Our day of sight seeing got off to a late start. I think we both enjoyed the space of a hotel room bed a little too much, and lamely didn't get out of the hotel until midday!
In our defence, the humidity from Cologne caught up with us in Berlin and our lie in was slightly justified as it meant we'd ridden out yet another nasty thunderstorm indoors. By the time we emerged the sun was breaking through the clouds on a nice day.
Our plan was to hit the sights, (should it be sites? Anyone who knows please tell me!) then have lunch. But after our late start we swapped it round and went straight for lunch at a place called Hans Wurst. Burger and chips for me, Seitan Steak for Jojo. Not a whole lot of healthy eating going on on this trip, but plenty of yummy food. Our lunch was slightly elongated when we discovered the cafe had free wifi, allowing us both to feed our Internet habits. It's been eye opening on this trip to see just how much I've come to take having the Internet in my pocket for granted. Having to write things down to google them later rather than on the spot has been an unusual but revelatory experience. I've had to use real maps made of paper, and guide books printed with ink. I feel very retro.
After we finally finished our long online lunch we headed out to the traditional Berlin tourist spots. First stop was the Holocaust Memorial, a field with over two thousand concrete "stelae" arranged around it. The stelae (big slabs of bare grey concrete) vary hugely in height and width and this combined with the undulating ground creates an illusion from outside that they are all uniformly waist height, but as you walk amongst them you quickly get overwhelmed by them and inevitably a little lost. I'm no art critic, and plan to do some googling (it's on the list) to read more about the artists intentions etc. I found the experience of wandering through the memorial disorientating and despite it heaving with other tourists, you often found you could see no one else and were seemingly alone. The area is open to the public in a square in the middle of the city, and I was also surprised to find no graffiti or litter anywhere. Either they take great care to keep the area clean and tidy, or more optimistically, people simply treat the memorial with the respect it deserves.
We wandered up the street from the memorial to the Brandenburg Gate, one of the world famous symbols of Berlin. After taking a few pictures (including one with a lovely young German gentleman who posed - uninvited - with me and even showed us his nipples!) and walking through from west to east and back we headed to the Reichstag for some more touristy snapshots. It was great to see these famous historical landmarks, but sightseeing with huge throngs of other tourists is never going to be Jojo's or my favourite thing. Maybe it makes us philistines, I'm not sure, but I think we'd agree we are more interested by people and neighbourhoods than historical buildings. One benefit of being awkward vegan eaters is that it forced us to move outside the centre of Berlin into the neighbourhoods to eat. It was these bits of Berlin that I enjoyed the most, and I know we only scratched the surface. Berlin and its Berliners seem lively, friendly and interesting and my favourite part of our trip so far. We will be back for sure.
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