Woken at 0400 by the sounds of thunder...took a look out of the bedroom window. Great gusts of wind were toying with the birch trees outside, and playing havoc with the sun screen curtains in the neighbouring block of flats, and there were occassional bursts of lightning overhead. It looked like an Allied bombing raid! Managed to get back to sleep. Alarm at 0745. Got up and did some packing before descending to the bistro for breakfast.
We checked out after breakfast, leaving our baggage in a back room, and ventured out for a last look at central Berlin. Aimed for Mies van der Rohe's Neue Nationale Galerie...took a bus, and walked from Potsdamerplatz. Paid to go in to the Gerhard Richter exhibition. The 91 year old German artist has donated 100 works to the Galerie, among them four panels which featured blown up photos of bodies being burned at Birkenau, which he over-painted to obliterate the offending images from history. It was very moving.
Wandered round the rest of the gallery, but couldn't access the sculpture garden. Took a bus to Friedrichstrasse for a walk past Checkpoint Charlie, then zigzagged our way back to the hotel. Had soup for lunch in the little cafe opposite the hotel, then collected our baggage and headed for the U Bahn...got caught in rain on the way, but were lucky to miss the worst of it...it absolutely poured down whilst we waited for our train, rattling the station platform roof. Changed for the S Bahn at Warschauerstrasse, and got to the airport in good time to check in and go through security.
Smooth ride into London City Airport, which meant circling above central London so as to approach the runway from the west, eliciting some great views of the Thames. Got a DLR train to Bank, then Northern Line to Kings Cross, where we picked up a No.91 bus home. Aki cooked a pasta carbonara for dinner, and we unpacked and rested up before I got to soak in the bath before bed...I need a holiday!
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