October 10 – Berlin

October 10, 2016 – Berlin
We had a nice breakfast at our hotel this morning. Carol and I left at 9 am to go to the Information Center to buy a 3 day transportation pass. We got to walk past the bombed out church which has been left as is to remind people about the destruction of Berlin in WWII. The Info center didn’t open until 10am so we headed to the meeting point for our walking tour. We were able to buy our passes at the train station. Our tour started by taking the train 5 stops to East Berlin. It turned out 99% of the tour was in East Berlin. Our 4 hour tour ended up being 5 hours but that was fine. Mike, our Kiwi tour guide, has lived in Berlin for 14 years and is married to a woman who lived in East Berlin under the socialist government. He was very interesting and really knows his history. We saw every highlight of Berlin and have good ideas on what to do the next 2 days. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe was very moving. It has 2711 pillars of different heights that you can walk through. The spot where the famous Berlin book burning took place has a memorial which is empty bookcases that you can view through a plexiglass window in the street.
We got back to the hotel after 4pm so we rested a little before dinner. We went to a pub where we both had beer and German food. Very good.
Tomorrow we are doing great a few museums and doing a tour of the Festival of Light which is in Berlin for just one week.