Day 5

Weather: 20'C

Our last day in Berlin. True to form we started at tourist sights early this morning. First revisiting Bebelplatz and the book burning memorial and then moving onto the Berliner Dom (Lutheran Berlin Cathedral). Another beautiful building mostly destroyed in the war and rebuilt in the years since. You can walk up the dome for a great 360' view of Berlin. Unfortunately it was much colder today, sunny but with a cold wind, and (having been lulled into a false sense of security over the last few days) I didn't bring my coat. We had to

return to the hotel directly afterward for me to change into something warmer.

We thought we'd get a bit of shopping in before leaving Berlin tomorrow so we wandered the Bikini Berlin Mall. Although I had promised myself I would not buy anything unless I absolutely loved it, I did come across a few items I did absolutely love and so it was a slightly more expensive trip than expected. I just didn't convert to AUD so it didn't feel so bad. Continuing the shopping theme we moved to the more serious end of town with Prada, Burberry and the like, but we only window shopped down this end of town. The highlight was the Christmas shop full of beautiful nutcracker dolls and cuckoo clocks. Of course we did take the obligatory selfie with the full size nutcracker doll.

The highlight of the day, for Geoff certainly, was the Hertha vs Bayer Leverkusen football match at the Olympiastadion this afternoon. Amazing crowd, and so loud. The home team lost 6:2, which was disappointing but this did not dissuade the high spirit partying that went on all the way home on the train. Certainly an experience I'll not forget, the European crown really know how to cheer.

Anyway safely tucked up in my hotel bed in my tracksuit pants as I type this. We may get a second wind and venture out once the sun

goes down, to check out Berlin on a Sat night after dark - it is our last night here after all.