The first thing to note about Tuesday was the welcome change in the weather. The day opened dry with clear skies, a gentle breeze and (thankfully) warmer temperatures. As I indicated previously we were still a bit tired so we started (and, as it happens, continued) slowly. Breakfast at what is now our regular spot (Espresso Eleganza on Unter den Linden btw) and we then set off to begin the day by visiting the Dom.
Note the blue skies in the above – still a bit chilly then but everything looked shiny! The interior of the Dom is just breathtaking – we are used too seeing ‘bling’ in the Catholic churches but not quite so much in Protestant. The following will hopefully give an idea.
Downstairs was the crypt – resting place of the Hohenzollern family. essentially the royals, emperors or rulers in general.
On emerging from the Dom there is the Lustgarten – home to (non functioning) water features.
Given we had no firm plans it was quite easy to decide to ‘be a bit more outdoorsy’ on this lovely morning so we chose to revisit (and have a better look at) the Seigesäule or Victory Tower.
Access to the tower is easy despite the massively busy roundabout thanks to subways so we ent up as far as the low level portico bit. We ‘could’ have done the many steps up to the top but decided against.
Those last two photos show the busy roads BUT also (if you zoom in) you can see jugglers ‘entertaining’ the traffic held at the lights.
It was approaching lunchtime by this point so a brief walk about in the Tiergarten and then a bus back to the hotel, a light lunch and a rest.
Tuesday evening’s meal was at a nearby restaurant that had (a) good reviews and (b) a menu that offered some tasty choices. Pitched in the advertising as a ‘small, family bistro’ the reality, though not unpleasant, was way more modern, noisy and youth orientated. We are pretty certain we upped the average age significantly! The service was friendly & efficient, the food good (steak frites for me, moules marinieres for Ally) and the crème brûlée very good indeed (the booze soaked slices of plum were a wonderful addition).
Wednesday is planned to be very much slow one with maybe a visit to some other landmarks and definitely a tapas lunch. Because we have an early start on Thursday (7am train from Hbf) we will get the majority of our packing done this afternoon in preparation. This Berlin to Paris service is direct into Paris Est (ideal for our return to Le Robinet d’Or for our overnight) but it is scheduled to take 7 hours and 45 minutes and, the majority of the trip being in Germany, some delays would be normal/expected. That is a heck of a long time on one train for sure but it being direct suits us as does the timing.
More to come on our final day when I round off the whole trip
Retired Software Testing expert. Archetypal Grumpy Old Man with the potential to be irritated by just about anything under the sun
Assorted ramblings 
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