After a well needed sleep we were up at 06.30 for our first shore excursion. Got breakfast delivered to the room to save time and just made it to the briefing at 7.30am We were allocated group 5 led by our gorgeous german guide LISA (photo for Kristian) and headed across from the boat to hop on a special train which took us into Berlin (2.5 hrs). We got into bus 5 and started our tour - beginning with the East Side Gallery. Berlin was having an unusually hot day around 30 degrees. Artists from all around the world have painted on parts of the wall which has been preserved. Very moving and impressive. You can see the stones on the road where the wall used to be. Di is standing with one foot on the East and the other on the West. We then went to Check Point Charlie one of the main crossings between East and West Berlin. We toured around for an hour or so seeing Bebelplatz the home of the empty library in memory of all the Jewish books being burnt - the Potzdamerplatz where the first hole in the Berlin wall was made in 1989 - before going to a typical German Restaurant for lunch. We sat with a lovely couple from Somerset, and two couples from US. After lunch continued on seeing the Brandenberg Gate, the Charlottenburg Palace and the Holocaust memorial which is made up of 1200 blocks of concrete. Walking around it makes you feel invisible (as the Jews were made to feel). We arrived home late with the band music welcoming us (10pm). Instead of going straight to bed ended up at a barbecue around the pool for a late supper. Grabbed a crepe and took it back to the cabin to watch a movie and then slept very well.
No comments:
Post a Comment