Day 22: Berlin, Germany

We woke at mid-morning and made the 90 minute trek to our pick-up point for the "hop on/hop off" bus tour of Berlin. The entire tour takes two hours if you don't "hop off" (which we did in two places), and goes past 90 important/historical places in both East and West Berlin. It also goes past a few "unofficial" places pointed out by the driver, such as the nudist park!

As mentioned, we got off the bus for a better look at two locations. First was the famous "Checkpoint Charlie," a cross-over spot in the historic Berlin Wall. It was interesting to see the sign indicating "You are now in East/West Berlin," and the fake guards dressed up for tourists at the checkpoint. You can even pay to get a replica of the stamp in your passport they used to use.

Our second "hop off" point was the famous Brandenburg Gate. This was a very nice part of Berlin, with tons of people milling around, having snacks, taking photos, etc. The tour explained that Berlin is about 1/3 parks, and it appears to be a very attractive city, with an interesting mix of ancient and modern. It kind of reminded me of a combination of Chicago and New York.

We spent around three or four hours total on the tour. When we got off the bus at the final stop, there was a little street carnival going on, with a few rides and several cute shops with souvenirs, food, and beer. I got a snack and we walked around for a bit. It was fun to just see families having a good time in the city.

After our afternoon in the city, we made the journey back to the hotel, then I took a nap while Clint booked the rest of the hotels for the trip. We then grabbed some simple sandwiches in the hotel lobby and spent the evening getting some work done. It was an easy day, but we feel like we got to have a nice taste of Berlin. Tomorrow, we travel to Amsterdam.