The Philharmonie

We're in Berlin primarily for musical reasons, on the annual trip with the music group. I'm booked for three events. Billy Budd in the Deutsche Oper last night was the first, and a concert this afternoon in the Philharmonie was the second. The Philharmonie in Berlin is one of the world's greatest concert halls, a trail- blazing design by Hans Scharoun from the 1960s. Its acoustics are legendary, and were proved to us this afternoon.

The first half of the concert (Mozart's piano concerto no. 25, with the American pianist Richard Goode as soloist) wasn't all that great, but the main work which comprised the second half was wonderful. It was Bruckner's 6th Symphony, played by the Deutsches Sinfonieorchester Berlin, conducted by Herbert Blomstedt, a glorious performance which will live long in the memory. What a hall, and what a performance!

Carl had gone on a sight-seeing boat trip was I was at the concert, and we met afterwards in the Sony Centre on Potsdamer Platz. We cut things a bit fine by lingering there longer than we should, so we're a bit rushed getting back to the apartment and getting ready for the grand gala dinner, a traditional get-together of the entire travelling group when we go on these trips. We were in Trilogie restaurant, near Martin-Luther Straße, which does a Greek menu. The food was okay, but service was very bad, both slow and inattentive. Carl and I went in afterwards for a couple of drinks in one of the bars near out apartment, just to cheer ourselves up after the disappointing meal.