Onto Berlin!

First stop, Reichstag. Completed in 1894 it was the seat of parliament in the Kaiserreich and the Weimar Republic. The little tourist card I've got mentions the fire that destroyed it in 1933, but fails to mention (IIRC) that the Nazi party torched it and blamed it on the Jews which then allowed them to sweep to power. The Allies helped to raze it some more, it was reconstructed in the 1970's and then remodeled by Sir Norman Foster in 1999. The queue to enter the building, and view from the glass dome, was immense so we didn't bother.

The Brandenberg Gate was built in 1794 and is crowned with the Godess of Victory. It was marooned in no-mans-land when the Berlin Wall divided the city, but was reopened in December 1989.

After WW2 the Allies divied up Berlin. East Berlin went to the Soviets and became part of the German Democratic Republic. West Berlin was split between France, Britain and America. Checkpoint Charlie separates the American and Soviet sectors. The original was dismantled long ago, this copy was reconstructed in 2000.

At the height of the cold war the GDR were a bit miffed at all the people crossing to West Berlin to flee the socialist dream, so they built a wall in 1961. Initially just breeze blocks at the end of streets, and using building facades with blocked doors and windows to form barriers, the wall developed over the years to the graffiti'ed concrete and razorwire strip overseen by watchtowers. It stretched over 155km and contained over 200 towers, and at least 234 people lost their lives on it, the documents are a bit sketchy. At every souvenir shop you can buy your own original piece of concrete wall, each one with bright, fresh paint on it as if it was only made yesterday. Hmm.

Gendarmenmarkt is supposedly one of the most beautiful squares in Europe. One one side lies the Deutsche Dom (German Cathedral), another the Schausoielhaus (a theater) and on the third side the Franzosisiche Dom (French Cathedral) seen here.

Our route then took us to the eastern side of the Under den Linden (beneath the limetrees) looking back along to the Brandenburg Gate. There are famous theatres, libraries, museums and university building as well as the usual shops located along the mile length.

Back on the bus and Alex's choice for the afternoon, the Aquarium. It might be called the Aquarium, but it's no Sealife Centre, belonging to Berlin Zoo. The zoo is a separate ticket, but in the aquarium we also saw reptiles.

There were tame carp to stroke.

Some single cell lifeforms.

We found Nemo.

And jellyfish.

Lionfish.

And this little eel, with his 2 (or more, not sure how many) friends who were hilarious. They'd pop out of the sand and rise vertically like a periscope, look at us, and then lower themselves down again for another to do the same 6' away.

We headed back to camp and decided to eat at the camp restaurant.