It was time to join the tourist crowds and visit the main sights of the central city, as well as a few miscellaneous things on our list.  First, we returned to the Reichstag and Brandenburg Tor in daylight, both still massively impressive.  We couldn’t climb the glass dome of the Reichstag, as you have to book well in advance (something like 2 weeks), so we had to admire it from ground level.  It was rather cool the way so many people relax on the expansive grass outside.  And do you think if you lived here, you would ever get used to walking under the Tor?

Nearby is the Holocaust Memorial, starkly unusual with its 2700 fallen concrete blocks or stele, its many orderly rows forming a maze.  The ground underneath undulates so the level keeps changing.  The design has not been without its critics – it took many years, and several competitions, before agreement was reached.

There were small tour groups everywhere.  We noticed several standing in what appeared to be an unkempt car park.  This turned out to be the site of Hitler’s Bunker, where he spent his last few months as the Russian army drew closer, and where he committed suicide as Berlin fell to the Allies.  The site is marked only by an information board.

We visited one of the few remaining watchtowers from the Wall, hidden away behind Potsdamer Platz, then an anti-aircraft flak tower, situated in a park north of the city at Humboldthain.  The park featured a lovely formal rose garden, and the remains of the flak tower now form a lookout popular with joggers (being on one of the few hills in Berlin), and rock climbers.  There were three such towers erected in Berlin in 1940, to defend against Allied air attacks, and to act as air raid shelters for thousands of civilians.

After lunching opposite the Berlin Cathedral, prominently situated on Museum Island, we made haste to the DDR Museum.  This very hands-on exhibition gave a good idea of what everyday life was like behind the Wall.  It covered all aspects from home life, school and work, transport, food, fashion, recreation and holidays, media and entertainment, as well as politics and economics.  You could “drive” a Trabi, learn to dance the Lipsi (an antidote to the evils of rock & roll), oversee a factory production line, or cast a vote in an East German election.  Some of it was tongue in cheek, and most of it was pointedly critical of the GDR.  Once again you were left wondering why they went to so much effort for such futility.

In search of an English bookshop, we strolled through Prenzlauer Berg, a gentrified district of East Berlin.  It looked a very pleasant place to live.  There was even a water tower, converted to apartments.  Berlin has surprises around every corner, and nothing can be pigeonholed or easily categorised.  Walk down any street and you’ll see dozens of different architectural styles side by side.

“Where’s the tower climb?” I hear you ask.  We returned to the TV tower, and waited our turn to ascend (by elevator thank goodness, as it’s a climb of 900-something steps).  The 360 degree view was amazing from our height of just over 200 metres.  There are no fancy glass floors or cubes, just 60 panoramic windows.  We circled the tower several times and watch dusk fall and the lights come on.

We made our way home after 10pm, ravenous as lunch was about 9 hours ago.  Our train inexplicably terminated after 2 stations, and we all had to change to a regional train which was full of bemused commuters.  We often eat late after streetO, but 11pm is possibly a new record.