Central Europe Trip: Monday 10 June 2013

I awoke still full of cold, but at least the sore throat had left me. In need of coffee I walked from our hotel to the Starbucks by Checkpoint Charlie. I decided on the walk that, as we had just the one full day in Berlin, I had to make the most of it and rise above the fact that I felt unwell, after all the sun was shining and it was a glorious morning.

Back at the hotel Rob was awake and he had already planned where he wanted to take me for a "birthday breakfast", a "Full English" at East London Café' which was just a few stops on the U-Bahn (the Berlin underground) from our hotel. His research however did have one flaw, opening times, we got to the café at about 8.45 and the sign on the door notified us that they didn't open until 10:00, so we had some time to kill.

We walked a few yards up the road to Café Tinto and enjoyed Kaffee und Küchen (coffee and cake) alfresco watching the Berliners go by. (I refer to the citizens of Berlin and not the jelly doughnuts). From here we walked a few streets to Viktoriapark and took a path that led to a monument at the top of a waterfall, from here we had a great view back over the city. By the time we had walked back to East London Café it was 10:15, we both ordered the "Full English".

After breakfast we took the U-Bahn to Mohrenstraße station, from here we walked past the site where Hitler's bunker is buried, then we walked a little further to the Holocaust Memorial. This to me, is a huge, stark and confusing array of grey concrete blocks. I guess that was the effect that the architect was going for, after all this is, The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. From here it was just a short walk to the Brandenburg Gate.

At the Brandenburg Gate there was a huge crowd of people, mingling in the morning sunshine and taking photos' of this impressive landmark to the sound of a Bruno Mars song being song by street performer. This lifted the mood somewhat and soon we were back on track to our next stop which would lift us even higher, 666 feet to be precise, the height of the visitors platform of the 1,207 feet tall Fernsehturm Berlin (TV Tower).

Unfortunately we should have pre booked tickets to go up to the visitors platform, buying them at the tower would have meant a wait of about 2 hours. On my next visit to Berlin I shall pre-book tickets and take in the city from this vantage point, however on this day we were content to have ice cream in the square below the tower and take photos of the tower from terra firma.

From here we headed back to Checkpoint Charlie, and then back to our hotel for a couple of hours to allow me to recuperate as we were meeting up with Ioana, a friend of Rob's who has lived in Berlin for the past 7 years.

We met Ioana as planned at 17:30, our first stop was Café Atlantic where we managed to get a table in the sunshine on the street, we ate and had several drinks. Ioana suggested that as it was such a lovely evening that we should get "beers to go" and enjoy them at Tempelhof Park.

The park was formerly Berlin Tempelhof Airport, an important airport of the Nazi government in the mid 1930's. Tempelhof ceased operating as an airport in 2008 and is now a park to be enjoyed by the locals, one area is designated a safe haven for skylarks, there is a BBQ area and numerous plots cultivated for growing vegetables and plants by the locals. We enjoyed our beers and watched, together with many Berliners, as the sun set on a perfect day

However the evening was not yet over, so from Tempelhof Park we went for teas/coffee and something sweet at Smyrna Kuruyemis a Turkish Café in what I described as an "edgy" district of Berlin, Ioana said that this district was now "hip" and quite safe.

After this we walked along the banks of the River Spree canal, this was very peaceful and a great way to wind the evening down. In this setting it is easy to assume that you are no longer in Germany's capital. Berlin is a wonderful and welcoming city that seems to run at a much slower pace than London but nevertheless gets things done with German efficiency.

From here we caught the train back to our hotel, we said our goodbyes to Ioana on the train as she had a few more stops before reaching her home. This was a fabulous day and was made even better with Ioana showing us a side of Berlin not normally shared with tourists, thank you Ioana.

Looking up the waterfall at Viktoriapark