We are staying in Charlottenburg, in the heart of what was West Berlin.  Being a warm sunny Saturday, we decided to join the Berliners for a stroll through the local park.  Which just so happens to have a Palace in it.  Charlottenburg Schloss is one of the two most significant Prussian palaces in Berlin.  It was built at the end of the 17^th century and expanded during the 18^th century.  Badly damaged during WW2, it has now largely been restored.  Unfortunately most of the exterior is currently under scaffolding so we couldn’t see its full glory, and the interiors of the old palace are not currently open to the public.

We meandered through the extensive woodland garden first, including the Belvedere, a small private palace in the far end of the grounds.  A network of trails and bridges wend their way through the forest and around the lakes (it would be a nice park sprint map).  It was a pleasant shady place to be on a warm summer day.  Eventually we came to the formal garden, which was first designed in 1697.  It has been redesigned a couple of times since, but was restored to its original style after WW2.  There were some lovely cottage flowers and some striking red and white plantings.

We sat on the grass under a shady tree to eat our picnic lunch.  All of a sudden we heard a loud crash! bang! A mere 5 metres or so from where we were sitting, someone managed to run into a parked car, ramming it into the car in front and creating a real mess.  Luckily no-one was hurt but we got a fright, and the police were kept busy when a similar accident occurred shortly afterwards, by someone who slowed down for a stickybeak and was rear ended.

I had a look inside the part of the Palace that is open to the public – photography not allowed, but I snuck in a couple of the Golden Galerie before I was informed politely by the attendant.  There were some lovely wallpapers and furnishings and impressive collections of porcelain and silver.

We walked back via the shopping district on Wilmersdorfer Strasse, discovering excellent GF gelati in the process (we had to try it in the name of research of course.  We recommend both the strawberry and lemon flavours, and the non GF chocolate was pretty good too).

After dinner we decided to visit the TV Tower, which is the tallest structure in Berlin.  We wanted to see the views in daylight and at dusk, but we timed it wrong.  AlexanderPlatz on a Saturday night is a great place if you like a beer or 10, so we decided to come back another day.

Instead we took the opportunity to see the Brandenburg Tor and Reichstag by night.  After all we’ve been in Berlin for two days and haven’t seen either of these famous landmarks.

As you emerge from the subway station at Berliner Tor, you stop dead in your tracks.  It is absolutely massive.  That’s the moment when you know you really are in Berlin.

And if you think the Tor is big, the Reichstag (Parliament) is Ginormous.  I had no idea that the building was so imposing.

We heard some music and noticed that some of the nearby buildings were illuminated, so we wandered across to the river to see what was happening.  From June to October each summer, a sound and light projection operates on the side of the nearby Marie-Elisabeth Luders Building.  The film is a documentary about the history of Berlin, and the Parliament in particular, and is way better than that sentence makes it sound.  People gather on the steps outside the Reichstag to watch the illuminations, which tell a moving story very effectively.  We knew nothing about it and were lucky to stumble across it.

I think watching this was when I officially fell for Berlin.  There is no way that the people who live here will ever forget what happened during the 20^th century, but they can say “we will always remember the past, but at the same time we are reunited and looking to the future”.  In Australia we take our democracy for granted, and get frustrated at our political system, but the alternatives are far worse.