Berlin Day 5 : Models, live and otherwise

Monday, weekend over, shops open again. Time to go shopping!

Actually, it didn't turn into much of a shopping expedition at all. For starters, the weather had changed. We'd begun with bright, sunny days and pleasantly warm temperatures. This morning it turned wet and cloudy and chilly and altogether rather unpleasant. We went to the general Ku-damm area, beginning in Wittenbergplatz and KaDeWe, then went next door to P&C. It was all very much the same as any other city, and nothing much took our fancy. Thinking that something a bit more down-market might be a better and more authentic bet, we moved on to the Europa Centre, but that, too, wasn't up to much. It was somewhere during all this toing and froing that I caught this shot of Carl with one of the left-over Berlin bears. The context was more accidental than intended, but I like the way it's turned out.

This was Gala Dinner night, so we needed to get back to the apartment at a reasonable hour to get ready and make our way to the restaurant. We ate in the place I'd booked earlier, and it turned out to be the perfect spot for a group get-together. The only downer on the night was Iceland and its volcano and its ash cloud. There'd been news earlier about a likely airport shut-down in Ireland tomorrow, and flight cancellations were confirmed by text message during the meal. Luckily, Carl and I were on a longer stay than the rest, so we remained unaffected.

The remaining two of our group joined us when their concert finished, in time to join the final stages of the meal. As the only ones staying in the immediate area, Carl and I made a bit of a night of it afterwards, sampling a good few of the local bars in the process.