Follow the Hoff

  

Who remembers the Hoffmeister advert from the 1980s, follow the bear? This isn't about that but plenty of bears for you to follow if you want to in this City. But as you see, this relates to a far bigger beast.

Much more rested than yesterday but somehow didn't make the day completely restful, far from it. Started off OK with the  Inn buffet breakfast, lots of bacon rolls in my case, not sure where they sit on the athlete diet calculator, but presumably not near the top. Hey ho holiday... 

I did go out straight for a run after breakfast which would not be something I normally do on a full stomach, but it worked out OK. Ran down to the embarkment point for yesterdays river cruise, and then ran along the river, crossing over at one point thinking I might be hitting west berlin but it turns out museum island still the east, so think it was an entire east Berlin run.  Turning point was with the Reichstag in the background so wouldn't have been too far away, the cartographers can work it out!

Mid morning when back to the hotel and plans for a day light on feet was the thinking. Probably not an ideal start with a run now looking back on it, but the thought was there!  Having looked up quirky and top things to do in Berlin was pleasantly surprised to see we had done quite a few between this visit and last, Templehoff airport was number one on that particular list.  Not far off top spot and slightly more leftfield was a 'museum' dedicated to David Hasselhoff.  He's kind of a big deal out this way, and part of the major New Years Eve celebrations just after the wall came down in 1989. I wouldn't sell the museum as anything more than a few exhibits in a basement but all key achievements covered including Baywatch, Knight Rider and his Cock Rock musicianship.  Married to a welsh girl too I gather, so plenty of reasons to visit.

After that our walk took a far more serious turn as we followed the recommendations of Haydn yesterday to visit a famous street that provides real visual insight into how life was during the time of the Wall and the efforts to cross from east to west. A few portions of wall, several indications of where the wall ran, and so many personal stories of the people who lived on or next to this road when it was being erected.  Talk of literally leaning out of windows waving at family, jumping off the buildings adjoining west berlin as they had become boarded up, albeit in the very early days they could almost escape by walking out their front door on this street, or inviting friends around to do the same!

Further down Bernauer Straße was a memorial and history that talked through the winds of change from 1962 to 1989 across Berlin and then Europe.  Again the stories of human courage and character really shone through against the usual backdrop of repression and cruelty. Do we ever learn? The reconstruction of a watch tower and a segment of the wall a decent reminder of the physical barriers we put up once our political differences become irreconcilable or dictated by the power hungry, rather than deep philosophers.

Having soaked that up we continued our walking tour to another point of interest, the palace of tears at the main station in Berlin.  En route to that we did take a breather in a coffee shop, the espresso chain, now owned by Sabrina Carpenter? Quick croissant and coffee, not really drinking much water today either, but did manage a smoothie. This really isn't the best preparation... did enjoy taking in street art and history though.

Museum Island has many reknowned repostries of art and literature from across cultures, but we kept the Wall theme going today to see the place where many families said goodbye to loved ones as they got on the train to 'the west' in Friedrichstraße railway station Built on many of the stories we had been reading about through the day , but the reconstructed passage after checkin along with many of the suitcases packed with stories of the time made for an interesting , oh and free experience.

The last part of our walk today was retracing my earlier run and indeed our river cruise yesterday, a part of the city we can now say we are very familiar with. Some random statues had caught my eye a few times, so I went and had my picture with them as they felt like old friends by now.

Finally we could make our way back to the hotel although the walking not entirely over. Caught up with Lliswerry (and Caerleon) runners for a pre race Italian in the evening about 15 mins walk from our hotel. It appears unlike Turkish restaurants, Italian must be less in number in Berlin, lucky we had booked into Impasto Rosso. By the time we were encouraged to leave the queue was massive. (thanks Chris!!) But pasta and non alcoholic beer hopefully helpful as talk did begin to turn to the main event tomorrow, a few nervous and excited people I think ( hadn't realised it is a 40,000 + runner event) and an early night with some sleep and reflection on a busyish day..