Potsdamer Platz

Wow what a day! We headed off early to Heathrow for our weekend break to Berlin. For Annie, the greatest excitement of her trip so far (and possibly at all) was the 'pod' from the airport parking to the terminal. It's essentially a small electric toy car which trundles along between rails, all by itself, big enough for 2-4 people. She asked if we could ditch Berlin and just play on this all weekend. She says she knows she needs to get out more.

After a delayed flight we landed in sunny Berlin. Checking into our hotel, I (Chris) was amazed to find a 6 storey high fish tank in the middle of the hotel. Our room looks out on the fish swimming around. We headed out for a stroll to the Brandenberg Gate and then on to the TV tower. Travelling at 6 metres a second up the tower (apparently) we had a wonderful dinner in the revolving restaurant at the top.

After dinner we took the U2 line of the U-Bahn to Potsdamer Platz (seen here in the blip). With bars and nightlife in the area it's got a real buzz to it. It's a relatively new set of buildings grown from the death-strip that separated East and West Berlin for 28 years. We stood outside for a while contemplating the slices of the Berlin Wall that were placed along its original path. This is such a great city: mixing a fun vibrancy with so much razor sharp, poignant history.

We walked along the path of the wall back towards the Brandenberg Gate but took a diversion on the way. We found ourselves standing in front of an innocuous looking residential car park which was previously the site of Hitler's bunker. It was truly chilling to think of the history tied up with this few square metres of land. How many bits of land can boast such a history changing event?

Just up the road was the Holocaust memorial. It's a simple but troubling maze of 2711 concrete plinths of varying heights. Wandering through them, especially in the dark, gave you a sense of fear, hopelessness and foreboding.

Back to the hotel having properly settled into this city today.