Our final full day in Berlin…

We began today’s excursion at Checkpoint Charlie, the border crossing between the American and Soviet sectors in Berlin.  Given my “aha” moment yesterday, this site made so much more sense to me than it did before this trip.

From Checkpoint Charlie, we meandered down Friedrich Straße and enjoyed cold beverages at a cafe.  Yep, another hot day – and even hotter than the previous days in Berlin!

After relaxing at the cafe, we visited the French Dome, German Dome, and Konzerthall (Concert Hall) on Gendarmenmarkt.  Next stop:  the chocolate shop Rausch with models – made out of chocolate, of course, of Brandenburger Tor, Reichstag, and the Alexander Platz TV Tower.

We then continued down Unter den Linden, a boulevard running from the City Palace to Brandenburg Gatethat is named after the linden (lime) trees that line the grassed pedestrian mall on the median and the two broad carriageways.  In this neighborhood, we saw a statue made by Käthe Kollwitz of a woman cradling her dead son.

One of my favorite activities in Berlin involved climbing the 270 steps up to the dome on top of the Berlin Cathedral and being rewarded with a 360 degree view of the city.

Our final activity in this part of the city took us to Alexander Platz where we saw the famous TV Tower, the Red City Hall (Rotes Rathaus), and the World Clock (Weltzeituhr).

For our late lunch, we dined at one of Jutta’s favorite Vietnamese restaurants in the Bayrischer Platz, Pho 12.

Next we wandered over to Volkspark and drank cold beverages in Laax, a funky garden cafe.

After a rest in the flat, it was time to bike to dinner:  ice cream!!!  We couldn’t leave Berlin without a final trip to Victoria Eis!