We were up early, and ate at our usual favorite place. Mom had a new couscous item that included lentils. I had the Bröetchen, sautéed veggies and egg dish she had yesterday along with the müseli. We both had lattes. We hurried off to The Dome and asked at the door about the section with English translation and were shown a small balcony area at the back, slightly above the rest of the congregation. We were greeted warmly and given audio guide type devices with headphones. The translator’s English was perfect and I suspect she had a script she was reading from as most of what she said wasn’t delayed, as if she was listening to what the person said before she spoke. The choral group from last night’s concert here provided the music and we heard a fair amount of the same Bach Mass that’s we heard last night. The sermon was given by the minister of the traveling choir’s church in Zurich. The part where he talked about a Ukrainian woman asking him for help at his church in Switzerland moved me to tear up. We received communion. We were given the choice of going up to the front and dipping our wafer in the communal cup or going to the side and having our wine on a small, separate cup. We chose the latter. We picked up our cups from a table next to the lay person who was pouring the wine. Our wafer was inside the cup. She poured white wine into the cup and we stepped aside, removed our masks, and consumed the wafer, drank the wine and put the cup in a basket before returning to our seats. The service was familiar, with most of the verbiage being similar if not exact wording of what I’m accustomed to at home.
After the service Mom and I spoke with the translator and thanked her for her assistance and asked where she learned her impeccable English. She was born and raised in New York and lives in Berlin because she met her husband who is a native German. When we left The Dome we saw an Art Market on the other side of the Lustgarten (Loost-garten) and walked slowly enjoying paintings, sketches, jewelry, and all sorts of other handmade items. We then continued walking down Unter De Linden towards the Brandenburg Gate, taking our time and looking in stores and finally seeing a cafe with outdoor seating to stop and have a sandwich and cold drink. Mom chose a wrap filled with cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes and a few small pieces of chicken. I had a “sandwich” that once again looked in the case to have more meat, tomato and cucumber in it than it actually did. Perhaps I’ll learn before we leave…
We crossed the street and walked in the middle section of this very wind street. We marveled at the long lines at the Dönner (gyro type sandwiches) stands. I should’ve held out to eat at one of these. That was the best sandwich I’ve had on this trip. We saw the Russian Embassy and a memorial in the middle island section which included flowers, signs and pictures for the Ukrainians who have been killed in the war with Russia. It was obviously placed across from the entrance to the Russian Embassy for full impact.
We found a bench in the shade to sit down and read about the Reichstag and its history in preparation for our 2:45 pm appointment time. We decided to begin to walk towards the Reichstag and walked through the Brandenburg Gate and across the street and cut through the Tiergarten (teer-garten) and found a WC for a quick bio break before ascending the glass dome. We presented ourselves about 10 mins before our reservation time and after checking our photo IDs and were allowed in early. We were ushered into a room with a glass door in front of us and a glass door closed behind us. There was a moment that we were enclosed before the glass doors in front of us opened. We were instructed to get into an elevator and an attendant rode up with us and told us which direction to walk once off the elevator. We picked up a brochure in English that turned out to be panorama pictures from 2 sides of the Reichstag and noted what the buildings visible beyond the Reichstag were. We walked up a large ramp all the way to the top of the glass dome and saw amazing 360 degree views! However, as we were warned, it was quite warm up there and we soon found ourselves descending to get out of the heat. The dome being built of glass is symbolic of allowing the citizenry to watch their Legislators, transparency. Germans can’t actually see into the chambers. When we got to the bottom we circled the center of the dome and read a history of the Reichstag and German political history. It was quite interesting.
We wound our way back the same route through the Brandenburg Gate and down the Unter De Linden to a spot in the courtyard that had a large piece of glass over a hole in the ground in front of Humboldt University that marked a spot where Hitler had ordered books to be burned. Approximately 20,000 books were burned in one night in 1933.
My feet were complaining greatly and I was walking slowly. After any agonizing walk back to the U-bahn and back to our hotel, I was looking forward to an authentic German meal at our hotel’s restaurant. Disappointment set in as we realized it was closed Sun. and Mon. I remembered it was closed when we arrived last Mon., but didn’t realize it is also closed on Sundays. After a short walk beyond the hotel to look further, we chose a vegetarian/Asian restaurant and ordered summer rolls that had noodles and fresh could’ve veggies wrapped in rice paper and an Udon bowl with veggies and flavorful broth. They were delicious and we shared both items. I had an Aperol Spritz and Mom had a shake with strawberry, mango and some spices in it. She enjoyed it a lot!
We stopped in our little shop next door and bought a couple of ice cream bars and a Berliner Weisse. The ice cream bar I chose had a chocolate candy coating that was of the candy I am familiar with from my trip to the Olympics in Norway in 1994 and like very much! I was sad I hadn’t seen it previously.
I hobbled back to the room and was a wet noodle until falling into bed at 11 pm. Just shy of 18,000 steps today.
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