Our apartment was fine for our needs and located in a great area near Checkpoint Charlie. After a big day it was good to get some sleep but have to say the traffic noise may be a problem when not so tired, even though on 7 th floor. It is I. A busy part of town with a lot of night life I suggest.
A nice light breakfast set us up for the 30 min walk to the Television Tower for our 4 hr Segway Tour. And the skies were grey and a tad leaden. Forecasts were not promising. This is our 3rd Segway tour together and we simply love them as a way to see the highlights quickly and then return to selected sites for longer visit . Berlin is a flat city so great for Segway with plenty of bicycle lanes. Ok, you assholes on bikes here is another clip around the ear for you- get off the bloody footpath and use the designated lanes ya clowns. A couple of nervous moments crossing busy roads mind you but we all made it.
Anyhoo our guide Walid from City Segway was great. He was an openly gay man from Bangladesh and had a quick wit and encyclopaedic knowledge on Berlin history. We had a group of about 9 in all which was about the max you would want. We saw many highlights over the tour and will return to most. The most impressive aspect though is what we learnt about this rather fascinating city and country. There is always renovating or building going on so a lot of scaffolding around. Walid’s favourite joke usually was this building was built in 1839 and again in 2006. Obviously there was also a lot of damage during WW2.
The weather remained ok during our tour and dare I say may have even become almost passable temperature wise. We had our first , and likely last, Currywurst for lunch which was fine especially washed down with a cold beer. Tonight we have a prebooked dinner atop the TV tower so hopefully any rain stays away.
All in all an excellent first day in Berlin which left us with several places to explore further in coming days. But first a day trip to Dresden tomorrow.
flashman181 