Day 34 - Berlin, Germany

Morning: Today we will explore most of the sights in Berlin cos we planned to leave tmr so we got up at abt 9pm and left the apartment at abt 11:30am. But first we needed to do some researching for our next destination's couch in Prague, we have some trouble looking for a host there as 1 May is a holiday and lots of people are travelling during that long weekend. So we visited the internet cafe for an hour to do some homework, then we enquired abt the postage costs to send some of our things back home cos the extra stuffs are really weighing down on us. The costs worked out well so we decide to pack some things back tmr before we leave for Czech.

Afternoon: By the time we finish these housekeeping chores, it's already 1pm and we got lunch appt w Johannes at his office at 2pm! But first I've planned to visit 2 sites nearby before going so we hurried up to Potsdamer Platz. Tried to find the Hitler's Bunker nearby but couldn't find it so we walked on to the 2nd site along the way and it's called the Topography of Terror. It's built at the site where the Gestapo headquarters were and it's a long stretch of war stories with pictures of hanging, shooting, starving shown to the public. Pretty saddening again and we took a long time to finish that long stretch of exhibition. But we did kind of enjoyed this one more than the camp yesterday, prob cos it's more concise and easier to understand. Um we looked at the time and it's already 2:10pm so we quickly hurried down to wait for the bus to take us to his office nearby. The bus was late so everybody was getting impatient and then we all squeezed into the packed bus and after a few stops we got down to find his office building. Johannes' office is at the top floor and there's a beautiful balcony for time-out during work and his office has a great view of the city skylines. He brought us to lunch at 3pm to nearby Vietnamese restaurant and we ate outdoor. It was nice but I was never a fan of Vietnamese food so 'it's ok'. Went back to his office and drank coffee at the balcony before we leave for more sights in Berlin. Went to Checkpoint Charlie nearby and took lots of photos there, then we had to walk quickly to the square w 3 nice buildings there including the Opera House and 2 domes, took pics and walked on to Bebelplatz, where the famous book-burning memorial is there but we didnt see anything, jus a glass panel in the floor that shows underground empty bookshelves...went past Humboldt Uni, and then we saw all the beautiful buildings gathering at this focal point so we walked to the Museum Island, with fantastic architecture, strolled past the river and finally reached the huge Berliner Dom. By then it was already 6pm so we thot we can't make it in time, then we found out that it closes at 8pm so we counted ourselves lucky and paid to go in. And it wasn't wasted at all! The Dome is huge and beautiful, we covered all around the dom from the underground crypt to the topmost tower to view the city. We spent quite a fair bit of time in it and left abt an hour later to continue on the sightseeing, ate ice cream and went to the Red Town Hall and then to a beautiful fountain just next to the Fernsturm, a panoramic tower that is 'not the tallest in the world'.

Night: We took the train back to the Brandenburg Tor to reach the Reistag for its famous glass dome at abt 9pm and the queue is still very long even tho the last entry is at 10pm. We queued for about more than half an hour and finally got thru the heavy security check and went up to the glass dome. It's very architecturally beautiful and it's said to be the most visited Parliament House in the world which I believed so. We walked up the spiral walkway up the dome and it ended w a hole in the top and a round bench for all to lie down and stare at the sky. What a romantic place it is! We laid down the bench and stare at the night sky for stars and it is cooling and quiet up there. After relaxing for a while, we started down the spiral and went to the balcony for a walk and it still feels very good and nice to take a slow walk around, I'm not paying attention to the night skyline of Berlin cos we kind of saw enough on the Berliner Dom already, so it's jus enjoying the nice evening breeze and enjoying life. After a while, it's back to reality again and we took the lift down and hurried back cos it's already 11pm and we are extremely tired and hungry cos we couldn't find anytime to stop for dinner at all. But we still need to check our online stuffs for tmr if not we will have no place to stay at Prague so we stop by the internet shop and checked our mails for half hour before going back which is almost midnight already! I'm amazed we didn't die of hunger yet! Quickly cooked a meal and finished up before finally deciding that we are going to stay one more night in Berlin to make sure we find someplace to stay in Prague before leaving. Luckily Johannes is ok w it cos i guess all 3 of us have too much things to talk about to leave tmr....haaa....

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