Berlin

After lunch, we headed straight for Berlin. The countryside was nothing special but I don't mean that in a bad way, just that it was typical fields, trees, wind farms, crops and very few livestock. Traffic certainly built up as we came into Berlin itself. Streets are generally wide and first impression is good, although there are lots and lots of grey buildings. Our hotel for the next three nights is the Intercontinental which is 5 star but roomie and I aren't that impressed as the bathroom has the most bizarre layout - there is a window with a small Venetian blind immediately over the bath, which looks into the bedroom. Might be useful if you are lying in the bath and want to watch the tv on the bedroom wall, but otherwise a bloody silly idea. The light switches defy logic and the shower taps were designed by a drunken Irishman for sure because at any one time you can have the bath tap running while the overhead shower drips cold water and all you want is hot water from the hand held shower, and as the shower is over the bath you have to pole vault up and over into the bath as it is so damn deep. Even I have to practically use a step ladder to be able to get in and out of it .... just not our idea of 5 star and to make matters worse for my roomie, the only tea offered is Earl Grey and you may as well boil up your perfume than drink that awful stuff...Anyhow, Matej gives us an hour long orientation tour near our hotel and thankfully we are in a good location. Sight an Irish pub so our group have already decided where we are coming for tea tomorrow night... But for now, dinner in the hotel dining room with our travel group and then to bed about 10 p.m. It has been a lovely day with the canal ride a highlight. As the bear is a symbol of Berlin, there are more than 400 'statues' of bears around the city. They are in different poses and everyone of them is coloured differently. They really are cute and we are having fun locating them all around us. Lots of different statues and pieces of artwork dot major streets. Architecture extremely varied, but still lots of grey...