way back to the main shopping district in search of dinner. Instead of finding food, we stumbled across a little mini soccer competition.

We stayed riveted for a little while, but eventually our stomachs got the better of us, and we prioritised the food search again. Some more traditional German fare this time.

Tom kept up a detailed record of our travels across Berlin on our map. We covered it pretty thoroughly! Next move, Cologne!