GERMANY ADVENTURE  - Day 6

We learned some more things today:

1.         German people can be nice.  While walking along the KuDam (major exclusive shopping strip), Dea stumbled on a curb and went down to her hands and knees.  Almost before she touched the ground, three young men had picked her up again.  She was quite frightened, but not injured.  Little scrapes on her knees but no blood, no scuffs on her slacks.  All is well, but it was frightening.

2.         The 10-minute walk in the morning to catch the subway takes almost 20 minutes coming back in the evening when we are hot and tired.

3.         It is important to read menus and labels very carefully.  For example, don’t buy a brat from an Italian vender in Berlin – ick!  And read labels carefully.  Last night I thought I’d buy a couple bottles of beer to bring back to the hotel for the evenings.  Saw “Wahrsteiner” on the label.  I’ve had that beer before and enjoyed it.  When we got back to the room, I also discovered that Wahrsteiner makes a product like Mike’s hard lemonade.  Not bad, but not good when you’re expecting beer!

As for the rest of the day, it was a beautiful sunny and warm day – a perfect day for a Goldwing ride.  Too bad mine is at home!  This was intended to be primarily a shopping day, even though we didn’t really need anything.  Just wanted to walk the KuDam (Kuhrfurstendam = the elector’s street).  It is a very exclusive shopping district.  It’s also very close to the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedachnis Kirche, which we visited.  This used to be a very large church built in memory of Kaiser Wilhelm I, right in downtown Berlin.  The allies bombed the daylights out of it in November 1943.  Virtually all that remained was a bombed out steeple.  They decided to leave that as a monument to the destructive power of war.  They  built a new, very beautiful and modern church right next door, that is virtually solid cement and stained glass on all four walls.  The “broken tooth” old steeple was in serious danger of collapse, so they built a shelter around it and are in the process of conserving and strengthening it.  That means we didn’t get to see the ruin, but we had seen it before.  It will be nice when the covering is removed next year when the project is finished.  There are some very moving displays and descriptions in the memorial room that is still open.

            We discovered on our actual shopping trip that the little shop in the Europa Center where I have bought many of the little carved angel musicians that Dea has, no longer exists.  I really wanted to visit the shop again and purchase a couple more.  Too late.

            We did stop in a drug store and bought some hair conditioner and soap for Dea, then stopped in a department store and bought a couple T-shirts for me – I thought I had plenty along, then discovered about two nights into our trip that several were long-sleeved t’s, and I wanted short sleeved!  That’s the extent of our purchases.  Not what you’d call a productive shopping trip, but the people watching was fun.

            While we were in the store buying my shirts, several (I think Russian) ladies crashed the checkout line in front of us.  The check out system was not good – three lines for the whole first floor of the store!

            We walked through part of the KaDeWe, which is second in size only to Harrod’s in London.  It is amazing what you can buy there – I think that if you can think of it, you can buy it there.  So we didn’t buy anything!

            We tried to close the day by visiting the rebuilt German Reichstag.  WE finally figured out how to get there, only to discover that you need a reservation to be admitted, which we of course didn’t have.  So we caught the subway back to the hotel.

            Tonight we pack.  Tomorrow we are going to Potsdam to visit another magnificent palace, then we will drive to Wittenberg, where we will be stationed for the next two weeks.  Love to all.