Hello All

I opted for a hop on hop off bus tour today. I really needed an overview of this enormous city. So I hopped on at Potsdamer Platz and away I went with a jolly commentary from our guide. The bus stopped perfectly with the front half in what was East Berlin and the rear in the West. The line of the old wall is marked by a double brick line which snakes along and across the present road system. Potsdamer Platz which is now regarded as a ‘boom town’ was then part of the no man’s land, the death run.

How easily we now pass remnants of the wall which split families – including mine – and friends. Checkpoint Charlie so symbolic of freedom now seems little more than a photo opportunity. My head didn’t really know what to make of it. I so clearly remember the Wall coming down, just before No 1 son was born, and seeing it as a significant sign of better times to come. Now it is in its proper place. A part of history.

After one circuit I felt brave enough to disembark and go solo … for all of five minutes as I decided if one tour why not two? And I boarded a boat for a river borne trip on the River Spree. Apparently the River Spree is a very relaxed sort of a river meandering happily on its way. It is known as the slowest thing in Berlin. No wonder I liked it, think I could beat it into a poor second. Refreshed by a mug of hot chocolate and plate of kartoffel salad (potato salad – it was the only veggie thing on the menu honest!) I wondered what today’s post would be about.

I wasn’t feeling that I had got up close and personal to anything but I was really enjoying being a step removed and floating under countless amazing bridges and suddenly went all arty and started taking pictures of these wonderful structures, This bridge really impressed me.

A thing of beauty? just me? Look at that curved brickwork.

This riverine reverie was not to last. Emboldened by having two tours under my belt I set off on foot and headed in the direction of the Brandenburg Gate. Now on a bus this seemed REALLY close to the river boat trips. In reality it was quite a walk and I was beginning to lose heart when Hallelujah! A tour bus stopped.

On I hopped …. then like a crazy frog off I hopped. It wasn’t returning to the Potsdamer Platz as it was the last run of the day. Lip trembling feet screaming I set off in the direction the guide had indicated. Thank goodness I did because I could get up close and personal (careful, I am British you know…well half of me is) to the stupendous Brandenburg Gate,

And be able to notice the way transport has evolved in an ironic full circle. From horse drawn,

To people pedalled.

Yes, one or the other or both were very tempting to my tootsies but I told them (the toes not the carriages) to get a grip and walked on.

Along the route I passed the Holocaust Memorial (The Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe) a silent and powerful monument to a genocide we must never forget.

A cloud passed through my thoughts. But that is one of the many good things about traveling solo and walking. Time to think and no way to dodge the thoughts you would rather avoid.

But soon I was on familiar ground. Whoopee, Potsdamer Platz I love you. Then home straight back through Marlene Dietrich Platz.

I am sure these fellows were not there last night! No time to wonder where they had come from I was speeded by the need to spend a penny (several by this stage) and positively zipped the last leg of my walk and was ever so glad to see the hotel and those bonkers chairs in the lobby.

Until next we meet,

Moke xxx

P.S. Here is a vision to make you chuckle. For my party piece today I was leaving the hotel via the twirley door but forgot to get out and had to humiliate myself my going round again. It would not have been so bad except for my fly trapped behind glass impression as I tried to get out just after the opening. Of course the foyer was full to maximise embarrassment. I tried to walk off with as much dignity as possible but was crying with laughter at what a twit I had been. Dignity was impossible. Mx