Day 3, progress, pomp and possibly the best view of Berlin.

An early start today, fairly easy after another night in the monster bed. We were out of the revolving door of the hotel by 0720hrs and on our way to stand in line to make a reservation for the Reichtag dome tour. We were there by 0745hrs but we were not the first. It was decidedly colder today, both of us had opted for thermals and plenty of layers. It was still cold and the small office full of warm air was bliss after the 30 minute wait in line. We had to show our I.D and select a time slot for our tour, we plumped for an evening slot, deciding that it would give us the whole day elsewhere and that it may be even more spectacular after dark.
 We headed off in search of breakfast and found a great restaurant just down from the Brandenburg gate, it was almost art-deco inside and served good eggs Benedict. Warmed through and well fed we headed to the nearest U station for a 15 minute train ride down to Mockernbrucke for a visit to the German museum of technology, needless to say this was my idea but my accomplice was polite enough to at least pretend to enjoy it. The Museum is huge, it doesn't look it but it is and charts the progress of computers, boats, aviation, robotics, textiles, communications, trains and space exploration from their infancy to the present day, it really is quite staggering how they managed to fit so many exhibits into one complex, well in fact they didn't, there is a Douglas "skytrain" on the roof. The price again was very reasonable and worth every penny, if you have even a passing interest in technology or science.
 Time to move on.
 Back on the train, this time heading west for Charlottenburg, both of us noted that this particular line was similar to a retro styled version of the DLR....only cleaner and quieter and on time. We jumped off at the Sophia-Charlotte-platz stop, nipped into a small coffee shop owned by the world's campest but friendliest man and began the walk along Schlossstrasse towards The Charlottenburg Palace, a long tree lined promenade that made for a very pleasant stroll with the contrast of bright sunshine and crisp frosty air. This one was not my choice and if I'm honest I was struggling already to be polite enough to pretend I was enjoying myself and we weren't even inside yet. At this point I will admit I was wrong. This was the most expensive entrance fee we had paid to date, still only 18 EUR each with an audio guide and cloak room included. All the museums we had visited so far offered a free cloak room, I liked that.

 Inside we were guided by the well spoken man on the audio guide through the private residence of Sophia Charlotte, built at the end of the 17th century as a retreat for the then queen of Prussia on the out skirts of what is now Berlin, the building is very much built in the Baroque style and showed the queen's love of music and science at every opportunity. The palace is flanked by huge gardens that visitors also have access to and a newer wing that was added by subsequent generations including some very grandiose ball rooms, I managed to take a photo of one before a burly security guard told me off. I offered my best, sorry-I'm-a-dumb-brit-tourist look and he seemed appeased, it was noted that he didn't tell the pretty girl in the short dress off despite the same crime being committed countless times in each room, next time I'll shave my legs. So like I said, I was wrong, it was very interesting and by the end I wasn't even pretending to enjoy it, I actually was. I'm glad the choice was made for me because if it wasn't I wouldn't have ever contemplated going there.

On the train again, making the most of our day pass and headed towards Friedrichstrasse, we had a short wander around, saw a Mercedes showroom/museum/cafe, wandered around a souvenir shop that was selling amongst other things chunks of concrete proclaiming to be bit of Berlin wall, I doubted their authenticity and didn't buy one.....they could well have been from a wall in Berlin but not necessary THE wall. There was also a cool little shop selling souvenirs of the red and green pedestrian crossing men at every set of lights at every intersection in Berlin made notable by the fact that they appear to be wearing a flat cap, this one small feature makes the characters instantly endearing and I held no surprise that they had their own merchandise shop. The men are in fact called Ampelmannchen and are one of the few remaining relics of East Germany in modern day use, given the choice over the more generic figures seen elsewhere, I can see why they survived.

It was time for what could be considered the main event for the day, the Reichtag tour. We joined (another) queue to enter the security checkpoint, our ID and booking form were checked and we passed through an airport style metal detector and bag scanner before being led up the step and into the foyer of the Reichtag building itself. There is a brief wait there in front of a security guard clearly bored of the tirade of tourists that has continued all day and now well into the evening, he clearly saw none of us a threat as he barely looked up. A group of about twenty of us bundled into an elevator that rocketed us up to the top of the building, I was still somewhat unsure of what to expect but as soon as the doors opened it was pretty obvious, we were now on the roof of the parliamentary building and outside of the glass double doors was a massive glass and steel dome, spiralling its way up the dome is a walk way that later turned out to be two walk ways, one for the way up and one for the way down but it plays tricks on your eyes and seems not to make any sense ! In the middle is an array of mirrors and polished steel convexing that is a mix of clever heating and air conditioning systems. The dome is open to the elements in places so was remarkably cold on the evening we visited. Entrance to the dome and the audio guide are free and as you meander up the corkscrew path the latter stops you a various points to provide you with trivia and an explanation of the magnificent view, as we looked out across the 360 degree view of the city would pointed out everywhere we'd visited and enjoyed the view out across the river Spree and the New Year's Eve preparations going on around the now lit up Brandenburg gate. It was amazing to see how a building nearly entirely destroyed by RAF bombers had been rebuild into this marvel to the design of an Englishman. It was worth the queue.

All that was left for the night was to find something to eat, it was quite late and the Christmas market we visited last night was on the way back to the hotel......

Tonight we experienced some Spatzle, traditional German noodles with cheese and truffle washed down with a nice cold beer and for good measure I had another ham and mustard roll. As this was our last night we had a nice stroll around all the stalls again before wearily making our way back to the hotel, we'd covered some miles today.