Our last few days in Berlin were spent visiting Museum Island in the centre of the city.
We also took the train to Charlottenburg Palace on the outskirts of Berlin and also enjoyed an open-top boat ride on the Spree River.
On Museum Island, we visited the Pergamon Panorama, a 360-degree multi-media presentation designed to take you back 1,900 years to the ancient city.
Platforms on six levels allow you to view the city scene and surroundings from early morning to nightfall, starting with bird song and cocks crowing to festivals and sacrificial devotions and other activities during the daytime and evening.
This museum also contains beautiful statuary from the period, showing the talent of sculptors to recreate with incredible accuracy the delicate folds in women’s draped dresses.
A recreation of the expressive frieze from the Pergamon Temple was particularly fascinating with its clear depiction of a battle between the Gods and Giants.
What immediately sprang to mind was how little the world has changed and how it is still necessary to fight “serpent-feeted” individuals to maintain peace in the world.
After lunch, we visited the Tiergarten where we were pleasantly surprised to find a fabulous display of purple rhododendrons in full bloom. The lake looked lovely and we enjoyed strolling the woodlands and open spaces.
On Sunday morning, we took a short train ride to 17th century Charlottenburg Palace on the outskirts of Berlin where we enjoyed a very relaxing stroll around the baroque gardens and lake.
It felt very much like being in a Jane Austen novel as we gently strolled around the lake, talking and laughing and enjoyed the peace and tranquility of birdsong and the pleasant dappled shade of woodlands.
In the afternoon, we took a leisurely cruise along the Spree River on an open-top boat.
This gave us a different view of the Bundestag and the Berlin Cathedral and more.
After the boat ride, it was the perfect time for a wander along Unter den Linden for ice cream and then into the Nikolai quarter for a relaxing time in a river-side cafe.
Our last night in Berlin was spent at a typical beer house where we enjoyed large tankards of beer and arm-swinging songs to ump-pa-pa music. Great fun.
Next stop Prague.
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