Germany- Luther Tour, Day 2: Berlin-August 2, 2017

That was absolutely the worst night! I just don't know how other people, including my husband, manage to sleep on planes.
At about 6:15 CEST (Central European Summer Time), they served us breakfast, for which I had to wake my husband. He took a really nice picture out the window.

It was not long after they cleared the breakfast trays, that we were getting ready to land at Berlin Tegel. It was 7:21, when we touched down. We grabbed our hand luggage and headed out of the plane and up a long ramp in the terminal. At the end of the ramp, we saw this nice sign that let you start learning German immediately.

Surprisingly, right past the door after the signs, there were the lines for passport control. I helped a couple of people get into the correct, non-EU line with us. We had our passports stamped at 7:40 and went around the booth to find the luggage carousel was right there. The luggage wasn't, of course.
My husband found restrooms and I got in the ladies' line. Only 1 stall and a tight space around the sink. I decided to go ahead and brush my teeth. It helped me feel more human.
There wasn't much in the way of seating, but my husband managed to find one for me. My back just does not tolerate my standing for long. When our luggage came off, we were aghast to see that the handle at the top of mine had broken on one side. The luggage tag was gone and someone had moved the airline's flight tag to the side handle. The pull handle still worked, even though it was covered in duct tape from the cruise line breaking its cover last summer.
At 8:10, we were out in the main terminal and my husband went off to the information booth to see if they had anything of use to us. They did not, so we followed the signs for a long walk to the taxi stand.
As I said it, I showed the driver the name and address of our hotel on the list I'd printed for the trip. We were in the car and off at 8:24. He called someone, a partner or a wife, and I heard him trying to figure out where the hotel was. Even though it is called Crowne Plaza Berlin- Potsdamer Platz, it is not really on the Potsdamer Platz. So, I told him in German the name of the street, because it was clear that he didn't speak English and they couldn't figure out the location. He recognized the street name, which seemed to reassure him.
Now that he knew I spoke German, he started a conversation that lasted all the way to the hotel. We'd pass things that we didn't recognize and, when asked, he'd tell us about them. He brought up Trump, whom he liked very much. I kept saying he was crazy and a liar and he said they all were. He did not like his chancellor, Angela Merkel, and complained about the refugees that were being settled there. I was amazed that my brain handled German that readily on such a lack of sleep and my husband was thrilled and proud of me. I did have to look up one word, I will admit. I haven't had a conversation in German in over two years and that was with students. So, it's still in there somewhere.
We arrived at the hotel at 8:58 and the fare was 27,60 Euros. We rounded it up to 30, as is the custom.
This was well before check-in time and I really hoped that they had a room, because I needed it. We had our vouchers from the tour company for this night, which was added on to the trip. However, she found us in the system, so they were not needed. She had to find a room with our price point and I was very happy when she sent us to Room 115.
It was a very attractive room. I just loved the bathroom sink and decided to make it my first Facebook post. Anyone can post famous attractions, you know.

At 9:25, we went back downstairs, where my husband talked the new clerk at the front desk into letting us get breakfast. There was quite a spread at the buffet, which was a square with an open section in the middle for the chefs. There was bread, chocolate pastry, pancakes with syrups from Georgia, toast, cooked mushrooms, cooked tomatoes with cheese, bacon, scrambled eggs, potatoes,muesli, fruit, Beerengrütze (sort of stewed berries),yogurt,  so much cheese, cold cuts, cereals, and multiple fruit juices. I began my trip with my traditional breakfast of cold cuts on a wonderful German roll, in this case, a pretzel roll. My husband went for pancakes.

  

After this breakfast, I just had to take the nap that I have found so vital on the last couple of trips to Europe. It's just the only way I can keep moving for the rest of the day.

My husband got some recommendations from the concierge about things to see in the area and a restaurant for dinner near where we had to be in the evening. Putting umbrellas in his backpack, having checked the Weather Channel app using our free wifi, we headed out at 12:42, map in hand.

Not far from the hotel, we came upon the old main train station's facade that was left after the war. I immediately recognized it from a jigsaw puzzle I had done in a Berlin set on my iPad.

Farther on, we came upon a painted bear. The symbol of Berlin is the bear and like other cities, they'd placed painted ones around town. This one is called One World Bär by Anette Schulz. That is a tethered hot air balloon in the background.

We were soon walking along the Martin Gropius Bau. It's a lovely old building that is now used for exhibitions. I was fascinated by the bas reliefs around it depicting various crafts.

We worked our way around to the front of the building at 1:04. There were steps to be climbed both on the outside and the inside, of course. Europe just doesn't make much allowance for those of us who are having walking and climbing issues. We were here for a special exhibit called Der Luther Effekt, which seemed appropriate for us, considering the tour we'd be embarking on tomorrow. I liked the symbol up in the corner that I expected to see at many locations on the rest of the trip. I did indeed see it, but could not find it on a pin or postcard as I'd hoped.

My husband asked about the senior fee for entering, and found out he was too young. However, the clerk may have misunderstood his English, because we did get charged the senior rate of 8 Euros each. I found guides in English and German and he surrendered his driver's license to secure free audio guides for each of us. No photos were allowed, which was really unfortunate. The art installation alone was worth a photo. It was two-sided and was meant to represent the Catholic and Protestant views of faith. Quite cool.
Around the central floor, there was a walkway with presentations on the historical development of the Reformation. Then, on opposite sides of the hall were two exhibition rooms. On one side, they looked at Lutheranism in Sweden and Tanzania, which has the second largest number of Lutherans in the world after Germany. On the other, it was Korea and the US. For the US, they even had music from black churches. What really struck both of us and stuck with us was the suggestion that the US custom of selling liquor and putting it in brown paper bags was due to Protestant frowning upon liquor.
The shop was mostly a book store. I did manage to find a couple of postcards of art in the exhibition. There was also a section of Luther themed items, such as magnets, spoons, etc. I got a Playmobil Luther to go with my Playmobil Albrecht Durer that I got at the Prado a couple of years ago.
When we came out, we found that next door was the Typography of Terror. When I'd seen it on the map earlier, I was totally uninterested in seeing it. However, reading the sign, I discovered that it was the site of the remains of the Gestapo headquarters and had the remains of a section of the Berlin wall as well.

The exhibit was free, so we decided to check it out. We worked our way along the wall, reading the few signs under the glass, to the far end of the exhibit. As we walked along the exhibit under the glass, we found we were actually going backwards chronologically. Regardless, it told of the horrors that the Nazis inflicted on Jews, gypsies, gays, protestors, etc. The signs were in German and English and the exhibit was well-attended.

At 5:10, we were finished with the exhibit and we quickly found a taxi to take us to the restaurant recommended by the concierge. At 5:20, he dropped us off. The fare was 8, 30, which we rounded to 10 Euros. We were on a strip of street with restaurants on one side and tables under canopies on the opposite side along the river Spree. We had a little trouble figuring out which was the one that was recommended, but finally found Die Berliner Republik, and sat at a table that had a couple of people at the other end. When they left, I was able to get this shot of the Friedrichstraße train station.

Other than when I caught a whiff of cigarette smoke, it was really rather pleasant sitting there. We watched tour boats plying the waters and trains on the tracks above.
I ordered a half liter Radler mit Sprite (they usually aren't that specific about what is added to the beer for a Radler). My husband opted for a half liter Warsteiner. The restaurant is proud of its home-style recipes. I chose Rinderroulade "wie bei Muttern"(15,90 Euros), which was pretty good, but I like the one at West Virginia's Bavarian Inn better. He got Stolzer Heinrich for 13, 80 Euros, which was Berliner Bratwurst. We ended with an Apfel Strudel, which I stupidly failed to photograph. The bill was 43,80 Euros, which I suppose wasn't bad, considering it was the only meal we'd paid for all day.

After going across the street to the restaurant proper to use the restrooms, we left at 6:50. We had a nice stroll along the river, photographing as we went toward the Reichstag.

I liked the look of the new parliamentary buildings. Of course, we had to go all the way around three sides of the Reichstag to get to the security entrance. Back on the third of July, I'd gone on the Reichstag website to request tickets to the dome. I wanted an entry time close to sunset. Those were gone. The latest I could get was 7:30 and we had to get there by 15 minutes before to go through security. I had my printed letter ready, when we reached security at 7:10.
We found an unoccupied security guard and gave him the letter and our passports. He found us on the list and checked us off. We then went through the metal detector and our bags were scanned. We had to wait at the door of the overly warm security building for a few minutes. Eventually, we were escorted up the ramp and steps (!) to the front door of the building. Inside the tall glass doors, we headed for the elevator. A lot of folks fit in that elevator. I should have sat in the lone chair in it.
At the top, there was a desk with headsets. We got the ones with English and headed into the dome. I'd been looking forward to this for so long and I was not disappointed.

I'd done this picture on a jigsaw puzzle, too.
As you walk up the spiral ramp to the top, commentary is heard, triggered by something nearby. It did a really good job of telling you what you were looking at outside and about the chamber below. We had sunset views after all. We also had a cool view through the sunscreen that rotates around the dome during the course of the day. The Brandenburg Gate and the American Embassy next door were easy to see. The view down into the Bundestag was cool. The federal buildings had great nighttime lighting and there was even an explanation of the use of the oculus to exhaust heat from the building.

 

After you mill around at the top for a while, you head down the other spiral ramp to roam around on the roof. Once on the roof, we watched for rain and took photos of the city without worrying about the glass, as well as the dome and the requisite selfies. 

We got lucky and only a few drops fell on us. The audio guide was turned in back at the desk and we stood in the hot line waiting for the elevator. This time, I was in the front and decided the chair was meant for me. We were back down at 8:24 and looked, but there was no souvenir shop. Spying one across the street, we went there to get a postcard. We had to cross back over the street to go to the taxi stand. I took this shot before we got in the taxi at 8:37.

We were back at the hotel in just 7 minutes with a fare of 8,90 Euros, which we rounded to 10, of course. Thoroughly exhausted now, we headed for bed. Confident that we would be unable to sleep very well, we did not set an alarm.
What a great first day!