The Wall and City tour day.  We had a great breakfast at a pastry shop - Kamps.  Seriously good stuff, but I'm sure we will need to walk all day to burn the calories!   We visited a section of the wall that has been left relatively undisturbed and stands at the base of the Nazi Terror Museum.  A strong reminder that this happened in our lifetime - hard to fathom.

We bought tickets to the City Tours Hop on Hop off bus to get a good overview of the City.  We love doing this in big cities as this is a great way to take in the sites and get the lay of the land for the rest of the trip.  On the bus we began a full day of touring the sights; there is sooo much to take in - Gerdarmenmarkt, East Side Gallery, Alexanderplatz, Berkiner Dom, Brandenburg Gate, Tiergarten, Victory Tower,  and viewing so much more.  Berlin is a very gray city.  There is a strong mix of new buildings intertwined with the old buildings that made it through the war.   I prefer the small quaint Germanic towns we saw three years ago to the big city life.

All of us were fading in the late afternoon; doing the "head bob" sleeping on the bus sitting up.  Off the bus, a stop for a quick energy cookie at Kamps, then a walk back to the hotel to freshen up before dinner.  We had spied some nice looking restaurants and shops earlier in the day along the Spree River only a short walk from our hotel.  We sat outside near the river and had a beer and more German food: fried meat, potatoes and gravy.  We've decided that breakfast is by far our favorite meal.  The Germans have mastered pastries but "not so much" with the dinner menu.   More walking around looking at the sights, a quick homemade ice cream and back to the hotel for hopefully some sleep. (but since I'm writing this in the morning I can tell you sleep was not a good visitor in our room last night)  Should we blame the sleep issues on age, or on jet lag? Either way none of us are sleeping well yet.

Standing at a section of "the wall" 

Art work close to the wall - it made me feel sad

Perhaps three women peering through to "the other side"

Bricks laid to replicate where the wall once stood

Crazy bicycle art - bikes are a huge mode of transportation

Gerdarmenmarkt - the building used for concerts

 with the courtyard used for various activities

Beautiful lilacs

It's us!!!!

Open air art on portions of the wall

Locks of love are a big thing in Europe

Standing in front of the Brandenberg Gate

Jewish Memorial 

Obama Erkel Axel Rose - No disrespect intended

Our name for this statue - looked like Obama with Erkel pants