Exploring close to base camp

German supermarket, how many words do you know?

View of Berliner Dom from room

All the old buildings in Berlin have bullet marks from WW2

Inside the magnificent church

The dome

Me at the top with great views of Berlin

The pigeons like the view

Trabant car usedin Eastern block countries, a cult icon now

View of River Spree from room

It’s the first full day in Berlin and off I go. Stop one is the Berliner Dom that has been staring me in the face since I arrived. I don’t really want to do another church but seems like the logical place to start till Jane arrives.

Berliner Dom has been around in its current version in 1894, badly damaged in WW2 and ending up on the wrong side of the wall the soviets nearly pulled it down in the 1970’s. Apparently it was too ostentatious. I like ostentatious. Dramas with Japanese tourists at the entry, but all is well and I am in. It looks nothing like the outside, all light and airy with gold and mosaics galore, a feast for the eyes. Beautiful. Cool multimedia guides with explanations about reformation and Lutherans and problems with holy communion. Starting to get some insights into Germany.

Now to climb the steps to the dome, it does not look that bad. Climb, climb, climb, my left knee is feeling it. A sign says there is a long way to go, do you really want to continue? Well, yes now I have started. The steps get narrow and steeper, then narrower and steeper. I run into some French people they say go ahead. Hmm, should I? We all end up going together and puffing our way up the last 1,000 steps. But its worth it, only a few tourists and pigeons make it all the way to the top. I can see into my room I really should have made the bed this morning. Much photo snapping ensues.

Berliner Dom was totally worth doing, I spent 1.5 hours in a place I had just planned to stick my head in.

Next stop is the DDR museum, that has ‘relics’ from the occupation zone. The funniest thing is a Trabant car. It was built to rival the VW and is primitive to say the least. I take some photos for two Americans who are obsessed with the car and then its my turn to drive, the windscreen has been turned into an interactive video of the streets of Berlin to drive. I get the accelerator working and crash into a gutter then I need to use clutch and get out of reverse, thankfully the yanks know how to do this and I am off driving the streets of Berlin in 1^st gear and revving the engine out. Toot toot.

Time to head back to base for rendezvous with Jane.

Update: News from home a Trabant car is driving around the world and is currently in Australia.