Having bought breakfast, and, for Lucy and Siân, lunch, we walked northwards to the Tiergarten. Literally translated as "animal garden", this leafy urban park gets its name from the menagerie that once existed in the grounds, now a little zoo.
Winding through the woods there is a path, mostly frequented by cyclists and dogwalkers. We followed this path through the trees, past tranquil pools speckled with lily pads, and into the formal gardens. Statues of a Kaiser and his wife stand sentinel at the gates to these, which are landscaped in a traditional English style. We meandered up to the centre of the park, where the Victory Column towers above the trees. Dan and Mitch bought wurst and we ate lunch by a playground, where Dan was plagued by a wasp. It was hilarious.
Following this, we walked down the boulevard to the Brandenburg Gate. Mitch was pleased because the last time he went it was raining, so this time he got to see it in its full, bone-dry glory. It was very busy in that area, and soon we moved to the cheerfully-named Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This is more of a metaphor than anything, as the dozens of uniform concrete blocks represent the loss of identity for European Jews in the 20th century, and the uneven floor symbolises how normality was redefined. It's not especially pretty, but it's interesting to walk in and out of the blocks, some of which are waist-high whilst others are about 10ft tall. Dan bought some more currywurst and was plagued by another wasp. Still hilarious.
We'd seen on our map that there was a nearby memorial to the victims of homophobia during the war, so we went to see that. This too was a concrete block, but it had a little window in it which looked through to a black and white projection of homosexual couples kissing. We watched this film for a while, then went to sit by some nearby rocks, which were in clusters to represent five continents, which have corresponding rock clusters in the respective continents. They're big on metaphor in Germany. Here, Lucy tried to stop Mitch from making silly noises, and Dan fell asleep.
We had a visit to the Reichstag booked in for five o' clock, and by now it was about time to go over there. Mitch and Dan bought some wurst and we went to the security check for the parliament building. A lift with a somewhat grumpy German operator in took us up to the roof, where there is a glass dome shaped something like a beehive. We meandered around the circumference of the dome up to the top, where we could see all across the rooftops of Berlin. After walking around the 'what Mitch thought was a café'; we decided we had enough and wandered back down the opposite spiral to the bottom.
After all that exercise we thought that we deserved a rest, so we sat on the grass infront of the Reichstag. Soon we realised what a good idea this has been, as, through the throng of tourists, much to our disbelief, wove a man of great poise and elegance. Hip-hop beats blasted out of his what-appeared-to-be speaker-bum-bag, accompanied by some rather flamboyant arm dancing, filling our hearts with joy. What could be the meaning of this? A new form of sport designed for those of aged years? A protest? Whatever it was, it was fabulous!
After enjoying the spectacle of this charming German athlete, we went back to the hostel for our evening plans. Scouting out another family run business, we decided on a Lebanese place for tea, then, back at the hostel, settled in for the night.
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